I've never met a traveler who went to Italy for the purpose of seeing Bologna,
and yet I've never met a traveler -- or any Italians -- who experienced Bologna
and didn't recall it fondly.  It is a wonderful place, and we spent a wonderful
year making it our home.

The books mention the confluence and north-meets-south Italian cuisine, or the
raucous university vibe.  And of course its porticoes walkways are
unparalleled.  But for me Bologna will always evoke memories of bright autumn
sun on the auburn facades, pointy-shoed women shuffling across Piazza Maggiore
in long coats, looking through glass shop windows at rows of fountain pens on a
late winter afternoon, and the budding green of the hillsides as seen from
Capella San Lucas, 666 archways over the city and 500 years before the present.
I've never met a traveler who went to Italy for the purpose of seeing Bologna,
and yet I've never met a traveler -- or any Italians -- who experienced Bologna
and didn't recall it fondly.  It is a wonderful place, and we spent a wonderful
year making it our home.

The books mention the conflux and north-meets-south Italian cuisine, or the
raucous university vibe.  And of course its porticoes walkways are
unparalleled.  But for me Bologna will always evoke memories of bright autumn
sun on the auburn facades, pointy-shoed women shuffling across Piazza Maggiore
in long coats, looking through glass shop windows at rows of fountain pens on a
late winter afternoon, and the budding green of the hillsides as seen from
Chiesa San Lucas, 666 archways over the city and 500 years before the present.

We returned in fall of 2006, three years later, to relive some of the memories,
and found to our disappointment it was dirtier, more run down, and slightly
less evocative than we'd expected.  The locals blamed politics, but it could
have just been the din of reality shining through the gleam of adventure.  But
cheers to one of the nicest homes we've ever had.