Ferrara

Ciao tutti!

So let's see, a couple things that have happened this week that are exciting!

There was an event this weekend where all the museums in the city were open at night, and the piazzas had concerts and events happening. So Friday, a group of us went to the medieval art museum to check out what they had (actually a pretty extensive collection.. pretty cool). And then went over to the Palazzo Fava!! This place was amazing... they had this exhibit of some Italians who went to China and had kids there.. and all their adventures documented in some old photos. Had some traditional musicians playing too. Also, the bottom floor had a modern art of exhibit of surrealist/futurist artists. Whoa that was awesome! They also had this absolutely incredible pianist playing this really fast, intense piece that made you feel tense and on edge.. so perfect for the art that was in the room, I loved it.

Este Castle

This weekend though! Gah it was exciting. I went with a group to Ferrara! A little town about 30 minutes outside of Bologna. And no, I looked it up, and this is not where the name "Ferrari" comes from for the car brand (the manufacturers are based in a different city and apparently the guy who invented the car was named "Ferrari"). Ferrara, though, is a pretty residential town but with a really amazing 'centro.' It has a beautiful castle (-->) that was owned by a really rich family and continually added too. It also had a pretty famous prison/dungeon area that was crazy to see! And exactly how you would expect a dungeon to look/smell/feel like. Cold and cavernous. We were also able to climb to the top of the tower to get a view of Ferrara which was gooorgeous. Seriously beautiful. Ferrara looks a little like Bologna in that there's a lot of the red coloring with the buildings, so it was fantastic.

View from the torre of the Castle Este

The picture on the left is pretty much the center of town, and to the very right you can see a bit of the PO RIVER surrounding the castle we were on. Cobble stone streets, old Renaissance buildings, the works. Also, in the upper left hand corner is the absolutely gorgeous cathedral in Ferrara that had the most incredible facade. And who would I be if I didn't show you what that looks like.

Facade of Cathedral in Ferrara

Anywho. Ferrara was incredibly beautiful. More quaint and manageable than Bologna, and so super easy to get to so I'm glad I did it. I'm going to try to be better about blogging because I have a little preview for the next post - San Marino, third smallest country in Europe! The best. Til next time! A presto!

FOOD OF THE WEEK:

Cappellacci

My plate, with the ragu sauce

This week's special food comes from the adorable town of Ferrara, which I told you about above. When we went to a restaurant for lunch, my friend's friends living there told us that the "Cappellacci" is a specialty of Ferrara, so of course we had to try it. I looked up some things about Cappellacci and apparently in the ferrarese dialect, it's also called "Caplaz." Anywho. It gets its name from its shape - apparently whoever named it thought it looked like the straw hats that peasants used to wear in the 19th century. It's like ravioli, or an oversized tortellone. Basically, this delicious (usually fresh) pasta is filled with a pumpkin puree, and then topped with either a ragu (meat) sauce or else, at this restaurant, a butter and sage sauce. I got the meat one. Sounds a little strange, with the pumpkin filling, but it was incredible. Ooh dear lord. I would definitely order this again.