After a great night’s sleep, Gulgun and I awoke before the others so we quietly got dressed and headed downstairs for breakfast. A busy spot early on, but we were able to get some cappuccino and espresso, so we were happy. Soon enough Jayne and Silas joined us and we all ate. Silas was thrilled to find individual packets of Nutella.

We came to Bologna for the sole purpose of going to a pasta cooking class. This was the one special thing that Silas wanted to do on the trip. I had signed up for one on Viator, so I had all the timing and directions. The woman who was to teach us in her condo was Grazia Azzaroni. Turned out that it was an hour’s walk from our hotel. As we had plenty of time prior to the noon start time, walk we did. Not much to report from along the way as it was mostly through an area full of apartments. We found Grazia’s building and were welcomed by her, her husband and their 8 month old dog.

She had everything set up for the four of us to begin once we donned aprons. This was a lesson in Bolognese pasta, made with just flour and egg. We each managed to pull the ingredients together enough for her to declare it “perfecto” and then had to let it rest for a while.

We then each divided our dough into two pieces, as we were going to make two kinds of pasta. First we rolled the dough long and thin, learning how to tell if we had it thin enough (no pasta machine for us!). We then learned how to fold and cut it to make tagliatelle, hanging it on a rack once we had done so.

Next we rolled out the second piece and learned how to cut it into squares, filling it with a ricotta mixture and folding it into a triangle and then into the typical shape for tortelloni. We learned that the smallest of that shape is called tortellini, but as ours was larger, it was called tortelloni.

At that point we just relaxed while Grazia cooked what we made. She served the tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce to my companions but made a fabulous lemon basil mixture for mine. Yum!!

Next up was the tortelloni that she served with a very light sauce with turmeric. Again, delicious!

Lastly she surprised us by bringing out dessert – a light and yummy semifreddo topped with of all things, grated solid balsamic vinegar. So good that I forgot to take a picture until it was almost gone. Plus a shot of Lemoncello top things off. Altogether a wonderful class and afternoon. I can’t wait to try making it all myself at home.

Once done we were on the move again, walking back to the center of town, where we were yesterday. We wandered through the Mercado de Mezze, with many food shops and cafes. After a bit we choose to sit at a cafe for a glass of wine (surprise!) but also so we could use the bathroom. Italy has a dearth of public toilets – mostly you have to go to a cafe, buy something, then use their facilities. We then walked again, finally finding a variety of grocery store where we bought snacks for tonight as none of us were hungry enough for another full meal. We eventually found a cab to get us back to the hotel. Many places and facilities were closed today as it turns out it is the Italian Liberation Day, which celebrates their liberation from Nazism and Fascism.

Tomorrow we’re on the move once again, but to our final city for this adventure, Venice.