The Immediate Vicinity

Those who arrive in Bologna from the north crossing through the Padana plains for 150 km (from Verona) or 200 km (from Milan) can hardly imagine that beyond the infinite open space one can find hills and mountains. Bologna offers beautiful hills in the immediate vicinity and at about 80 km away one can find mountains at 2,165 meters (Monte Cimone).

To the south and southeast of the city, one can admire the particularities of nature: the ravines ("calanchi") (photo on left). Ravines are the emergence of dry clayey soil worn away by atmospheric agents that tore away the normal landscape which sometimes displays a lunar nature. The "Parco dei Gessi Bolognesi e dei Calanchi dell'Abbadessa", located in the hills southeast of Bologna, offer these and other phenomena of the terrain.

Autumn is rich in savory feasts and culinary festivals that celebrate the specialties of the Bologna hills, among which you will find crescentine, roasted chestnuts and above all tartufo. This precious tuberous root in fact, whether for taste or for cost, can also be found in the Bologna hills. A hunt for tartufo (photo on right) requires a dog with a good nose, a lot of experience and a lot of luck (the three people in the photo, non-professional hunters, have found a 20 g white tartufo from their 4 hour search).

In addition to the ravines and the search for tartufo, many towns around Bologna deserve a visit. Almost all offer feasts and festivals dedicated to the seasonal specialty of the area. Especially in the summer when several medieval festivals take place with street performances and samplings of culinary specialties of the epoch.

Particularly well-known are the medieval festivals at the Abbey of Monteveglio in June and that which is dedicated to Barbarossa in the town of Medicina in September.

 

Last update 04/05/2003

Email to "webmaster"