Full of Bologna The first in a series of four stories on Emilia Romagna By Christopher Balogh Our assignment was to spend a week in Emilia Romagna and capture the soul of four of its main cities. Hired to tell a story through images that would be used by Emilia Romagna tourism, our team was chosen for our ability to see Italy not as Italians but as visitors. Fresh eyes, fresh perspective. In the age of hyper information, I prefer to wear each city. Although we had two days of scouting and an extensive shot list, as art director, my goal was to plan less and wander more. The cities would speak. “ In every new city, bum a cigarette and speak to a taxi driver,” an experienced traveler once advised me. Romagna runs from the Apennine foothills to the beaches of the Adriatic. It has become my usual base. Comfortable with the easy pace, good cycling, and the sea air, I have even developed a Romagnolo accent it seems. I made no conscious distinction with the part of the region that is in fact Emilia, apart from its name deriving from the ancient roman route; the via Emilia. In my mind it was all Emilia Romagna.
An old friend and Romagnolo businessman tauntingly described the distinction over a bottle of San Giovese before my team headed east to the cities of Emilia. “We were farmers, until Mussolini built a villa here in Riccione, then the rich from Emilia began coming here. We built hotels, seduced their women on our beaches. We are simple they are sophisticated. The rest is history.” All roads lead to Bologna? It is said that the largest city in Emilia Romagna doesn’t have any major tourist attractions; it is rather the city itself that is the attraction. Walk. It has a great flow. The 40 km of porticos, some crumbling, others pristine in marble, will embrace you. Sit, lean, observe the play of light. They feel cozy and intimate. One of Bologna’s less known nicknames is “la turrita”, or the city of many towers. These symbols of power and wealth were once homes. Of the approx 180 towers that once stood, only 24 remain today, one of which is even an Air BnB. Walk the Jewish ghetto,
