Visit with Friends

When we lived in Bologna for five months in 1997, we became friends with a young man named Valerio and his parents, Daniela and Franco. Valerio now works in nearby Ferrara, and we met him, his parents, and family friend Giliola for a Ferrarese dinner. Our conversation, in Italian and English more or less, covered family updates and news of the day.

The dinner, for you foodies, included cappelacci di zucca, pasta stuffed with squash and (some say) shaped like a Capuchin monk's hood, hence the name. You can have them with sugo, balsamic vinegar, or butter and sage.

Sugo, another Ferrara specialty. It is pork sausage cooked in a pig's bladder. Not sure what they do it it but it ends up very, very rich, with a texture like meatloaf. Some of our party had sugo with potatoes (the potatoes cut the richness); the rest of us had a beautiful branzino, a European sea bass.

Sorry, no photos, but you can do your own Google search.

After dinner, we went to Daniela's art studio, where she teaches and works.

On Sunday, we walked through the antique market around Santo Stefano, a church made up of seven smaller churches from various times. Many treasures and "treasures" for sale, including postcards from Seattle and Bend, if you look closely in the center.