Passatelli in brodo is one of the dishes that visitors to Bologna most consistently overlook. It does not appear on tourist menus. It is not photogenic in the way that a plate of tagliatelle al ragù is photogenic. It is a winter soup — short cylinders of a paste made from breadcrumbs, Parmigiano Reggiano, eggs, […]
Passatelli in Brodo: Bologna’s Winter Soup That Visitors Always Miss Read Post »
Ask for spaghetti bolognese in Bologna and you will not find it on any menu. You will probably get a polite correction instead. The dish that has become one of the most cooked pasta recipes in the world — a staple of British Sunday evenings, Australian family dinners, and American weeknight cooking — does not
Spaghetti Bolognese Does Not Exist: The Real Story of Ragù alla Bolognese Read Post »
Bologna is not a pizza city. It is a pasta city, a salumi city, a ragù city — and it takes all of these things extremely seriously. But the pizza scene here has developed considerably over the past decade, and Bologna now has a concentration of serious pizzerias that would hold up well against any
Best Pizza in Bologna: Neapolitan & Al Taglio Guide (2026) Read Post »
Anthony Bourdain described Emilia-Romagna as a place where “everything you think you know about Italian food gets recalibrated.” He wasn’t wrong. The region had been on his radar long before he filmed there — his 1999 New Yorker essay “Don’t Eat Before Reading This”, the piece that launched his career as a food writer, references
Anthony Bourdain in Bologna and Emilia-Romagna: Where He Ate and What He Said Read Post »
When Stanley Tucci arrived in Bologna for his CNN series Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy, he did what anyone with serious food instincts does in this city: he ate. Tortellini in brodo. Tagliatelle al ragù. Mortadella cut thick, at room temperature, eaten standing at a counter. He visited a Parmigiano Reggiano dairy. He watched a
Stanley Tucci’s Emilia-Romagna: Everything He Ate and Where to Find It Read Post »
Emilia-Romagna is, by most serious measures, the most important food region in Italy. That is not a casual claim. It is the birthplace of Parmigiano Reggiano, Prosciutto di Parma, Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale, mortadella, tortellini, tagliatelle al ragù, lasagne verdi, culatello di Zibello, Lambrusco, and more protected food designations per square kilometre than anywhere else in
What Food Is Emilia-Romagna Famous For? (2026 Guide) Read Post »