Tuscany and Umbria Revisited

5/18-19/2024

Sarasota to Atlanta to Paris to Bologna

23 years ago, I decided to combine my eating and drinking obsessions with my travel passion when I chose my first trip with the Experience Plus Culinary Cycling Circus. 

The only preparation I needed besides packing and measuring my inseam for the bicycle frame was preparing my palate for room-temperature red wine (which, as many of you know, is not that easy after many years of refrigerated, sweet, sparkling whites.)

Our tour started in Parma and ended in Ravenna (two cities I was familiar with, having lived in Ohio way too many years.) We covered 243 miles in eight days.

David, Claudio, Howard, and I are on our way to Bertinoro.

My moment of triumph in Ravenna.

And now I enthusiastically embrace my return to Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and Prosciutto di Parma (Parma Ham), paired with white sparkling wine to break down the fatty foods, authentic balsamic vinegar, and gas pump refills of first-class olive oil.

We begin with my inaugural trip to Bologna with Martina Leonardi, our pre-trip OAT Trip Experience Leader, and home to Julia Rebecca Onorato, our OAT main Trip Experience Leader. Bologna is described as “the capital of food” in Italy. (I heard the same claim in Naples, so I gladly accept the challenge.)

Delays, delays, delays. I spent most of my airline itinerary waiting for overdue flights and worrying about missed connections. When we finally arrived at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle Airport, we and hundreds of others had less than one hour to arrive at Terminal 2F. 

One would think nothing of achieving that goal, but this is a horrible airport where you would be hard-pressed to find any workers to help you and where two extremely critical signs indicating the 2F directions were missing. After we found them and the designated departure gate, we were taken by bus to our plane. 

But that wasn’t the end of our strange travel experience. We entered the tarmac and stopped when our driver halted the bus near a pile of storage materials, a water tank, and a cordoned-off exit. None of us exited the bus until he kept waving at us to get off in this space that couldn’t accommodate us comfortably. Finally, he pulled back a curtain, and we ascended a hidden stairway to line up for boarding.

Once I arrived at Porto San Mamolo Hotel, I tossed all my belongings on the bed, grabbed my cell phone and a map, checked in with our pre-trip leader, Martina (fresh off from trying to wash pigeon poop from her hair) for directions, and high-tailed it to Santa Maria della Vita Church’s Compianto sul Christo Morto to see the detailed statues depicting the moments after Christ’s crucifixion. 

The seven life-size terracotta figures making up the sculptural group by Niccolò dell’ArcaIl Compianto del Cristo Morto (The Lamentation over Dead Christ) are housed in the Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita in Bologna. They represent Joseph of Arimathea, Mary Salome, The Madonna, Jesus Christ, St. John the Apostle, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.

Initially, the work was less celebrated because it was sculpted out of terracotta instead of marble. But terracotta made it possible for the extreme detail, especially the two figures of Mary of Cleophas and Mary Magdelene.

Mary of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene.

St. John, the Apostle

Upstairs, the Oratory of Santa Maria della Vita houses another fantastic work—the Transit of the Virgin by Alfonso Lombardi. It has 15 terracotta statues arranged to depict a lesser-known subject little frequented by Western art—the Apostles huddled around Madonna’s coffin, which an unbeliever tries to overturn while being deposed by an angel.

 

Another group from Australia was also staying at the Porta San Mamolo Hotel, so of course, I had to reconnect with them. We enjoyed some Italian beers, wines, and proseccos while waiting. Soon, Sangiovese was flowing (my absolute favorite red) at dinner, and a simple dish, salsiccia e gramingna (sausage and pepper sauce on curly pasta) quickly captured my palate’s attention.

I was fast asleep as soon as my head was nestled into four wonderful pillows waiting for me in the king bed, and day one was complete.