In fact, Vado, a small town on the Reno river about 20 kilometers from Bologna is like a nearly empty Oasis. It has a few hundred people, quieter than quiet streets, a couple of bars that seem to be open or not open entirely on some hidden schedule known only to locals. The one bar I've seen open almost always actually IS a bar and is full all the time with local denizens drinking and spending time that I imagine seems very slow in passing to them.
The good news: People are still friendly and dressed like real people, not fashionable mannequins. I'm actually kind of overdressed for village life, I suppose. While in Rome I was a typical slovenly Americano. Har. I may never get it right.
There is good pizza with a huge selection slipped out of a lovely wood-fired oven just up the street at Wandy Pizzeria. I recommend the Mare Mista pie. Octopus, mussels, mushrooms and random fish. Just lovely swashed down with a weak Beck's beer. Patty had a salsiccia and mozzarella pizza. Equally amazing.
There is another pizzeria, Alessandro's. We'll check that out later on. this week With only two in a small town, just two blocks apart, I imagine the competition for customers is a steep hill to climb - which bodes well for quality.
Yesterday, we found while walking the streets, a square with an open-air market with amazing looking produce. There is some life here after all it seems, but oddly we were the only people walking and browsing. Just us and 5 or 6 venders. It was only 1pm so I felt like it wasn't late/shut down time, but maybe it's a first thing in the morning dealio. Or maybe an afternoon thing and we were early. More research is necessary.
So that, pretty much, is all there is to Vado. A bedroom village to the larger towns of Marzabotto and Sasso-Marconi, not to mention Bologna. The main feature here is quiet. I've never been in such a quiet town. I thought our home in Canyon was quiet, but with vehicle traffic and bike riders wheeling by and having conversations while riding, Canyon is100X louder than Vado. I can hear dogs barking a half-mile away and hear an approaching car all the way down the hill, long before it gets to my oddly named street. Via Colli. <- Neck street. This is a fine place to work and write.
My workspace, outside in this marvelously sunny January is just amazing. I hope this weather holds for a while. My little secret garden is a sanctuary.
The other great feature is being on the first steps of the Appennino Bologna, which you can see in the background of the photo of my outside workspace. The AP is the mini alps that stretch between Bologna and Firenze which are just stock full of tiny mountain villagers and million dollar views (next to abandoned stone houses from a century or two ago). We spent all of last weekend driving to little towns and the countryside is just lovely beyond belief. Not to mention the 9th century BC Etruscan town archeological dig and Museo we visited in the town of Marzabotto and the 12th-century untouched to this day village of Scolo. National heritage sites, both of them. The following pictures capture a bit of the grandeur. But this is a day trip well worth taking. And not only for the history, but for the tiny trattoria we found in a small village named Vergatto - a trattoria so small and local that it had no menu, Just, here's what the cook whipped up today, I hope you'll like it. Of course we did. A locally sourced ragu and homemade tagliatelle in front of a fireplace. I think they had ravioli too, but as the server rattled off the options, I was hooked at <ragu>.
That's maybe the only thing that bums me a bit about Vado, Not a single trattoria or osteria. I was really hoping to find a place close by for a regular meal. But the one supermarket type place has an amazing macceria and formaggio section, so we're not suffering.
Enjoy the photos. We're taking a third pass at the Appennines tomorrow, then it's Siena for the weekend.
A presto!
In no particular order, because I'm feeling lazy today:
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