There are differences everywhere. Every province and region is different, the people from those provinces and regions are different, and the immigrants are different still. But the Italians just accept all these differences, and don’t consider them something negative.
Every province in Italy has its own unique style, which comes from differences in climate, local character, the influence of historical figures… the list goes on.
They’re no match for the exceptional speed and comfort of a Japanese bullet train, but Italy does have high-speed Frecciarossa trains (nicknamed “Ferraris”) that you can use to travel around the country at 300—or sometimes nearly 400—kilometers per hour.
Regardless of the sophistication of their trains, there are all kinds of dishes and crafts that you simply can’t experience unless you actually go to that region or town—probably because each area wants people to experience them locally, in context, and doesn’t make them available to the outside. Even today, you can travel just a few hundred kilometers in Italy and feel like you’re in a completely different culture.
Speaking of the high-speed trains, it’s thanks to them that the busy, business-minded Milanese are able to take little weekend trips all over the country—arriving in Florence in about two hours, Venice in a little over two hours, or Rome in around three hours.
One of the nearby places you can go is Bologna. Most Japanese are familiar with the word “Bologna” because of Bolognese sauce. But what the Japanese call “Bologna-style meat sauce spaghetti” is very different from what they eat in Bologna. For one, the pasta they use is different; the authentic dish uses a flat noodle called tagliatelle that’s a bit like our flat kishimen noodles.
Bologna is full of charms. It is home to the oldest university in the world, has unique streetscapes filled with colonnades, and boasts an abundance of traditional dishes so delicious that the Bolognese are known even in Italy as gourmands. All of these features may be why the Bolognese are known for being educated and also a bit eccentric. It’s probably fueled by all the young people flocking in from all over the world for the universities. It seems to me that even today, the combination of youthful energy and ancient buildings is an explosive one.
Located in the center of town is the Basilica di San Petronio. It was slated to become the largest basilica in the world, but when the architect died mid-project, those opposed to the construction rose up and sold off the building materials, halting the original plans.
Incidentally, the basilica features some unique frescos. They’re not only unique, but have some provocative subject matter that made the basilica the target of a terrorist attack—so I hear the security is really tight there. The frescos show the Islamic prophet Muhammad with devils holding down his head, which reportedly triggered plans to blow up the church in the past as they can be considered offensive to Muslims.
It seems fitting that even the frescos in an eccentric city like Bologna can set off this kind of conflict.
