3 Oct 2021> got our green pass > made vongole w/ squid ink pasta + watched Senso (1954—★★★½), about the Austrian occupation of the Venice area in 1800... mostly we watched it 2 practice Italian but was perty good, tho wd of bin better w/ Ingrid Bergman + Marlon Brando as Visconti originally wanted (tho then it wd of had 2 be dubbed or in glish)

4 Oct> 2day is Feast of San Petronio, the patron saint of Bologna so niente è aperto > watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (★★★) but now we got 2 find out what happened 2 Spock

5 Oct> shifted apartments, schlepped aross town w/ our roller bags like Beverly Hillbillies, spent the morning @ the U after our Italian lesson then over 2 here > much bigger + quieter (ultimo piano) apartmento > the last 1 was ridiculously noisy + dark so we asked if they had another > so we'll call this place home for the next 1½ months > saw another apartment (4 sale) on via Marsala (same street supposedly where Umberto Eco lived) but also near «punkabestia piazza» as we call it, the HQ for college kids 2 party + also associated riff-raff loitering 2 sell drugs, it'd be like living on Bourbon st > 8 @ Broccaindosso (★★★★), which is also the nome della strada we live on > these loud Amerikin kids sat next 2 us + we was saying shit about them under our breath (they showed up w/ cigarettes + beers in hand) + ends up 1 of them was our bedder-½'s student + not only that they live across the street + can see in2 our kitchen... awkward

6 Oct> new place is much quieter, can actually sleep w/ windows open > went to the police station in the ouskirts 2 get fingerprinted, waiting w/ a bunch of Africans + Syrians + immigrants seeking asylum > then had 2 go 2 the «scientific» police station 2 get fingerprinted again + we're still not done, have 2 get fingerprinted 2x more... 4 times total, not sure why they need so many damn fingerprints > sure they're doing all sorts of background checks 2... all this 2 get our permesso di soggiorno > started 2 watch sum documentary on Pasolini (in Italian) but it wasn't so intresting > speaking of, we've reading The Selected Poetry of Pier Paolo Pasolini, again, mostly 2 practice Italian (it's dual language) > seems an intresting retrospect of pieces from all his books, we just ain't in2 poetry that much + it's not so useful 4 learning Italian, especially the earlier works which are in sum antiquated Friulian dialect

7 Oct> this a.m. walked across town 2 sum place near Porta San Felice 4 a «civic training session and information about civil life in Italy»... here's the invitation as an indication as 2 how surrealy pedantic it promised 2 be:

> still not sure why we're doing all this (as we already have our permesso di soggiorno), we tried 2 ask but no 1 can give us a straight answer > ends up this session was an all day affair which our bedder-½ didn't have time 4 cuz they had 2 teach so we just left, postponing 4 later > a colleague who went thru it said it was the most tediously boring 5 hours they'd ever spent, they made them watch various dated governmental videos about such topics as how not 2 go 2 jail or why you shouldn't ritually slaughter animals in your house... made us a bit jealous we didn't go thru w/ it, but we'll have 2 @ sum point or we'll lose the points (tho we don't know what the points are 4)

> 8 @ Drogheria della Rosa (★★★★½)... had tortellinni en brodo which was the best so far + sum sort of guinea fowl > the owner's a real charactor sat down @ our table drinking w/ us (when u order wine it's basically all u can drink, bottles get swapped around table 2 table) > rainy cold night but still sat outside (next 2 coughing brits)... @ sum pt we'll have 2 take the plunge dentro

bathroom in Drogheria della Rosa

9 Oct> Poker night > 1st pizza from Beppe's (★★★★), which we've bin avoiding (we didn't choose it) cuz evidently he's a wife beater, problem is it's the best pizza in Bologna > then we (5 professors + us) laid down the green felt, got out the whiskey + cashed in 4 chips... like the game Matt Damon lusted over in Rounders, but we can't be fleecing our bedder-½'s colleagues + b-sides we can't play poker 4 shit > of course our bedder-½ made out like a bandit b/c it was their 1st time playing (+ our 1st time in 25 years since we married)

view from the poker room

10 Oct> this week's gate = porta Saragozza... the «holy» port b/c it's the gate that leads 2 San Luca > we walked straight out via Saragozza past the gate b/c we wanted to get sum walking in, 1st thru Villa Spada + then in2 Parco San Pellegrino Villa Puglioli up the Ai 300 Scalini + past that still along trail 914 twards Montalbano could of kept going but turned back (in all 2days walk was ~11 miles) 2 go back down + get lunch @ Osteria Santa Caterina (★★★★★), had tortellini in brodo + sum apperetivos, great food + service + the 1st restraunt we've bin where they had glass barriers positioned between tables

route du jour

in the hills looking @ San Luca

> after lunch explored the area around porta Saragozza + also Porta San Mamolo, which doesn't have a gate b/c it was demolised (along w/ the wall in most of this area) > this SW quadrant between 6 + 9 o'clock is definintely 1 of the cooler areas of the city, far as living, quieter + not so many tourists or college kids > also seemingly the ritzier part of town, via Farini is like Bologna's Rodeo drive > we ended up @ the antique market in Piazza san Stefano + went in2 Abbazia Santo Stefano, but we'll save that 4 the next post as spatially we're encroaching into 6 or even 5 o'clock territory

porta Saragozza (under renovation)

via Farini

Santuario del Corpus Domini

mermaid doorhandle

weird cat gargoyle creature giving birth 2 another of itself

Basilica of San Domenico