Traditional Bolognese Cooking with a Loving Italian Mother

Join Giovanna for a memorable tour of one of Bologna's markets. Depending on the day you may visit the Mercato del Quadrilatero or Mercato del Erbe (closed on Sunday) where she buys her seasonal fruit and vegetables. The Antico mercato del Quadrilatero is a few minutes from her house and has medieval origins. You will see vendors selling everything from artisanal products to jewelry, meat, fish, salami, fruit, vegetables and bread. It is located in Piazza Maggiore, and is where most Bolognese housewives go to find traditional and genuine products. The other market you may visit is the Mercato delle Erbe, a covered market in the historical center, where you can buy local and regional produce, from fruit and vegetables to meat, cheese, salami, wine and fish.

Giovanna loves teaching guests how to prepare typical dishes from the rich Bolognese cooking tradition and sharing tales and anecdotes that are connected to different foods. Join Giovanna in her kitchen for your Bologna cooking class and learn to make a pasta dish such as tagliatelle al ragù or lasagne or tortellini, or a lesser known pasta such as gramigna with sausage or maltagliati (offcuts of flat egg pasta) with beans, or passatelli in brodo (soup with pasta). You will also learn to cook a side or dessert, before you share the meal you helped prepare with Giovanna at her dining table.

Join Giovanna for a seasonal in-home Bolognese meal that starts with typical Bolognese snacks like crescentine or tigelle, a traditional pastry breakfast of mountain farmers made with flour, water, pesto, lard, rosemary, parmesan, traditionally pressed with two bricks and two chestnut tree leaves. You will then enjoy salumi and cheeses like squacquerone and parmigiano-reggiano before tasting seasonal, oven-roasted vegetables including delightful pomodori, Italian tomatoes, or seasonal lettuces and garden vegetables served in the local "pinzimonio" (crudite) style. The central pillars of Bolognese cooking are pork meat and egg pasta and you will enjoy a pasta such as tagliatelle al ragù or the local Gramigna, Bolognese pasta with "salsiccia" made in the surrounding countryside. Second courses include the famous cotoletta alla bolognese (veal with ham and parmigiano) or bisteccone (steak) or cotechino in galera and polpette con umido con piselli (meatballs with peas). Giovanna usually combines meat dishes with potato purèe or verdure con besciamella (vegetables with bechamel sauce) or friggione (a slow-cooked dish made with onions and tomatoes). Desserts vary seasonally and are usually tied to traditional festivals, such as the certosino bolognese for Christmas or le raviole for Saint Joseph or pinza (filled with Bolognese mostarda) or torta di riso, a rice cake which families make for the festa degli addobbi.