There are many places I have never been to. It is even more true for places that are close to a place where I live. Or lived. It is true that we often get seduced with a colorful photo of a far far away place and we are ready to cross the world just to be there leaving close sites unexplored. Trips like I had last week to Brisighella with my friends was one of these moments when I fully realized I share this unfortunate habit of going far instead of visiting the close surrounding. So I am very grateful to my friends who had this idea! (thanks guys!) Brisighella: where is it? OK this map shows you exactly where Brisighella is situated. No offense here my dear brisighellans! It’s not only because few people heard about your town but mainly to show the particularity of your locations: proximity to Tuscany (it’s just around the corner) and your strong ties with Romagna. What is so interesting about Brisighella? The charm of old Italian small town is all over the place: you can see it in every building in the center, an ancient fountain, old looking restaurants and so called Rocca, which is a defensive structure with high towers. The views are breathtaking: green hills, vineyards, olive groves and color houses. Under the blue sky of Romagna it all creates a wonderful picture worth remembering. My friends took me to Brisighella on 1 May and I expected a sleepy empty town with all interesting spots closed but this was very false and very silly to think about Brisighella this way! Instead of sleepy empty town we found a vibrant place, full of sun, with all good restaurants open and a live concert in a park. Even a small shop with local goodies was open! Local goodies Two things are remarkable here: local olive oil and wines. We started tasting of two different olive oils in a Osteria della Fonte. A nice local waitress who was very talkative gave us two different olive oils to try. And believe me: when you try it with a local bread (similar to the one in Tuscany with no salt added) you really feel the difference. One of the olive oils was spicy at the end when I swallowed it! Delicious! After a lunch we took a walk around the town and discovered a small local shop where we tasted few other types of olive oils and wines. A lady who worked there was a true enthusiast of all local stuff. She was telling the stories about olive oil and wine as if it was a fairytale about a brave knight who killed a dragon and saved a sleeping beauty. Seriously! After such encounter we could not buy an annual supply of olive oil and a box of wine. All products have a certificate called DOP (it Denominazione di Origine Protetta protected designation of origin) or DOC (it Denominazione di Origine Controllata controlled designation of origin) which – making long story short – stands for local products of high quality. We left all we bought at her place and continued our walk. Curiosity Antica via “degli Asini” (Donkey’s Street) or del Borgo is one of the most interesting sites in Brisighella. The whole complex of the colorful houses is dated back to medieval times and kept its original shape and proportions. The construction is pretty particular: the buildings kept door to stables at the ground level and at the first floor above the stables there is a covered passage with half moon windows towards the main square. What is so particular about it is that animals (donkeys mainly) lived under the houses of their owners and created substantial heat in winter time. Having animals close to their homes increased also the defending properties of the village in medieval times, including half moon windows for shooting purposes. When the political forces changed in the area the covered passage became to change its local function towards a vibrant spot of social life (having a covered internal ‘street’ made meeting in poor weather enjoyable). We met a 92 years old local lady who was giving indications to all tourists on how to walk the Via degli Asini properly. And she was right! When you walk it counter clockwise you have an opportunity to see the houses from behind. A narrow path leads up to the hill and at some point it opens up to show a spectacular panorama of the area. Olive groves make amazing impression from this perspective! Local band Full of impressions from the Via degli Asini we got back to the city center (well, sort of) and we discovered a local market and a live concert! There were 7 guys in their late 60s playing and singing like rock stars! An inscription said that they play to support a local retirement house. People were having fun as they were playing well known songs. This was a very nice a essentially local conclusion of our stay in Brisighella. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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Two days ago I was having a typical Italian breakfast: brioche and cappuccino. And when I’m sitting in my office 1400 km further north it is really hard to believe. Especially when this morning temperature dropped below zero. But here I am. I got back after 2 weeks of a combined car, train, scooter and bike voyage. What can I say? Italy was awesome. As always. (Just like the last one). Drive The drive is long. It takes about 12 hours to drive through Germany, Austria and Italy, to cross from Poznań to Ferrara. And if the traffic is heavy or the road works are carried out then it can be 14 hours. So it is rather challenging in terms of driving. How to survive a long drive? Well, I found a good way to stay focused on the road: I listen to the audiobooks. This time I was listening to a book by Bulgakov The Master and Margarita. This is not my favorite book but you know what? I am still thinking about it. About the cat, Russia, Moscow that I have never visited and the main plot. I can tell you this: this book gets into you and it is very hard to stop analyzing it, remembering the crucial events, trying to imagine the main characters. Train Thanks to the book I drove safely to Ferrara where I joined some of my Italian friends and we went further south by train. With 2 changes – one in Bologna and one in Napoli – we arrived to Sorrento. This was a Frecciarossa train which meant it was a really short journey. The train goes with a galactic speed of almost 300 km/h and it crosses numerous tunnels. As a side effect of this fast journey and many tunnels you get your ears clogged. This is very similar to a feeling of being aboard of a plane that takes off. While on a plane it takes few minutes at most in the italian Frecciarossa it takes hours. So think twice before you decide to use this mean of transportation. My personal preference? Scooter, what else? Scooter This was one of my big dreams: to drive a scooter in Italy. So when I received a scooter as a gift for my birthday I was unbelievably happy. I was proudly driving it in Italy for couple of years and loved every minute of it. So when I went to Sorrento I knew I would love to do it again. Plus, there was my birthday. And the route from Sorrento to Positano is one of the most scenic routes in the world (Costiera Amalfitana was proclaimed a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The weather was fabulous that day so I had an absolutely wonderful time! I had my GoPro camera with me and shot more than a hundred short clips. I will share them with you when a short movie was created (later, I mean…). Bike The final stage of this journey was done by bike. In one of the hotels I stayed in Ferrara the bikes were available to the guests so I took a long ride through my favorite Italian town enjoying the sun and the spring air. It totally convinced me that Ferrara is a bicycle town, very friendly to bikers. I participated in an extraordinary feast of the Hebrew literature (La Festa del Libro Ebraico in Italia) and joined a guided tour around the town, focused on Jewish traces, that are numerous and well preserved. So here is what I’ve been doing for last two weeks. I hope to share it with you in few episodes in next few weeks. Keep in touch! …and start from the first post about Sorrento. Have you ever thought about visiting Italy? Here is an alternative way on how to visit Italy and get really close to the Italian way of life. I created a project ‘I love Ferrara‘ so you could join me and experience how beautiful and tasty Ferrara is. If you wish to immerse in Italy book your holiday now!  

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