So way back in 1995, through a series of wrong place at the right time events in Washington, DC, Chris Lombardi and I started dating. Six months later, he was accepted into the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) graduate program in Bologna, Italy. Well, I was 25 and wasn’t loving my job. Could I tag along, I asked? Sure, he said. And that was that. We moved to Bologna. He was knee deep in grad school. I found a job as a nanny with a wonderful family and the cutest little fragola named Irene. (True story: years later when Chris and I got married, Irene was one of the flower girls in our wedding!)

There were lots of weekend travels around Italy that year: Cinque Terre, Rome, Venice, Courmayeur, Bormeo, Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, Capri, Milan, Torino, Siena, Florence, San Gimignano, Lago di Garda, Genoa, Forte de Marmi, Rimini. (Alas, somewhere in a storage unit in Washington, DC I could find all these old printed photos.) Years later, Italy pulled us back again for our honeymoon— Bologna for a bit and a romantic ramble through Tuscany. Then life & kids happened and Bologna became our sweet, distant memory, the beginning of our future together.

Fast-forward to Brussels and we discovered THE MOST DELICIOUS restaurant, Osteria Bolognese, near our house. These people (ciao, Giacomo!) and their food are legit straight from Bologna. Dio Mio! So now Bologna has rushed back to our regular consciousness and it became time to plan another trip. What a weekend it was…eating, eating, and eating with our friends Kelly & Mark and Diane (poor Jack had the flu but he was with us in Italian spirit!)

Buongiorno ancora, la bella Bologna…

where we stayed:  Hotel Corona d’Oro on via Oberdan

what we loved: location on a bustly street close to our old apartment — and just steps from Piazza Maggiore; old school & solid, classic with no pretentions, great service and yummy breakfast.

things we did: walked down memory lane, charcuterie at Simoni and all the deliciousness in the Quadrilatero market, classics at our old haunt Trattoria Anna Maria* (*we went here because it was our neighborhood place, but tbh we weren’t impressed after all these years…), updated dinner at Caminetto d’Oro, FICO (Eataly) up one side and down the other, cocktails at Le Stanze

pro tip: We went to FICO because it was new, and newsy and we wanted to ride the Bianchi bikes. It was really fun, but you might prefer a true taste of Bologna by staying right in the city. Add this to your list if you want to say you’ve been or if you want access to a huge variety of delicious things all under one roof.