July 2016
In Bologna I cemented my relationship with aperitivo. Throughout the city's medieval alleys and piazzas on late summer afternoons, people were sitting down to drinks and snacks. Not that I hadn't done the same in Spain with tapas, but in Spain it was less ritualized. Near the end of the day the tapas slowly started to come out and I was ready to sample it with some cava or a glass of red. Italy, however, was more formal about its food and dining timings. Because I stayed in Bologna for a week, in the later afternoons and early evenings I was always in the city roaming around. I noticed all the tables getting set up outside the restaurants and bistros. Slowly they filled up and soon I came to know that most places offered some free nibbles to go with the alcohol. What? How had I missed out on that? I had discovered "aperitivo".
Of course, the Italian food nazis strictly monitored this great idea of aperitivo (which officially started at 5pm). Unfortunately, if anyone ordered any food or drink before seven, they were given withering glares and called "tourists". Guilty on all counts. I was a tourist and the establishment was open. Please serve me your delicious food and tasty wine with a hearty helping of eyerolls on the side (they were also free). I LOVED aperitivo in Italy even more than I loved late day tapas in Spain. It was also in Bologna that I broke free of Italian food tyranny. If a restaurant or cafe were open, I would patronize it when I felt like it. I would also order whatever food I wanted. I was "free". The masses of Italy are trapped in a delicious prison of food rigidity of their own making. I was now the one eyerolling.
Mille grazie, Bologna. My trips to Italy would never be the same afterward.