Back in Bologna: A Return to Italy with babyOregonian

Perfect timing: Lucie’s passport arrived on the same day we made a return trip to Italy!

Well, make that Italy in Portland…

Honored to be invited guests tonight at #casabologna celebrating 10 years of Portland, Oregon + Bologna, Italy sisterhood! #blogville #inpdx

— Bethany & Ted (@twoOregonians) June 7, 2014

Maybe you’ll remember our Portland + Bologna Sister City post from a while ago?

In 2012, Ted and I had the privilege of staying in north central Italy for several weeks during our trip around the world, and while there we happily discovered that our very own Portland, Oregon has a formal sister-city relationship with beautiful Bologna.

Bologna gave us a taste of life in everyday-Italy. A city within reach: easy to navigate, easy to absorb, easy to fall in love with…

twoOregonians on adventure in Italy. Side note: see the pineapple pendant I’m wearing? I bought it in Bologna and wore it around the world. Pineapples are a symbol of hospitality, and it seemed a fitting celebration of the warmth and welcome we received. Later, back in the U.S. and pregnant with babyOregonian, I wore the same necklace as a reminder of the sweet culture of hospitality I wanted to cultivate in my own heart.

We Americans easily recognize names like Rome, Florence, Venice, and Milan, much like Italians know about L.A., New York, Chicago, and Miami. But what about the Portlands of the world? Quirky, approachable cities with distinct character. As someone from the Pacific Northwest who loves introducing foreigners to a taste of American life in Oregon, I’m equally eager to recommend Bologna to friends visiting Italy.

All this talk of Bologna, and the flood of memories came back. I couldn’t resist digging up some photos:

Like Portland, Bologna boasts great people, great food culture, great landscapes (and great apple and Apple stores*, too, by the way).

(*After slugging my MacBook Pro through South America for months, dealing with a quick-draining battery and zero support, it was terrific to walk right into Bologna’s Apple store and get a replacement battery on the spot. Hooray for tech-friendly university towns, eh?)

Fast forward to this spring.

On the tenth anniversary of the official signing of the Portland/Bologna sisterhood papers, we’d been invited to come meet the delegation of Bologna representatives visiting Portland.

Lucie’s passport had come in the mail on a Friday afternoon, lending to the air of adventure as we packed a bag with essentials and stepped out the front door.

The Italian Associazione Lavitabella assembled #CasaBologna over Portland’s Rose Festival weekend, putting on a gracious series of events showcasing the best of a typical “Bolognese Home” and spreading out the proverbial welcome mat for their Oregon family.

Lucie took her first ride downtown on the MAX, smiling at fellow passengers and watching the world whiz by outside the windows. Ted eagerly spied a glimpse of the ships along the waterfront for Rose Festival Fleet Week. And just a few blocks from the station, we followed signs to the entry of #CasaBologna.

We met so many lovely folks, both visitors from Italy and local members of the Portland Bologna Sister City Association (PBSCA). Lucie was a champ, offering smiles to anyone who would meet her eyes, and Ted’s and my ears perked every time greetings of “Ciao!” bounced around the room.

The Associazione Lavitabella is a publicly funded Italian organization charged with raising awareness of the culture, tradition, art, local products, and spirit which distinguishes the inhabitants of the Bolognese Apennines (a.k.a., the citizens of Bologna). Their motto (loosely translated): “We bring the Apennines in the World and bring the world to know the Apennines!“

Italian accents and hospitality, Italian wine and food and photos…

They’d fulfilled their mission, for sure.

It was as if for the evening we’d stepped back across the Atlantic.

A photo from Associazione Lavitabella’s Facebook Page. Ha. Don’t laugh at the white legs. The sun was shining in Portland, and the idea of Mediterranean summer made me do it. When in Rome, or rather, When in Bologna…

One of my favorite parts of the night: perusing the photo project assembled by Sara Colombazzi.

Culture Between Faces and Books of Those Who Love Bologna
Read between the lines: the real reasons why do books exist.

An archive of images that has been enriched over the time with new shots, to tell people about a territory and about a complex and extraordinary city like Bologna. People known and unknown, faces marked by the seasons, young faces, different gestures, different looks, different skills…

People with Bolognese roots were invited to bring a favorite book and sit for a portrait. This one in particular caught my eye: Sara explained the fellow was a 92 year old from Bologna, as smart and sharp as ever.

The project was based on the tradition that Bolognese families have of inviting guests to look through their family photo album when they come for a visit. (This is so true! Ted and I got such a kick out of looking through our friend Nick’s family photos when he took us to his mom’s house…)

Aperitivo on the Rooftop

After the downstairs visit and photos, we moved to the rooftop for Aperitivo, featuring an impressive buffet of Emilia-Romagna regional dishes prepared by chef Giorgia Lambertini.

Throughout the night, we enjoyed chatting with Italian immigrants, Portlanders who spent time living and working in Bologna, and the Italian ambassadors representing their region and building ties with ours.

Lucie did pretty well for her first night in Italy. No spilled wine glasses. No meltdowns.

Maybe after this introduction, a visit to Bologna is in her future?

Each summer, as part of the effort to foster lasting relationships between citizens of the sister cities, the Associazione Lavitabella and PBSCA organize a two-week youth exchange program for families in Portland and Bologna interested in offering a homestay experience to students from the opposite country.

Once you live somewhere and make friends, that place becomes a part of you who are, no?

With Lucie’s passport here, why wait? We brainstormed with Francesca, Bologna’s head of International Relations. Bilingual childhood? Primary school exchange? You never know…

#babyOregonian charming Bologna's head of International Relations ;) #casabologna pic.twitter.com/EhT2jmkNoh

— Bethany & Ted (@twoOregonians) June 7, 2014

For now though, baby steps…

Food is most certainly the gateway drug to travel, and Lucie loved the Bolognese risotto.

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Many thanks to Associazione Lavitabella and PBSCA for inviting us to join in celebrating the 10th Anniversary of Portland/Bologna Sisterhood.

For more stories from Italy and information on Portland ties:

• twoOregonians blog posts about Italy
• CasaBologna Events Page
• Associazione Lavitabella FB Page
• Lavitabella.org
• Portland Bologna Sister City Association

 

Have you been involved in any sister city events in your area? If you’re an Oregonian, do you know about Portland’s Italian sister city? Would you travel overseas to visit relatives? Would you invite them to your home and share the family photo album?