10.28.2012

Terzo goes to Venezia & Bologna


Terzo is becoming a very fat and happy sketchbook. (That's pretty applicable to my stomach too actually...) I just got back late last night from a quick trip with a friend to Venice and Bologna. 

Venice is one of my favorite cities in Italy so it's rare for me to pass up a trip to such a lovely spot, especially when the Bienalle is happening too. My friend Jen loves the islands Burano and Torcello too so those were quickly added to the list of places to sketch while up in Venice. Bologna has been on my list of places to visit/eat at in Italy so it was time to check that one off the list. And with an epic restaurant recommendation to investigate as well, the potential for lots of awesome sketching spots and places to eat were high! 

The trip to Venice started very early on Tuesday morning so we could get to Venice as early as possible. We stayed at the house of a sweet little old "nonna" which was a very happy surprise. Our room looked right out over a canal, which made for early mornings of noise and lots of mosquito attacks ma vabbè. Afternoon 1 was for exploring and sketching. Day 2 was dedicated to Bienalle and Arsenalle. And the morning of day 3 we jumped on the vaporetti to get to Burano and Torcello. We found an awesome little pastry shop right by nonna's house but pretty much all the epic food spots were found in Bologna.
Watercolors at sunset on the first day
St. Marks
Night sketches/watercolors
Burano, a lace making island off of Venice covered in rainbow houses.
Torcello, another little island off of Venice
At the end of day 3 we left Venice and headed south to Bologna. We found a neat spot for some aperitivo and hit up a language exchange recommended by our hostel. Day 4 we headed straight for a little hole in the wall shop, Pasta Fresca Naldi, that you can snag a some fresh made pasta for cheap. Polenta al ragu, gnocchi con gorgonzola and tortelloni di zucca. Ridiculously good. We were also given a ton of killer gelato spots to check out, none of which disappointed either...considering we ate about 3 gelato each that day. Unfortunately, it was rainy weather in Bologna so sketching was a bit dismal but we ended the night at an epic restaurant recommendation, da Fabio. 

Dinner at da Fabio consisted of the following:
Antipasti- baked Scamorza cheese, fresh ricotta, giant mozzarella di buffalo, baked tomatos, celery/Parmasean salad, grilled endives, spinach quiche, grilled zucchini
Primo- Tagliatelle with Bolognese
Secondo- Osso Bucco
Dolce- fresh made ice cream, chocolate tart, creme caramelle, FRESH marscapone, mousse/meringue cake, fresh chocolate sauce, apple tart, berry crostata and a bowl of clementines. 
All followed by limoncello. Whoa. And yes, we ate all of it. The happy food stupor that followed was ridiculous.  The entire dinner lasted almost 5 hours too. Double whoa. 

The next day we somehow found room to revisit the pasta shop and get some lasagne verde and fresh tagliatelle al ragu. Then some more sketching around town before it was time to catch some trains back home. Epic food/sketching trip complete. 
Quick rainy day sketches around Bologna
The list of epicness from da Fabio
Late night aperitivo sketches
Neptune fountain in the center of Bologna
Train sketching on the way home to Lucca

14 comments:

  1. love those rainy day sketches around bologna! did you make the leather sketchbook yourself? love the mix of mediums within it.

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    1. Thank you! And yes I did! Here's the link about it if you'd like to check it out: http://sketchy-notions.blogspot.it/2012/08/the-next-italia-sketchbook.html This sketchbook is my baby :) thanks for stopping by!

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  2. Oh my, you are so talented! Lovely to read the story of your travels in words and your own pictures too xox

    http://athaliawrites.blogspot.co.uk/

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    1. You're so sweet, thank you! I like to share them too :)

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  3. well said amica! I think my favorite is the night sketches, probably because of our adventure included therein. I also love neptunes bum.

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    1. Chasing around rats in Venice, definitely a highlight! And Neptune had a rockin' bum for sure!

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  4. your sketches are so beautiful! and so diverse... its totally inspiring and a reminder that all you need is a pen and some paper to create.

    thank you!

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    1. Thank you :) it really is all you need. A good pen and some paper makes for some pure creative joy.

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  5. Oh my gosh! Your trips sounds amazing, and what a gorgeous sketchbook. I'm loving your blog!

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    1. It's been really good so far! Running out of time though... Thanks so much!

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  6. THIS IS AMAZING. I feel completely inspired, and I want to do the same thing with my trips this year! You are fantastic.

    http://jenniemossdesign.blogspot.com/

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    1. You are so sweet! Thank you so much! I definitely recommend taking the time to make a sketchbook by hand, feels like I always have a travel buddy :)

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  7. Your sketches are AMAZING and yes I agree a really inspirational project. I love all the different media you have used! Thanks for sharing took me back to when I visited Italy and Venice.

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    1. Ah! I love Venice so much! I'm glad they could take you back there for a bit. Thank you so much for the kind words. :)

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