When meeting strangers in Bologna: A Ducati Love Story

Baci: (n) kiss, buss, osculation (the act of caressing with the lips (or an instance thereof))

In many places in the world, excluding the USA, there exists a kind of chocolate called Baci. I had my first in Italy, and they are pretty darn good. They all come with phrases inside like “Each kiss is a discovery.” Each city, street, and person you find in Italy is a discovery also.

Rome is a busy place. As such, sometimes it is hard to find a place to stay when you are on a budget like mine. Come the weekend, my choices ran too slim and I decided to roll out and finally see one of the things that I had missed with Joanne: The Ducati Factory!

Ducati is a household name with my friends and I, being the gearheads that we are. The thought of being in Italy without making it to this place was not acceptable. So I scheduled my tour time (very important), hopped a train, still with no place to sleep for the night, and took off for a city named after lunch meat; Bologna.

The train station is something of a U shape allowing uncooperative taxi drivers and buses to loop through and pick up the incoming human traffic. It was on the far side of this U that a determined young woman marched up to me and starting asking me something in Italian.

For some reason, instead of asking her if she spoke English, I asked her, “Hablas Español?” Surprisingly enough, she did.

In a few minutes it came out that she was actually from Colombia and we both spoke fluent English. Her name was Paula, and we were also both in similar situations for the weekend, took off on a whim and had no place to stay and no plan. We checked our bags in the luggage area and took off to find an internet connection and a place to sleep.

Even before we found the Bed and Breakfast we eventually stayed in, our mutual love of motorcycles led us to join up for the trip to Ducati. We booked a double room at some place whose name I have forgotten and took off exactly on time for the tour.

Unfortunately, “exactly on time” is about 15 minutes late by Ducati standards.

All tour attendees are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes early. This actually means, if you are not there 15 minutes before the time your tour is scheduled, your tour will leave without you and you will have to come back another day.

Luckily, we caught our tour as they left the factory and got to see the museum and all the shiny wonderful toys that it contained! Paula kept having to pull me off of them before the Tour Guide saw me.

Afterward, due in no small part to my darling partner, we were able to jump in with an all Italian speaking tour to route through the factory and see the way things are handled. It was like entering Santa’s Workshop.

Unfortunately, much as I imagine Santa would, Ducati insisted that no photos were allowed in the factory. Thus, even if I had taken photos inside, which I would not because I am a straight laced law abiding citizen, I could not put them up here for everyone to see. Sorry.

It’s impressive how easily public transportation comes together when you have someone who speaks the local language with you! With the help of a man with the hairiest nose on Planet Earth, Paula and I hopped a couple buses and rocked on back to the Bologna city center to pick up our bags from the train station and drop them at the BnB before grabbing some well deserved food.

Bologna is a great place for seeing Ducati, Ferarri, Lamborghini, and eating bologna (obviously), and a food somewhat less evident, tortellini. That being the case, we decided to roll out and get some local fare and brave the nightlife with a dubiously accurate map and our less than perfect communal sense of direction.

There is something satisfying about eating pasta at a restaurant named “Tony’s.” It is even better when that place is in Italy. We settled in for a couple big bowls of tortellini at Tony’s and asked our decidedly Nordic looking waiter where the cool kids were hanging out at on a Friday night…

At the time we set off for the night, we had no idea how confusing the side streets of Bologna truly would be. We spent most of the night walking around and talking to one another, laughing at what a pair of lost tourists we were. Had we known how the night would turn out, we probably would have done exactly the same thing.

Adversity never seems that way when you are in the company of friends.

While walking back down one of a thousand beautiful little streets, Paula looked quizzically at a bird and asked me, “Why is that bird still awake?”

It’s moments like that which can bond souls. We laughed until we cried.

The following day was something of divide and conquer. We spent most of the morning being lazy in bed or nursing coffee, when we finally decided to get out of dodge. Paula liked the idea of seeing Florence and I felt like making dinner. We reserved seats with In Tavola and even had the foresight to book a place to sleep before we took off to accomplish some errands we needed to nail down before we caught the train; I went to Dainese to pick up some kit , and she wandered off in search of pictures.

Pictures seem to become a part of daily life while we travel. They wrap up the train station, a view from a window, or the smile creases in a face for reminders; some means by which we try to translate the crash and climax of this transient world to those who weren’t there and could never understand… but Paula gives it her best and takes it to the next level. Check her blog out here.

Florence was almost exactly like I remember it, though unique in some ways with a new partner; new discoveries.

Check out all the scandalous details of our cooking shenanigans at In Tavola here. After a fabulous night of food, we wandered around the city, soaking up the experience, taking pictures and eventually stumbling back to the hostel for some much needed sleep.

FYI: Sogiorno Pitti has low ceilings. not much of a problem for a Medellina, but somewhat dangerous to tall Americans.

We wandered around the city taking pictures of peoples dreams and speaking of our own.

It was a brilliant weekend, but it eventually had to end as Paula and I both had to head off to school on opposite ends of the country. I’ve spoken before about my love of Colombia and meeting people like Paula and Mauricio has only deepened my appreciation of the country and people.

This amazing weekend of mine would never have happened if this lovely woman didn’t have the courage to walk up to a total stranger and strike up a conversation. The simple act of saying hello took the both of us on a weekend of comedy and adventure and brought two individuals, born on different continents, together and made them more than the sum of their parts; friends. So many days of the week, we walk past person after person without noticing them; without seeing a smile on their face, or a lost look that indicates we can be of help to them. I can only express to you how much better my time in Italy was because of Paula and her brilliance and hope that her beautiful example makes the world a better place for you as it has for me.

Wrap Up:

Plan ahead for Ducati. Check the schedule online or on the phone for tour dates weeks in advance if you can.

Show up 30 minutes early for your tour time slot. That will put you there a few minutes before they leave.

Trains are the easiest way to get to and from Bologna. Buses are the easiest way to get around within.

Talk to strangers. It’s worth it!