Pronounced Dotsa
In the hills of Emilia Romagna
Last Friday was one of the rarest of all days. A day where both Al and I had the whole day off. We decided to celebrate by getting into the car and travelling out to one of the nearby towns. Since we moved here we have explored the city but not the nearby countryside. Often when we asked people where was good to go, they would reply simply “colli” which means the hills and refers to those that surround the dip in which Bologna sits. We had received recommendations for the various highlights, panoramas and not to be missed food spots but we had not managed to get to any of them.
For our unexpected trip Al chose a village between here and Imola so that we would not spend too long travelling, but we would have a chance to enjoy the scenic countryside, which was not disappointing. One of the things that stands out for me is how open the land here is. I was aware that hedgerows were a feature of the English countryside but I had not really thought about what farmland without hedgerows looked like. There are vast fields wearing the colours of their various harvests and states of cultivation, like patchwork, with houses and farm buildings dotted about, stretching all the way to the horizon with only the occasional tree or patch of woodland. Here you might find any combination of agricultural activity side by side such as a small vineyard next to a freshly ploughed cereal field with only an irrigation ditch to separate them.
We have been lucky with the weather with temperatures reaching into the twenties in the day but dropping to a more comfortable sleeping temperature in the evenings, largely fine sunny days, with about one day of rain a fortnight. We have been told these high temperatures are not typical for this time of year and are above the seasonal average. On this particular day it was relatively warm (20c) but it was cloudy and rain was forecast.
What we knew about Dozza
All that we knew about Dozza what was on the Taste Bologna site recommending the visit, so we knew that it was a small medieval town at the top of a hill, with a castle called Rocca Sforzesca and an art biennale (festival every two years), which had been running since the 60’s, when artists are invited to contribute. We knew that the castle had a winery in the cellar that was run by the local wine promotion board. We also knew that there would be good food.
What we found when we got there
The biennale is called “Muro Dipinto” which translates as “Painted Wall” but this does not adequately describe what you see in this incredible place. We arrived just before the castle and used the local free car park, walking to the crest of the hill on which it sits. The ancient village consists of a few streets behind the castle and as you make your way through you see that every wall has art on it, full scale pieces that take up the entire side or frontage of buildings or a series of smaller pieces all completed over the decades, thus creating an open air art gallery.
Each piece has a small plaque detailing when the piece was created and by who. As you can imagine, different paint and application techniques age differently left open to the ravages of time and weather so there is a combination of murals from the 60’s that look as though they could have been painted in the September biennale just gone and others over more recent years that have almost completely faded away. A full list of all the artworks is available from their official site (see link above).
We have read that this is still not a known tourist spot despite being only 35mins drive from Bologna. This chimes well with our experience as there was only us and a couple of girls taking selfies when we visited and you do need a car to get there. There aren’t any tourist shops, just the usual small independent shops, such as coffee bars, pasta shops, butchers etc. Probably there are a few more galleries than your typical village of less than 10,000 residents, but otherwise it is remarkably typical of the area.
Gallery of photos from our visit
I have included the photos from our visit but I have haven’t tagged whether they are mine or Al’s. As usual just assume that the well framed ones in focus are Al’s.
Where we ate
Obviously, being us, we managed to time our visit with lunch. We had spent the previous three days eating and drinking well while we showed Al’s parents around Bologna so we had vowed that we would only have something light, like a sandwich or simple bowl of pasta. We were hungry and looked at a few menus and picked a recommended place that was perched on the side of the village so the terrace, where you were seated to eat, had views across the valley. The restaurant was Cané
The view was breath takingly beautiful and the service formal and old fashioned, but also friendly and welcoming. The waiter brought the standard menu and the tasting menus and, quite frankly, we thought why not? We did not regret it. To eat in such an incredible location, with such expertly cooked local produce was a joy and the price was reasonable too.
The Meat tasting menu 
Local wine by the half bottle! 
Carpaccio of beef with tomato and rocket salad 
Cané’s house tortelloni 
Grilled lamb with Sicillian tomatoes 
Dessert
It is hard to overstate how amazing this piece of lamb, expertly cooked and accompanied only by a wedge of lemon, piece of lettuce and some incredible grilled tomatoes was. Its emblematic of what I love about Italian food. Great produce, simply cooked.
As we were here it would have been rude not to check in on the winery so after lunch we headed back towards the castle. The winery is in the extensive cellars and there was a lot to choose from. It was a great venue and had a beautiful tasting area/restaurant, although this was not open when we visited. The most famous local red grape is Sangiovese so we decided to take this opportunity to pick up a good bottle. I picked one purely because it was called “You’ll never walk alone” while we were more scientific with our second choice, having researched good years for Sangiovese and agreed a ceiling price. This bottle will probably form part of our Christmas table this year so I’ll keep you posted on whether we chose well or not.
