Thought the patron of Bologna - St Petronius - should get a cover today as his feast is in a week. Also, the photos added to the blog today have feminism, dogs and dissent in common, so thought Marthese and Beth may like them.

A slower day in many ways- and goodness knows we needed it after yesterday's eating adventures. What else to start with then but a cooking course at Scuola Di Cucina with Davide as our teacher? We were a small group - joined by 2 young American girls (14 and 18) from LA California, not any other LA :-) Because one was coeliac we didn't do any pasta making, which was ok, because we did a risotto of zucchini flowers instead - and Mediterranean chicken and panna cotta. The chef was low key and knowledgeable and we worked our way through interesting things like making Parmesan bowls for the risotto and toffee as decoration for the panna cotta. The whole experience including eating took three hours.

We finished just too late to take the trenino up to the shrine of the icon of our lady by St Luke, so wandered home by the indirect route and did a little research before heading back out. (And I took a wander down to the university which is a couple of blocks away in our street- basically occupying all the buildings in sight. They would be the ones covered in graffiti and posters and looking distinctly down at heel. I guess with a history stretching back to 1088 you can afford to get a bit comfortable!

One of the things we forgot to do was make a booking for the viewing of the Last Supper in Milan. I thought we had snared tickets last night, but the order came back as unavailable. I tried again. The best I could manage, for our last day in the country, was two separate places in two separate tours - and we're still awaiting confirmation.

0n the road and off to the trenino - one of those cutesy trains that are really not trains that pulls a series of wagons. This one took us the 9 km up the top of the hill on which the shrine is situated, past the continuous portico that was built to shelter pilgrims, and the annual procession of the icon. The church dominates the surrounding landscape and provides magnificent views, and the icon has pride of place inside- with all of the painting except the two faces obscured by a silver 'cover' as is often the case. Back down in the trenino, then off for an aperitivo after another amble through the uni - this time with Anne. Prosecco, a slice of pizza and one of erbazzone (a kind of spinach slice) to share in a lovely untouristy and unstudented bar on the fringes of the university area.

Back to the flat to do the blog and off to dinner in a nearby osteria that makes its own pasta. Tough life, isn't it?

The walk to Osteria dell'Orsa was its main attraction- ie short. By the time we got back we had clocked up 15km of walking today, so while the swilling was willing the feet was weak :-)

As one might expect from an osteria, service was a bit rough and ready but the food was wholesome.