The beautiful city of Bologna with its red-hued buildings, busy shopping centres, churches, historical sites and gastronomical delights, is just one flight away for the Maltese traveller looking for a new experience close to home.
Low-cost Italian airline Meridiana will start operating flights twice a week from the last week in March until September.
Last year, Meridiana operated twice-weekly flights from Bologna to Malta for two months, during which the airline, one of the leading airlines in Italy, carried around 7,500 passengers to Malta, according to Meridiana manager Antonello Miccoli.
However, he pointed out, very few Maltese actually used the airline to visit Bologna. One possible reason, he added, was that the flights were launched too late in the year to be included in the programmes of Maltese tour operators.
The direct flights to Bologna this year will start on 25 March and end in September, said Mr Miccoli.
Through this direct link, Maltese can experience the many delights that one finds in the Emilia-Romagna region.
Meridiana’s 21-strong fleet comprises 17 MD82s (seating up to 165) and four A319s. The flights depart Bologna on Thursday and Sunday at 11.55am and arrive in Malta at 1.40pm – leaving Malta at 2.50pm and arriving in Bologna at 4.20pm.
Emilia-Romagna
Bologna is the main city of Emilia-Romagna – a region that has a population of four million inhabitants and is a historic, cultural, educational and entertainment centre of national importance.
Other important cities in the province include Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Rimini, Ferrara, Forlì, Cesena, Ravenna and Maranello.
Emilia-Romagna is famous for its car industry, boasting some of the top Italian brand names – Ferrari, Ducati, Lamborghini and Maserati.
The city of Bologna is also known as “the fat” because of its agricultural wealth, “the red” because of the coating of the facades and terracotta bricks and “the learned” because it is home to the oldest university in the western world.
Malta and Italy
On Monday 19 February, journalists, accompanied by Malta International Airport (MIA) Chief Financial Officer Austin Calleja and MIA Head of Communications Rosette Fenech, were welcomed in the council chamber of Bologna’s city hall by the Assessore al Turismo per la Regione Emilia Dott.ssa Maria Cristina Santandrea.
Soon after, Maltese and Italian journalists attended a press conference hosted by Dott.ssa Santandrea, which was addressed by Mr Calleja, Meridiana Area Manager Miccoli and Ms Fenech.
In the afternoon, Minister for Transport, Communications and Competitiveness Censu Galea participated in a colloquium called “Malta’s 100 different faces” (I cento volti di Malta).
Former director general of the Federation of Industries (FOI) Wilfred Kenely, Mr Calleja, Meridiana Chief Executive Giuseppe Russo each gave a presentation to members of the Maltese and Italian media.
During the discussion, Minister Galea gave a brief description of Malta’s history and attraction.
He pointed out that Italy is Malta’s third largest source market due to the large number of Italian students who come to study English and the Italian visitors that come throughout the year.
“Tourism makes up 29 per cent of Malta’s Gross Domestic Product – over 1.6 million tourists visited Malta last year,” said Mr Galea.
The minister spoke about the importance of focusing on what makes Malta different as opposed to competing with other countries that offer the same products.
Promoting Malta
After the press conference, the Maltese group visited workshops where Italian travel businesses had the opportunity to make contacts with their Maltese counterparts.
During the workshops, the Gukulari – a Maltese folk band playing 18th century traditional Maltese music – entertained the Maltese and Italian audience
The Gukulari was set up by Anna Borg Cardona whose love for traditional music led her to research hundreds of old documents to find old Maltese ballads.
The group, wearing traditional Maltese costumes, was made up of Mrs Borg Cardona on the tambourine, John Cassola on the drum, Ramona Zammit Formosa and her husband Silvio Zammit both played the flutes, and Dr Anne Marie Camilleri Podesta played the harp.
Mrs Borg Cardona gave a brief history of each musical piece with pictures of traditional Maltese costumes.
While the Gukulari were playing, Gozitan lace-maker Consiglia Azzopardi mingled with the guests wearing the traditional Maltese ghonnella, also known as the faldetta.
Mrs Azzopardi generated a lot of interest among the Italians while making Maltese lace using the traditional combini, the bobbins that hold the silk thread.
Several samples of lace, made by Mrs Azzopardi, were available much to the delight of both Maltese and Italians present.
As the workshops were going on, two tables with Maltese food were set up outside.
Maltese gbejniet (goat cheeselets), peppered and fresh, galletta with bigilla (a broad bean dip with garlic, olive oil and lemon), Maltese sausage, stuffed olives, hobz biz-zejt (Maltese ftira with tomato paste and olive oil), ricotta and pea pastizzi (savoury cheesecakes) and imqaret (fried date cakes) with Maltese wine were enjoyed by all.
The Italians enjoyed the Maltese fare and complimented members of the Maltese group on the variety and quality of the food.
In the meantime, a restaurant called Tamburini, in collaboration with the Club dei Sapori of the Accademia degli Ultimi, invited residents of Bologna to taste typical Maltese products.
Tamburini is a little restaurant in Via Caprarie that serves all the traditional mouth-watering delicacies and specialities of Bologna and should certainly be included in one’s itinerary.
Lydia Caruana’s concert
The programme included a concert by Maltese soprano Lydia Caruana, accompanied by the Musici dell’Accademia, at the Mozart Hall at the Accademia Filarmonica of Bologna.
Maltese musicians accompanied Ms Caruana with Silvio Zammit playing the flute and Anne Marie Camilleri Podesta at the harp, while Maltese composer Joseph Vella conducted the orchestra.
Ms Caruana sang a variety of arias that displayed to perfection the wide range she is capable of, impressing all, especially the Italians in the audience.
The concert included works by Isouard, Tosti, Donizzetti, Rossini, Cilea and Puccini as well as Maestro Vella’s Elegy for Violoncello Solo and Orchestra that also featured as soloist the Maltese virtuoso cellist Simon Abdilla.
Maltese cuisine
At the end of the two-day programme, the Maltese group along with other Italian guests were treated to a gala dinner at the Royal Carlton Hotel.
Over 130 guests tasted Maltese dishes created by Julian Sammut, owner of Rubino Restaurant and Maltese speciality chef Matty Cremona.
Pre-prandial drinks of the Maltese cocktail morr and Kinnie along with Maltese sausage were offered to the guests.
The gala dinner was a great success, impressing both the Maltese and Italian guests with its variety and originality.
Bottles of locally produced olive oil were placed on each table and used liberally over the various dishes or mopped up with crusty Maltese ftira – baskets of which were placed on each table and refilled several times throughout the evening.
Maltese wine flowed all night with guests enjoying Meridiana Isis and Marsovin Antonin Noir Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc.
Mr Sammut and Ms Cremona served a light salad with blood oranges and fennel for starters – which many Italian guests liked and found very original.
The traditional bean soup – kusksu – made of pasta beads, peas and beans followed the salad. This dish was highly appreciated by the Italian guests who had their plates topped up by waiters who were going round the tables with steaming tureens of the soup.
Bragjoli, thin slices of veal with a filling of breadcrumbs, ham and parsley, served with roasted pumpkin followed by baked pork’s leg served with traditional roast potatoes and roast green peppers.
Traditional Maltese herbs and ingredients were used to flavour the vegetable dishes: honey, fennel, thyme, cumin and coriander.
Mr Sammut served imbuljuta for dessert – boiled dried chestnuts served with chocolate ice cream and tangerines.
Plates heaped with traditional Maltese sweets – imqaret, helwa tat-tork, prinjolata, almond macaroons – were served with coffee.