Danielle Mitzman

Italians take their pasta pretty seriously but nowhere more so than in the north Italian city of Bologna, the hometown – of course – of Bolognese sauce. Not only were tagliatelle and tortelllni invented here, but you’ll even find legal documents in the city’s Chamber of Commerce, dictating the exact width of tagliatelle and the correct recipe for tortellini.

So it’s no surprise that Bologna is the venue for an annual pasta-making competition, “il Matterello d’oro”: the Golden Rolling Pin. Held at a local television studio, participants from all over the region compete to roll out the best egg pasta dough in town.

(first broadcast on Inside Europe, Deutsche Welle Radio, 11th March, 2010)

Last weekend, the Italian city of Bologna played host to Gods of Metal – the country’s largest annual heavy metal festival.

30,000 metal-lovers were there to head-bang to live concerts by Iron Maiden, Slayer, Judas Priest and many more. But a rather unusual performer was among the line-up of satanically-inspired names: Fratello Metallo. His name means Brother Metal – and he’s not your usual long-haired, tattooed, heavy metal singer. He is, in fact, a 62-year-old monk: a man of God with a passion for what’s often considered the music of the devil. Dany Mitzman dressed up in black, let her hair down and joined the crowds to see him perform.

(first broadcast on Inside Europe, Deutsche Welle Radio, 5th July, 2008)

While the rest of us tend to think of Italy as a country with a strong national identity, the Italians themselves are far more attached to their regional and local culture and traditions.
One Italian city with a particularly strong local identity is Bologna. Its proliferation of nicknames is testimony to this: “Bologna the Fat” for its celebrated cuisine, “Bologna the Red” for the colour of its buildings and traditionally left-wing politics, “Bologna the learned” for its historic university.
It has a reputation as the heart of Epicurean Italy, a city where the townsfolk really know how to eat, drink and be merry. And apparently, the intrinsic nature of the Bolognese people comes out through the way they talk too. Ask any Italian to impersonate someone from Bologna and you can guarantee they’ll start their impression with one word…

(first broadcast on EuroVox, Deutsche Welle Radio, January 2009)