Historical groceries of Bologna downtown

And a gift idea

Dec 15, 2024

I've been thinking a lot about this newsletter. I have received several of them with menù suggestions for the holidays, and I guess you have, too. So this year, when there are only 10 days until Christmas, I chose to offer another perspective: that of the old Bolognese grocery stores. During the festive period, they are lit with colors and scents but still deserve a visit at any time of the year.

Before that, I would like to share the next future of the newsletter, which changes yearly.

2024 has been a year of changes, surprises, and thoughts whipping up like whipping cream. It seems as if nothing is happening, but even before you see it, you feel the texture changing, imperceptibly at first, and then, in an instant, the thick liquid becomes a soft cream.

The same happens with thoughts. Sometimes, they take shape slowly; other times, you find them in front of you, already grown up and ready to go their own way.

While I was astonished by what was happening, life went on. That is how I found myself looking into the face of a new Christmas and the end of another year.

I know nothing about the new; I know the old one closes with a different awareness of me and a thought as bright as a mountain sky on a clear day.

At last, I have 1) found the virtual home I was looking for and, most importantly, 2) started to value my work and what I offer as a food writer, historian, and cook who graduated from the School of Culinary Arts Cordon Bleu in Florence and with a long experience gained, recipe after recipe, in the Room&Breakfast I ran with my husband for several years.

Substack is the virtual space I was looking for. It is a place where I can find passionate readers and cooks and where writers and readers can connect.
I devote a lot of energy and work to each newsletter. If you're wondering, it takes me two to three days a week. It's the time I need to research, read, cook, photograph, edit, write, reread, and keep in touch with my community, in addition to the monthly work on the editorial plan. The topics, such as the daily dinner, don't come out ready from the oven. As I always say, the world will be better when these two things happen.
For all these reasons, Food Notes from Bologna becomes a reader-supported publication. If you want to brace me, you can become a paying subscriber choosing between a monthly, annual, or supporter subscription.

Otherwise, you can continue to read the newsletters dedicated to free subscribers and leave a heart or a comment of encouragement now and then.

Give a gift subscription

This is all new to me, and I am still slightly confused. However, when I saw the first paid subscribers, I was incredulous and happy (thank you!), and, most importantly, I realized that living from my writing is what I really want.

If I don't try, how will I know the end of the story?

After the introductions, let's get to the details.

Free subscribers will receive one/two newsletters per month on various topics, as usual:

History and stories on dishes and ingredients
Recipes from my family and Italian repertoire
Essays and reflections on various topics
Via Emilia: things to do, see and eat in Emilia-Romagna

In addition, paid subscribers will also receive one/two contents per month, reserved only for them, where they will find:

Food guides on specific topics (next week, I will send a guide on making the Italian stock pot with vegetarian options as well)
Exclusive Recipes (read below*)
Video recipes (fresh pasta in January!)
Guides to the cities of Emilia-Romagna
Complete archive available

*At the end of 2025, paid subscribers will have an Italian cookbook, divided by chapters. What do you think about giving yourself or someone else a subscription for Christmas? And by the way, thank you for being here.

Historic groceries to visit in downtown Bologna

When writing groceries, I mean a place that, in Italian, is called drogheria (drugstore). Once it was a pharmacy and there you could buy spices and many other food things. Drogheria is a mix of the old model of pharmacy and a supermarket before supermarket. Today, they are fascinating places to buy all kinds of sweets, gourmet specialties, jams, wines and liquors, coffee, bulk candies, and household items.

In the Quadrilatero, the food heart of Bologna, I point you to Drogheria da Gilberto. I find many useful things here, such as saba (cooked must from Romagna).

Now, however, I leave you with the addresses of three places that have historical and, for me, also personal value because of frequentation.

Zanasi Vini e Liquori

Via D’Azeglio 37, Bologna
Store with wines, liquors, and specialties. Also, bar.

Everything has an ancient flavor, even the apron worn by Elio, the husband of Bice Zanasi, who left his last name but unfortunately is no longer there. Going back to Elio, he is a character stuck in the time that was, and that is why I advise you not to go in with your cell phone in your hand to take pictures as if you were at the zoo. Elio might invite you out of his place.

When I pass by, I buy bulk chocolates, toffee, cookies I love, like Lotus, and artisanal Bolognese products from Lelli Bakery. Then, I stop for a chat and coffee.

Drogheria della Pioggia

Via de’ Falegnami 20, Bologna
Store with bulk confectionery, candied and dried fruits, beverages, sauces, and household products.

This grocery store is one of the last in northern Italy.

As early as the 1600s, the premises housed an apothecary. Over the centuries the store has certainly changed but not too much either. Today, it is run by the Sarti brothers with a shopkeeper. Kindness, variety, and quality are the best ingredients for this place, where, every year, I go on a pilgrimage to buy the candied fruit that makes my Certosini cakes unique. By the way, here you can still purchase the ready-made mix of spices and yeast to make Certosino, just as in the olden days when people bought the little packet of powders from the apothecary.

If you want to take a picture, ask before you take it.

Antica Drogheria Calzolari

Via Petroni 9a
Wine shop, sweet and savory specialties. Also cafeteria

Last but not least.
We are in the Bologna university area, and the Delfiore family ran that store since 1959. From the previous management, Calzolari precisely, who opened in the early 1900s and took over the premises with the furniture of the pre-existing pharmacy, the current owners have kept the original Art Nouveau furnishings (front stores, counter, and shelves).

Here, you can find everything you would expect to find in a grocery store: bulk candies and chocolates, coffee beans and fresh ground coffee, pasta, wines, liquors, sweet and savory specialties. Here, it is possible to have a coffee or drink a glass of wine.

Don't ask for a spritz expecting to find the buffet corner.

The aperitif is uncomfortable by today's standards, and, unbelievably, it is what I like. You drink standing and without fries, but if you want authenticity, you'll find it here, The Drogheria Calzolari is the place to visit if you want taste the true Bologna, from the rough host who stands up and invites silence if it's too noise to the regular habitués. What I love most about this place is the people.

The owners and their collaborators, and the customers. The latter are a diverse humanity of artists, artisans, doctors, lawyers, judges, teachers, and neighborhood residents. Like Signor Giovanni, who has red suspenders and white hair and looks like Santa Claus, to say. Anything can happen here and only here. For instance, I remember a very young Roman couple, both tattooed from head to toe, conversed amiably for over an hour under the rain with an elegant lady from old Bologna.

This is the magic of Calzolari. Here, each person's humanity creates a unique and ever-changing alchemy. It is only a place for some. Here, I introduce friends they can appreciate and leave a spark of their passage. When you're in Bologna, you'll know where to find me.

Antica Drogherheria Calzolari also ships abroad.

Dear reader, We're at the end of the today's newsletter.

I will be back before the 25th for Christmas greetings and perhaps with a recipe for recycling the leftovers that will be plentiful from December 26.

In a few days, paid subscribers will receive the first food guide devoted to the Italian stock pot.

I wish you a kitchen full of cheerfulness, substance, lightness, and gratitude.
If you enjoyed the newsletter, leave a heart or share it to help me spread the word about my work. You can also subscribe or give away a paid subscription (despite my English).

Grazie, Monica

Food Notes from Bologna