I spent some time in Bologna, Italy when I was a kid. My cousin, Fulvio, would take me there on business trips with him. Fulvio was one of those Italian guys that you could never figure out exactly what it was he did for a living. He liked to dress nice, we always had fun, and we stayed in some really nice places.
And Fulvio had lots of girlfriends, too, even though he was married and had two daughters. Sometimes I'd even go over to his girlfriends' houses with him for lunch or just to hang out. I can say this with relative comfort for a couple of reasons: first, and sadly, Fulvio died a few years ago; and second, because nobody on the Italian side of my family speaks English.
I was thinking about Bolgna because it was the site of the big International Book Fair, and my publisher, Jean Feiwel, was in attendance. Bologna really is a beautiful city. As I remember, one of the unique features was the covered sidewalks. That may have changed now, because the last time I was in Bologna, there were no McDonald's, but I'll bet my house there's one there now.
But I do remember how great the food was in that region, in particular, the cheeses and the dark wines. I remember, too, being in restaurants and cafes where they wheeled around mortadellas, from table to table, the size of gradeschoolers. And, I'm pretty sure, that it is the origin of the American food bologna, or, in the vernacular, baloney.
In any event, as cool as this week has been, it keeps on getting cooler and cooler. I saw a picture (posted here... I think you can see it) of MY BOOK, Ghost Medicine, on display at the book fair in Bologna, Italy.
Now THAT is awesome. It makes me hungry. It makes me want to go back to Bologna and poke around in some of Fulvio's old haunts.
