In a few hours time all the seats in the square will be taken as the Bolognese flock to see another big film at this temporary outdoor cinema.

The tour is preparing to leave this fabulous city in the morning and head for the Tuscan coast.

Bologna has surprised and delighted and the Blog hopes to be back soon, so probably will be.

Although it has been a very enjoyable week the Blog is aware of all the action taking place back at Enable and knows it has been the most inconvenient time to be away from base. However the Blog also knows about all the work being done and that everything is in the best possible hands.

As Bologna is considered to be the capital of Italy with regard to culinary matters, there are naturally many places where you can eat great food and drink fine wine in atmospheric surroundings. And so the tour has sampled as much of all this as possible.

It was all very relaxing except for Thursday when a guy sat at the next table to the tour and immediately we were surrounded by photographers and assorted hangers on. The Blog has no idea why.

The Blog is very pleased to see the appreciative comments left on the tour blog by ardent Bloggers but is for some reason having difficulties in responding. Hopefully this technical problem will be solved soon in the meantime keep the comments coming.

Bologna has the oldest and most respected university in Italy. There are some great buildings with some great frescoes on the campus. Sadly the area is also covered in graffiti.

According to what the Blog was reading at breakfast, the area is characterised by punks with dogs on strings who later graduate to work in the city's banks. OK not all the young people in the picture look like punks but they do have dogs.

By the way, the Blog has nothing against punks and liked the Sex Pistols and The Clash, just in case Bloggers thought the Blog was being unfair to punks.

Cristina Dona was playing on the campus in the evening but the Blog couldn't work out how to get tickets. If any Bloggers are unfamiliar with Christina Dona check her out on itunes. Anyway, why wasn't the whole tour given free passes?

Bologna has its own twin towers and here they are.

Years ago every family of standing built their own tower and so there were hundreds in the city, well lots anyway. All the towers were pulled down in the 19th century as part of some misguided re-development plan, sounds familiar . Now there are only these two left and a couple of others. Mrs Hayes climbed the 500 steps of the one on the right but the Blog was busy elsewhere.

The back alleys are also the place to go for all the interesting shops selling fine wines, cheeses and all sorts of food. Tamburini is the most famous of these and so the Blog spent a little while window gazing and wondering what some of the items actually were.

Back in Bologna, the back alleys are busy places with lots of local produce on sale and lively debate.

The tour moved on to Parma in search of the two products this place is famous for parma ham and parmasan cheese, neither of which the Blog is particularly fond of.

Having expected to see great balls of parmasan cheese being sold on street corners and massive hams hanging up in every other shop, the Blog was both relieved and disappointed at the same time.

But Parma is a smart city full of smart shops and a very striking cathedral and an even more striking Baptistry, seen here, which leans and has a very well decorated ceiling, not shown here.

On Wednesday the tour visited Modena and Parma.Modena is the home of Ferrari, the best vinegar and of course Luciano Pavarotti.
The Blog had expected to see shops selling Pavarotti memorabilia or a statue of the great man or a plaque to show where he lived or a road named after him. Something for goodness sake. But there was no evidence at all of the big guy's former presence. So the Blog has posted a little reminder in the toolbar. Watch and listen in the office because the Blog is away.

Bologna is called the capital of Italy for allthings food and the Blog understands why.
Everywhere there are shops selling produce the Blog can't even name, cakes and pastry emporiums galore and eating establishments to suit every taste, if not pocket.

The tour is not always well researched and to include Bologna was a last minute impulsive choice, not typical of the Blog. But after a whole full day in this city the Blog can report that Bologna is a surprising delight.

Everyone here welcomes the tour and are very friendly except the person shown here. Perhaps this guy has heard that the tour will be followed by a visit from Nick peddling his Apprenticeships as usual and hence his rude gesture.

Portico di San Luca is the super portico. It goes on and on for 2 and a half miles up a very steep hill, reminding the Blog just how out of condition he has become in recent times.

The Blog often lagged a long way behind Mrs Hayes, whose idea this whole thing was, but eventually made it to the top and was rewarded with a pleasing view of the city. The tour's guide book says Portico di San Luca is the longest arcade in the world and the Blog believes that this is true.

You can walk all around Bologna, as the Blog now knows, and always stay in the shade. The whole city is efficiently served by arches.

Porticoe's they are called and underneath them there are posh shops and welcoming bars. All in all porticoes seem to be a very helpful idea.

A closer look at the fabulous fountain reveals four water sprouting nymphs. Apparently years ago this display so upset the papacy they wanted Neptune destroyed. The Blog is sure everyone is pleased Neptune and his nymphs live on to delight all those that see them.

One of the places that everyone gathers is the Piazza del Nettuno where there is a great fountain in honour of the former god. Here is a picture of this fountain.

Piazza Maggiore is a magnificent piazza that this
post can't do justice to. This is because the best building the Basilica di San Pertonia is covered in a sheet as it is being renovated and the other great building, the town hall, has a spectator stand in front of it.

There is a festival happening here and the square is being used to show films on a gigantic screen, hence the spectator stand, and so the square is filled with chairs.

Anyway, although you can't see the best buildings, the one in the picture is still pretty good.

So at 9am on Monday the tour flew out of a very wet Gatwick.

By 1 pm local time we were sitting in a very hot and sunny Piazza Maggiore in Bologna having a welcome Peroni.

Here is picture of the very spot.

Here we go, the 2011 tour.

Just as in 2009, the Blog manages to choose the worst possible possible time to go on tour. But the tour goes ahead because the Blog knows that the team back home will take care of business.

Much of what will be posted will be familiar to fans of the 2009 and 2008 tours as the Blog returns yet again to Tuscany. The Blog can be outstandingly predictable at times.

Enjoy the tour and join in by posting comments, feedback, complaints, insults or whatever.