La Bella Vita Barge Cruise Photos

From: La Bella Vita Barge Cruise Review

Day 5: Ferrara (3)

As we walked down a side street, we saw a branch of Grom, a Torino-based gelateria chain that specializes in organic ice cream. (The company--founded in 2003--now has its own farm, where it grows "old cultivar varieties of peaches, apricots, pears, figs, strawberries and melons" for its gelati and sorbets.)

In a high-density city like Ferrara, it makes sense to bicycle with a companion who can sniff out pedestrians, cats, and other hazards on the crowded streets.

We encountered this friendly, furry dog just off the Piazza Duomo. It bore an amazing resemblance to Maggie, our Bearded Collie (who's featured in our dog blog, Maggie in Venice).

Downtown Ferrara was packed with shops (some of which were closed for lunch).

While exploring Ferrara's back streets, we saw yet another immaculate vintage bicycle, a baker hauling flour on a handcart, and a sewage truck pumping out a pozzo nero or cesspit:

We had just enough free time to visit a charity shop in a deconsecrated church, the Chiesa di San Michele, on the Via del Turco. The man at the cash register told us that it was one of the oldest churches in Ferrara, and that it was built before Ferrara became a city.

On our way to the van's meeting point near the Castello Estense, we witnessed this sad scene: a lost doll resting on top of a bollard, where a kindly soul had left it to be rescued by the owner or another child.