It’s a familiar scene—ceramic plates and pasta bowls framed with silverware and glasses line long tables in a yellow cafeteria-like room. Dotting the midline of the table are pitchers of water and wine, baskets of bread for the inevitable scarpetta, and vases of olive oil and balsamic vinegar (we are near Modena after all).
Chatter between the guests and those who serve them fills the air. It’s lunchtime in Bologna, but we’re not in one of the many restaurants that’s makes Bologna a dining destination. We’re in one of the city’s four Cucine Popolari where all of the servers, cooks, and dishwashers are volunteers, and everyone eating is in need.
