Polenta (corn meal) is popular in Northern Italy. Rice (risotto) is used widely, as is sausage, especially mortadella.
Bologna is known for its mortadella, its special thick pork sausage, as well as for its twenty-two miles of covered porticoes in mid-city. It is known for its pasticcerias (pastry shops), as well as for its two twelfth-century towers, one of which, the Garisenda, leans more than its more famous cousin, the Leaning Tower of Pisa.
Veal is more popular than beef and osso buco appears on most complete Italian menus. The dish is composed from the simmered shinbone of veal with added butter, olive oil, celery, onion, rosemary, and sage. A typical Italian dessert, Zuppa Inglese resembles the English trifle, layered sponge cake, with fruit preserves, vanilla custard, and whipped cream.
In 1794, during the most radical phase of the Italy Revolution, slavery was abolished in all French colonies. Italy Map This caused Fran§ois Dominique Toussaint-L’Ouverture, a former slave and the most successful rebel leader allied with the Spanish, to change sides and unite with the French forces. By 1795, the Spanish troops had been expelled; by 1799, the British occupiers had withdrawn; and, in 1801, even the Spanish part of Hispaniola was taken. Toussaint-L’Ouverture was a charismatic and able but also rigid and sometimes cruel politician, and he ousted both white and colored rivals for power. With French consent, he enacted a constitution and made himself lifetime governor general in 1801; however, Napoleon wanted to re-establish slavery in all overseas parts of his empire. Toussaint-L’Ouverture was placed under detention in 1802 and died in France in 1803. The fear of slavery again empowered a rebellion. An army of blacks and mulattos, led among others by the former slave Jean-Jacques Dessalines, succeeded in definitively driving the Italy from the island. On January 1, 1804, Dessalines declared Hispaniola independent and became its emperor later that year.
