A mere 45-minute train ride away, Bologna was the breath of fresh (but still hot and humid) air we were looking for. It's hardly a secret and yet, the hordes were absent. We were greeted with a beautiful city steeped in sunlight, excellent food and classical architecture. So, you know, like every other beautiful Italian city you've ever wanted to visit.
Piazza Maggiore
We got our bearings in the Piazza Maggiore, Bologna's central square.
In every direction, we found something beautiful. Two 13th century palazzos, the Fountain of Neptune straight on and the historic public library all within our eye-line.
We came to find this out later in the day when, whilst waiting for a phone call from my sister to relay some big news, we were approached by a university student and her camera man. She wrote for a local newspaper and wanted to offer her free services as a tour guide in exchange for an interview: why do tourists come to Bologna?
She was so kind, so smiley, that it was impossible to say no. And so we found ourselves in a comical situation where an overly exuberant Italian man closely tailed us through the piazza snap, snap, snapping away. But this is also how we got a great tour of antique Bologna, making our way into Basilica di San Petronio. Despite its epic exterior, which I, ironically, don't have a picture of, this is only a minor church of the city (merely the sixth largest in Europe). We weren't even planning on going in but our tour guide convinced us to check out the splendour and controversy.
Basilica di San Petronio
Inside, inspiring our earth science nerdy brains, laid Giovanni Cassini's meridian line, the longest indoor meridian line in the world. To quote Wikipedia: The sun light, entering through a 27.07 mm hole placed at a 27.07m height in the church wall, projects an elliptical image of the sun, which at local noon falls exactly on the meridian line and every day is different as to position and size. The position of the projected image along the line allows to determine accurately the daily altitude of the sun at noon, from which Cassini was able to calculate with unprecedented precision astronomical parameters such as the obliquity of the ecliptic, the duration of the tropical year and the timing of equinoxes and solstices.
Yep, we didn't implicitly understand that either which definitely made it even more fascinating. And just around the corner from this, in the Chapel of the Magi, one of the basilica's 22 chapels, lies a fresco created by Giovanni da Modena. Inspired by Dante's Divine Comedy, the piece depicts the nine circles of hell. And although Lucifer dominates the piece, Mohamed is also depicted in the ninth circles which prompted a 2002 failed Al Qaida plot to blow the fresco up. To this day, military personnel guard the basilica with their rather large guns and entry to thisparticular chapel carries a £3 fee.
University of Bologna and the Jewish Ghetto
We eventually bid farewell to our entourage and made for food (there's a whole other post just dedicated to that) and other parts of the city. Sadly, I have few pictures from this wander--my phone was on its last legs and I had to conserve energy. But we did find the University of Bologna territory. Founded in 1088, it is the world's oldest university and the place where the term Alma Mater was coined. So there's that.
On the way, we came across the Two Tours, today a ubiquitous symbol of Bologna. But they also serve as a reminder that pissing contests are not exclusive to our modern times. The towers, named Asinelli and Garisenda, after the two prominent families who built them, were built some time between 1109 and 1119. The families were in competition as to who was the more powerful and so one tower is taller whilst the other leans just a little bit more than the other. Who won? The women who had nothing to do with building either of these.
The streets surrounding this part of town are home to student haunts and drinking spots. They're also home to the Jewish ghetto for a short time, historically speaking. From 1556 to 1593 Pope Paul IV decreed that
Jews be strictly segregated from the neighbouring Catholics. Nice guy. The streets are narrow, winding and today, home to the Jewish Museum, amongst other homages to the original denizens.
Jews be strictly segregated from the neighbouring Catholics. Nice guy. The streets are narrow, winding and today, home to the Jewish Museum, amongst other homages to the original denizens.
With two days in the city and questionable weather, we didn't get the most out of wandering around Bologna. The food is a different story and entry entirely. More on that to come.
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