Today I took a train to Bologna. We are planning on going as a family later so I chose some destinations that will be harder (or at least more annoying) to visit (or at least enjoy) with children. I started at the Bologna cemetery (Cimitero Monumental della Certosa). It was pretty fantastic, more than half of the photos from today were from here. I wandered about for two hours and explored maybe a third of the property. I would have happily stayed much longer if I had not been in Bologna, where it is (I pretty sure) both illegal and immoral to ignore lunch time. I picked a small restaurant on the outskirts of town called All'Osteria Bottega. I didn't have a reservation but in Bologna 12:30 is still pretty early for lunch; I was able to get one of the 27 total chairs in the restaurant. Here was the scene of many a hard choice, ultimately I had tagliatelle with an onion sauce and then roasted rabbit. It was fantastic. Bologna is famous for its tagliatelle (the official gold standard for tagliatelle, literally a piece of metal in the exact dimensions of the perfect noodle, resides in the Bologna Chamber of Commerce) and the onions for the sauce were from Medicina (a small community about 20 miles east of Bologna that is to onions what the Lower Rio Grande Valley is to grapefruit). People have been writing about the virtues of these onions since the 16th century. The service was super friendly as well. The waitress was extremely patient as I butchered her language and continued to talk to me in Italian, even though she was completely fluent in English. The point is I had a good lunch.
After lunch I walked to San Michele in Bosco, a church situated on a hill south of town with nice views of the historic center. I took some photos. Then I walked to the historic center and climbed up the taller of the Two Towers (Asinelli Torre, the adjacent shorter tower is Garisenda Torre). These towers are considered the symbol of the city. Both towers are leaning, significantly. The tall one is over 300 ft tall and affords great views of the immediately surrounding historic center. The 498 steps up were worn, wooden, and irregular. The exposed center of the tower was held at bay by an ancient handrail and made it possible to see from the inside just how not perpendicular to gravity the tower is. The central space was punctuated by a platform about every 100 feet (you know, so you couldn't fall all the way down). While not as fancy, this leaning tower is over 100 feet taller than the one in Pisa. So as not to keep you in suspense, it did not fall while I was there. It was built about 900 years ago and has been leaning for about 600 of those years. (Medieval Bologna boasted around 100 towers, fewer than 20 can be seen today).
Next I visited the Basilica of San Domenico. It is best known for having an angel carved by Michelangelo, an organ played by Mozart (when he visited Bologna), and the remains of Saint Dominic. The bouncer inside the church informed me of their strict no photo policy.
The Basilica di San Petronio is the largest church in Bologna and dominates Piazza Maggiore, the main square. Interestingly, the church was a civil project of Bologna and not of the bishops. During its construction there was a plan to make it more grand that St. Peters in the Vatican, but Pope Pious IV put the kibosh on that plan. The property wasn't handed over to the diocese until early in the 20th century. An apparently unrelated fact is that the front façade of the church was never finished. They couldn't decide on a plan, so it has remained only partially marbled. For a nominal fee of 2 Euros, photos were allowed. As a clear sign that we have had the fortune of visiting some truly magnificent churches (I'm looking at you, cathedrals of Venice, Florence, Milan, London, D.C., and Barcelona...) I was pretty underwhelmed by the inside of Bologna's most famous church. That being said, one of the 22 side chapels (the Chapel of the Magi) is covered in remarkable frescos by a dude named Giovanni da Modena. The entire left wall of the little chapel is covered in a depiction of heaven and hell. I learned while writing this entry that this fresco is also quite controversial due to Mohammad being depicted as one of the tortured souls. I took some photos.
A bit of trivia that has nothing to do with my visit, but worth mentioning, is that the University of Bologna was established in 1088. It was the first place of learning to use the term university and therefore is the oldest university in the world.
I wandered a little longer around town under the extensive system of arched colonnades (there are 28 miles worth of covered walkways in the city). I stopped at a salumeria and bought some prosciutto and some mortadella (which is what baloney, or Bologna sausage, is derived from) to take home. It breaks my Italian friends' hearts when mortadella and baloney are mentioned in the same sentence.
tagliatelle con cipolle Medicina (and enough of a reason to visit)
the view from San Michele in Bosco
Asinelli tower from San Michele in Bosco
arches of a colonnade
bronze of Saint Dominic (from 1627) on a column outside Basilica di San Domenico
also outside Basilica di San Domenico, a bronze of Madonna of the Rosary (from 1632, commemorating the end of the plague in Bologna)
silhouette of the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca, connected to the city center by just over 2 miles of covered pathway built in the 17th and 18th century) from the top of Asinelli tower
Piazza Maggiore from the Asinelli tower
the top of Garisenda tower from (you guessed it) Asinelli tower
roofs of Bologna from some random tower
the top of the Parish of St. Bartholomew and Gaetano, I forget from where
This window ledge is difficult to see while climbing up the tower and is not within easy reach from the stairs; apparently tourists enjoy throwing money at it.
I'm pretty sure this meets code.
Some of the colonnades are attractive.
Some have cool bookstores under them.
the unfinished façade of Basilica di San Petronio
detail on a gate of a chapel in the Basilica di San Petronio
I think this is St. Peter Martyr's chapel, in the Basilica di San Petronio, but honestly I'm not sure.
a reliquary in the above chapel that might be called St. Peter Martyr's with someone's femur bone
15th century crucifix above main altar in Basilica di San Petronio
main altar of some church
a reliquary crowded with bones
wall full of reliquaries, including box of bones mentioned above, in the Relic's Chapel
Kings Magi's Chapel, covered in frescos painted by Giovanni da Modena: Heaven and Hell on the left, scenes of Saint Petronio's life in the middle, and the story of the Magi on the right
random statue in foreground of picture of Heaven and Hell fresco
Heaven and Hell fresco by Giovanni da Modena. This was taken with my phone because it was unclear whether I was "supposed" to be taking pictures (even though I had paid for a bracelet for the privilege of taking photos in the church) in this chapel. Apparently a couple of terrorist plots to destroy this church (one in 2002 and one in 2006) due to the depiction of Mohammad in this fresco have been thwarted by Italian police. Wikipedia says so.
Bologna's Fountain of Neptune. The Maserati logo is based on the trident held by this Neptune. The base of the fountain is decorated with "lactating" sea nymphs.
In the Medieval period Bologna dug an extensive network of canals to provide water to downtown, and energy for the mills necessary for manufacturing. They have been largely covered over. This one is visible through a small window in a wall along the street.
on the way back to the train station
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