Before we left Venice The Operator made coffee and went to the bakery for our last breakfast overlooking the Grand Canal, Rosie must say he is a dab hand at using that ‘put on the stove element robot looking thingy’ espresso maker.
Good Bye Venice. We picked up our rental car and off we headed over the causeway, onto the Italian mainland headed towards Bologna. We arrived midday and we met Samuel at our apartment in the University district.
We are staying on the top floor (4 stories) and have a wee terrace overlooking the red tiled rooftops of Bologna. Scoop, we got our first anniversary wine….teehee. Samuel kindly marked all of the tourist spots on a map for us and gave us a few tips re eating out and bars.
It was lunchtime and one of the nicknames for the city is La Grassa meaning ‘the fat one’, the city is renowned for its culinary status and rich food legacy….so saying, off to lunch we went.
The Gourmand is a friend of Rosie and the Operators from when they lived in Aberdeen, he is a lover of Bologna and all things Bolognese….he has recommended that we visit his favorite lunch spot Tamburini…..The Gourmand has never let us down, the shop is like an Aladdins cave of meat, cheese, pastas and salads…to take away or to eat cafeteria style or sit in the bar for vast platters of antipasti. Rosie must say it is the coolest cafeteria ever….wine on tap.
We thouroughly enjoyed the largest ball of creamiest mozz ever along with a beautiful plate of antipasti featuring the delicacies of Bologna….melt in your mouth mortadella and Rose Salami coupled with sharp tasty Parmiggano Reggiano, aged Parmesan.
After lunch, keeping with the La Grassa theme, Rosie and The Operator wandered around the Quadrilatero a small grid of lanes on what was once Roman Bologna.
This small district is packed with delis, bars, fruit/vege stands, cafes, cake shops, butchers and fish stalls. It is narrow and people are shopping without hopping off there bicycles and dogs are underfoot, it is a very colourful and interesting place to people watch.
Bologna in contrast to the cities where we have just come from is so blissfully quiet. Rosie and The Operator were delighted to be able to walk around and not be shoulder to shoulder with others.
Bologna has a nice compact old town and looks so different to the other cities we have been. The city itself is squat, boxy and a little grim looking with its gothic architechture. So saying the other nickname for the city is La Rossa, meaning ‘the red one’ based on the terracotta colours of the buildings and the roof tops…..when the sun is out the city glows.
There are over 40km of arched porticoed walkways in Bologna, by law they had to 7 Bolognese feet high or 2.66mt…or, high enough for a man on horseback to pass comfortably under. Originally the porticos were constructed in wood around 1288 and in 1568 they started to be converted to stone.
Often decorated with frescos and family crests of influential families the porticos are the most glamourous protection from rain, snow and too much sun…..it also means that umbrella sales are incredibly low in this area. The porticos offer wonderful smooth footpaths away from the traffic and bicycle riders of which there are plenty….the downside for Rosie, they do block your view of the city skyline.
Did you know there were canals in Bologna? It is no Venice but there is an intricate network of canals running beneath Bologna which were open waterways a couple of hundred years ago and the new city has been built over them.
These canals allowed Bologna to be one of the leading cities in Europe in the 700s with a population unheard of at the time of 60,000 citizens….the waterways allowed for the running of multiple bread mills which fed the population. These are the only canals exposed today and it is quite amazing to think of all that water under the city.
The two towers of Bologna stand tall over the city….you would be right to think they are not straight, they lean quite disconcertingly. The tallest is the Asinelli which reaches 97 metres, the smallest is Garisenda which now only reaches 48 metres, 12 meters was lopped off due to the earth giving way under the tower.
As Rosie has said before about the towers of Italy they are a symbol of standing and power to the families that built them. You can climb the taller tower, and of course The Operator did.
He did say he was feared for his life, there is 498 steps and the rickety wooden stars wind around the inside of the tower….The Operator said they were not even a foot width wide and it was pretty hairy coming down.
Great pics of La Rossa though. Bologna is a student city with a large university….wait, there is another nickname La Dotta meaning ‘the learned one’….Bologna claims to be the oldest University in the world, founded in 1088. Local superstition has it ‘if you climb the tower as a student you will never graduate’.
The main square is Piazza Maggiore, a huge wide open space where the remnants of a stage with huge speakers and lighting rigs were being taken down in front of the church. This is the Statue of Neptune which dominates one end.
The sun was out and shining, it was a lovely warm 24c, Rosie and the Operator stopped to enjoy the view of the square and enjoy a bit of Vitamin D and a nice cold one. The building behind the beer is the Town hall, still used for this purpose today as it has been for centuries.
The bus loads of Japanese tourists have ceased, and Rosie needs to bust out her terrible Italian a little more often as fewer people are speaking English.
The Basilica, (photo below) is to the left of us….all of the buildings are way too big for my camera….
The Basilica of St Petronio dominates one side of the square, it is the fifteenth largest church in the world for those who are counting and is dedicated to to the patron saint of the city who was the Bishop of Bologna in the fifth century. The people of the city actually built the church and the first stone was laid in 1390s a sign of the power of the community over the church rulers.
The facade on the top half was never finished and is still earthen stone as the style couldnt be agreed on back in the day. Inside the church it is very minimalist and beautiful in the main nave, light floods in from windows in the ceiling illuminating the gold leaf cross that floats over the alter.
On the floor of the church is a meridian line (above left) which indicates the day of the year, they are also used to accurately calculate the length of the solar year. This one was designed by the astronomer Cassini in 1655 at the time when he was also a lecturer at the University.
There are two heavily armed guards at the doors of the Basilica….apparently in 2002 five men who were connected to Al Queda threatened to blow up the building and were arrested. In 2006 other plans were afoot by Muslim terrorists to blow up the basilica and were thwarted by police…….why?
Inside this shadowy chapel is a 15th century fresco of ‘Judgement Day’ which depicts the prophet Mohammed, in Hell, being devoured by demons, which in this day and age is blasphemous to all Muslims…….Rosie couldn’t get a picture of it…….the chapel is only open to tour groups…..and not of those of Muslim persuasion probably.
Lets just say, the Italian guards at the door were definitely racially profiling those who entered….
Rosie and The Operator have stopped for another beer in the sun in the Piazza San Stefano, a beautiful square with rough pointy stones as cobbles, the ‘stripes’ are smooth pavers that serve as walking and biking strips, with bikers giving way to walkers and taking the bouncy jiggly route over the stones with the old bicycles rattling like crazy. Love the free snacks you get with your beer.
San Stephano is not just one church but a conglomeration of four of the original seven that were built at one time or another on this site. It is a beautiful complex with a replica of The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem built inside said to be from the 5th century and commissioned by St Petronia himself.
The age is debated as archaeology dates to the 11th century when plans and drawings of the Sepulchre probably would have come back with knights from the crusades…..it is pretty amazing considering this church in Jerusalem no longer exists, and this could be the only factual recreation.
Wandering around San Stephano is lovely, there are lots of courtyards leading to the other chapels, it all feels very ancient and there is even a resident kitty….Rosie is missing hers and chased this around like a mad cat lady just to give it a pat…..he was very friendly.
Samuel recommended we go to Osteria de Poeti for dinner, he said it was an old authentic establishment with very good food, he was right. Set in a subterranean vaulted basement Rosie had a smooth and creamy mortadella mousse and the the most delicious and devine Taglietelle Ragu (or the name which must never be spoken in Bologna….Spag Bol)
We only scratched the surface in Bologna, it is a large majestic place and is beautiful in a different way to any other cities we have seen. The downside was the grafitti everywhere, it ruins a beautiful city but the plus was being back in a living breathing working city again rather that cities which have basically become museums, tourist traps and monuments to the past.
Tomorrow we are driving to the Cinque Terre….this is the area Rosie has been anticipating the most….we are staying in the village of Riomaggiore….Rosie has had this internet image of it seared into her mind with excitement……Rosie and The Operator wonder what the cold, hard, light of day and reality will be like…..
