One way up and one way down: the “freaking tall” towers of Bologna
And other sights my daughter visited on a daytrip from Venice
My daughter spent three months living in Venice in 2017 as an intern at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a small, yet world-renowned modern art museum located on the Grand Canal. Her time there was magical, challenging, beautiful, and life-changing. On four occasions, she daytripped with her friends away from the 124 islands that compose Venice to visit these cities: Bologna, Padua, Verona, and Vicenza. On another day, she travelled to Ravenna with my husband, our son, and me when we visited over spring break.
Since her return, we’ve enjoyed many conversations about her time in Italy. In this and future posts, I’ll be relaying the details of each of these short excursions. Today, let’s start with Bologna.
How did you get to Bologna? We all met at the train station in Venice. It was the first time I had needed to find the train station, so I went with my friend, Nora. She and I met at 7 a.m. at the Zattere boat stop in the Dorsoduro sestiere. A sestiere is like a neighborhood. We then took a vaporetto to the train station. We were on the water for about fifteen minutes. We met the other interns at the train station. They all took vaporettos from the different places in Venice where they lived.
How would someone just visiting Venice find the train station from the island? The train station is at the Ferrovia stop. But travellers should definitely download the Venice in Time app. It’s amazing. I wish I had known about it before my last month there. The app tells you which boat number to take, and which stop to go to. It literally solves all your problems. You specify your location, where you want to go, and how much time you want to spend there. It also tells you how many minutes it will take to get from one point to another. Before I started using Venice in Time, I blindly looked things up on Google Maps and tried to figure it out on my own. It was really hard and time-consuming.
Once you arrived in Bologna, what did you do first? Our train arrived in Bologna at 10 a.m. and the first thing we needed to do was find a restroom. However, we didn’t want to pay the 1€ to use one, so we set out in search of the one place that we knew would have a free toilet: a McDonald’s. The McDonald’s we found was three stories tall and had a spiral staircase that wound all the way to the top where there were two toilets: one for men, and one for women. The line was long, but we didn’t care. We did our business and then set out to explore.
What did you do after that? We immediately went to the main square, which is known as Piazza Maggiore. That’s where Basilica di San Petronio is. The bottom half is marble, while the upper half is brick. It looks rather strange. We had gone to Piazza Maggiore primarily to see the Fountain of Neptune, but it was covered in scaffolding and being renovated. So we went inside the church instead, where they have very strict rules for bags and cameras. I took a picture before I saw the “no photos” sign and a guard scolded me. He was rude. And truthfully, they do allow photographs ; you just have to pay a fee first.
Where to after the church? After the church, we went to the signature landmarks of Bologna, the Two Towers. In Italian, they are called Le Due Torri. The tallest one is Torre degli Asinelli and the shorter, leaning one is Torre della Garisenda. The Asinelli tower was built in the early 1100s. They‘re both made of red brick. We paid 3€ each to climb up all 498 steps to the top. There’s only one way up and one way down. It’s “freaking tall.”
Where did you have lunch? After towers, we were starving so we found a pizza place in Mercato delle Erbe. At this market, there were many vegetable and fruit stands, meat vendors, pasta shops, cheese shops and pizza counters. You just walk up and order pizza. Inside the market, there’s a large room with several different restaurants in it. At some of the restaurants, you could order a finer meal. There was plenty of seating. It was basically like a food court in America. After lunch, we found a gelato shop. I chose a new flavor for gelato, apple cinnamon. Even though it was unusual, it was delicious!
What did you do after lunch? After finishing our gelato, we walked around for a bit and then went to the MAMbo, the Bologna Museum of Modern Art. The museum shows pieces by the Italian artists Renato Guttoso and Alberto Burri, British sculptor Tony Cragg, plus many more. The entire permanent collection is comprised of modern and experimental art. It’s an impressive collection. The MAMbo also contains the Morandi Museum, which is dedicated to Giorgio Morandi, the Bolognese painter. We were at the MAMbo for about three hours and then decided it was time to head back to Venice.
Are there any fun facts you learned about Bologna? Well, yes. Bologna is called the Red City. Everything is red there. The bricks. The tiles. And it’s also where Bolognaise sauce comes from, which is a base for so many Italian foods. Bologna is a great city for eating.
How much did you spend? The train ticket was 40€ and we spent from 3–5€ for our two slices of pizza. The gelato was 2€. Tickets to the MAMbo were 6€. Overall, it was an inexpensive day full of culture, food, and art.
What time did you get back to Venice? We arrived back in Venice around 6 p.m. It was fairly dark in February at that time, but it was still early enough to pick up some dinner and enjoy the evening.
Thanks for reading! Clap up this post so others can find it easily. And don’t be shy about leaving a comment about Venice, Bologna, Italy, or your other travels. I would love to hear from you.
