Touring Italy — Bologna
The final stop on this two-week Italian journey was in the city of Bologna. This is a very old city; one that still has a rather historic vibe to it. At times the city feels like it’s transported you into another era! A short walk through the market district will give you this effect — there you’ll find fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts, fish and more in wooden crates lining the sides of the roads. Live entertainment can be found in the main square and friendly folks warm you with their smiles.
If you’re a foodie as myself, you’ll be thrilled to hear that Bologna is the “unofficial food capital” of Italy. It was in this city that I had the best home-made pasta and largest pizza in all of Italy (larger than Milan’s pizza two years back). With the amount of talk each restaurant owner or employee made with us, it was evident how proud every food outlet was of their dish. The freshness and care into each meal was a delight.
There are many wonderful things to see in Bologna (certainly more than I originally envisioned) that it was a shame we only allocated a single day to this city. With such a short amount of time, my travel buddy and I were only able to scratch the surface as far as tourism goes. Amazingly, upon entering the tourism centre, we managed to join a tour just before it was about to depart! By joining this tour, it really helped shed light on many of the nearby landmarks that were either overlooked or taken at face-value without knowing its historical significance.
A great of example is actually in the main square Piazza Maggiore. Here you can find the Palazzo d’Accursio, which until very recently was the town hall. Above the entrance is a large bronze statue of the Bolognese Pope Gregory XIII, the man who introduced the Gregorian calendar. This is the very reason why tours are indispensable; without a tour guide, I would have simply acknowledged the statue without realizing what I was actually looking at. In addition to recognizing who the statue depicted, the tour guide provided a very interesting and humorous history of the statue that would be difficult to discover any other way.
Other points of interest in this square include the large San Petronio Basilica, which is iconic due to its unfinished front façade.
This building was originally intended to be the largest church in the world, even larger than St. Peter’s in Vatican City. However, once the Pope heard of this, construction was halted by way of the Pope commissioning a new library right beside the basilica, awkwardly cutting the sides of the church. The following image illustrates how strange of a cut this actually became.
With the basilica now impossible to complete as intended, “construction of the imposing marble façade was never finished so only the first third is covered in marble with the rest revealing its basic brick structure” (source). The outside of this church will likely never be completed.
Next was a visit to the city’s university campus! Did you know that the University of Bologna is the oldest continuously-operating university in the world? Yes, with a date of 1088, no university still in operation precedes the University of Bologna in the sense of a higher-learning, degree-awarding institute. However, take this information with a grain a salt as the word “university” was coined at this institute, and while other forms of higher learning existed prior to the University of Bologna, they are considered too dissimilar to the modern university you and I have come to know to earn the title of “university”.
With such a distinction, it was an obvious choice to visit the campus. We first visited Archiginnasio di Bologna, which is the original site of the ancient University of Bologna. Here you’ll find beautifully decorated ceilings, with crests of the professors and students who taught and studied over the centuries. It is truly a marvel to walk through this ancient place of education. Afterward, we would wander the actual University of Bologna campus, which is further away from this site.
One of the best stops on the tour was visiting Santa Maria della Vita.
Like most churches in Italy, this one is beautifully decorated inside with very tall ceilings, meticulously-crafted architecture and artwork. The highlight that separates this church from the others is the sculptural group known as the Sorrow over Dead Christ (1463) by Niccolò dell’Arca. It is often overlooked since the location of these sculptures is not obvious upon entering; you have to go to the altar and turn right. Nevertheless, it is absolutely worth visiting since these terracotta statues are eerily lifelike and capture the figures’ expressions with unbelievable detail. I found myself mesmerized by the workmanship put into this display.
The final activity was to climb the tallest remaining tower in Bologna. There are actually two towers beside one another, the Towers of the Asinelli and Garisenda, or alternatively known as the Two Towers of Bologna. These two towers are the undisputed landmark of the city, but interestingly are only two of an estimated 80 to 180 towers that may have once covered the cityscape (the exact number is a topic of great debate). While the exact reason as to why these towers were constructed is unknown, it is suggested that the towers were built as offensive and defensive posts as well as symbols of family power and wealth.
While both towers lean, each is climbable. We only climbed the tallest, called the Asinelli. Once you find the small entrance, you have to climb 20 steps up to reach the payment counter, squeezing between the wall and tourists on their downclimb. The cost is a mere €3, making it the cheapest tower climb I’ve encountered yet. After nearly 500 steps up, you’ll be greeted with a gorgeous view of the surrounding city.
The next image is a view of the main square Piazza Maggiore, with a great view of some of the attractions I mentioned earlier. The large church on the left is San Petronio Basilica with its iconic unfinished façade, the large dome is Santa Maria della Vita, the clock tower is Palazzo d’Accursio (the old town hall) and attached to the lower right is the entrance way with the statue of Pope Gregory XIII over the scaffolding. It’s really amazing to put things into perspective this way.
While the view was spectacular, I felt a bit unstable atop of this tower. Everything felt like it was ready to give at any moment and the stairs down didn’t fill me with comfort.
This brings us to the end of Bologna and sadly to the conclusion of my two-week trip in Italy. It was one heck of a trip and I’m glad I had the chance to share it with such a great traveller. Big props to my best friend for accompanying me on this two-week journey and making it such a fun adventure! Until next time, arrivederci!
Please hold down the 👏 button if you enjoyed reading this! Doing so helps support me and encourages me to write more!
This blog entry is part of the publication Robert Cekan Travels & was originally written on September 24, 2014
Robert Cekan is a young entrepreneur and proud Hamiltonian. He is the founder of the Hamilton discovery website True Resident, as well as Cekan Group, a property management group. He is also a Hamilton REALTOR® with Ambitious Realty Advisors Inc., Brokerage and an active blogger.
For all of Robert’s projects, please visit robertcekan.com
