{"id":2808,"date":"2021-12-17T12:57:32","date_gmt":"2021-12-17T12:57:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/?p=2808"},"modified":"2021-12-18T07:32:45","modified_gmt":"2021-12-18T07:32:45","slug":"and-we-finally-got-to-bologna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/17\/and-we-finally-got-to-bologna\/","title":{"rendered":"And We Finally Got to Bologna"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Yep, finally. We flew into the Bologna airport (got a fabulous view of the city on approach), we’ve been to the Bologna train station a couple of times – this time it was for real! We took a morning train (oh man, now the Sheena Easton song is in my head) in and an evening train out, but it was no where near enough time. Two days minimum to do justice to this incredible city – a week would be best!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First of all, let me put this rumor to rest: Italian trains do run on time. In fact, sometimes they arrive early! The postal system is another story altogether. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bologna. Not Bologna, Oscar Meyer style. Although that is based on mortadella, which the Husband assures me, is far superior to the American product. There is also bolognese sauce, which is delicious, and my favorite, lasagna verde al forno. However, Bologna is not only about the food (but it is partly!), it is a very old city that has held onto its past in all the best ways and has created a delightful atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the first things about Bologna to notice is the porticos. Other cities, including Parma, have them, but not to the degree that Bologna does. In most areas of the old town, other than to cross a street, you are able to walk under these covered walkways. A few hundred years ago a law was enacted that stated the porticos had to be tall enough for a man on horseback to ride under them, so they are plenty spacious! Some have been rebuilt over the centuries, but there are plenty from the middle ages\ud83d\ude01, which makes my geeky heart happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this photo you can see various stages and ages of porticos alongside the buildings<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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It was fascinating to find this one – it’s not really been renovated yet. Uneducated estimate on the building is that it is from the 1700s.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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And here’s one beautifully decorated<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is a huge piazza in the medieval center of town, Piazza Maggiore. Standing in the middle of it, looking in every direction, is a feast for the eyes! On one side is the MASSIVE Basilica di San Petronio (fourth largest in Italy, third if you don’t count St Peter’s since the Vatican City is not part of Italy), another side is the Palazzo d’Accursio, which has been the town hall since the middle ages (earliest part of the building is 12th century). Opposite is the Palazzo dei Banchi, the newest (!) building on the piazza, as it was built in the 1400s. Next it is the Museo Civico Archeologico, which – GASP – we did not go in. There just wasn’t enough time! Opposite the basilica is the tourism office which is housed in the Palazzo Re Enzo. In the piazza is the Fountain of Neptune – completed in 1565. Sometimes even I have difficulty wrapping my brain around how old this stuff is!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The town hall, taken later in the day (duh)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Town hall and tourism office<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Palazzo dei Banchi and the Archeological museum<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Neptune’s fountain<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Same, later in the day \ud83d\ude42<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Basilica di San Petronio. The building next to it has a huge movie screen on it!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Meridian line inside the church. This was one of the most accurate gauges of the time of day and month of the year before timekeeping. At about noon each day the sun will shine on the current month.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Hmmm…I seem to have thought that July was an important month…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So, the Basilica di San Petronio. Impressive? Yes. Soul stirring? Not for us. It is very beautiful inside. Outside? Well, it never got finished. It’s not supposed to look like it does. But the beauty inside somehow just didn’t feel…right. Maybe we’ve been in too many old churches? I don’t think it’s that. By all accounts it should wow, and in sheer size it certainly does, just not in a spiritual feeling kind of way. I guess I could leave all of that bit out, however, I am the one writing this so it’s my thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This barely hints at the sheer enormity of the basilica!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Our next stop was much more fulfilling. It is informally called the Seven Churches complex – I’m sure it has another, proper, name but I don’t know it. This is where the earliest churches of Bologna were founded. Tradition states that Saint Petronius (Petronio) founded the first church here on the ruins of a pagan temple in the 5th century. The crazy thing is, some of the mosaics in that church still exist! This complex is really special. One of the churches is an 8th century miniature of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem. Crazy stuff! The whole feel of the complex was peaceful and spiritual -I loved it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The inner courtyard of the complex. The churches are all accessible from in here.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Exterior of the Holy Sepulcher. So beautiful.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Interior with the miniature of the Holy Sepulchre<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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What is likely a 6th or 7th century floor. And I walked on it! Yes, that is my foot and it’s in the photo on purpose\ud83d\ude01<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ancient supports built around an even more ancient pillar.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Roman mosaics are visible in a few areas of the floor.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Two more churches to cover…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Basilica di San Domenico is a little bit outside of the medieval center, not far, but not right there either. And now it is confession time: in my research I knew that this place had significant historical value and artistic value, but honestly I was so overwhelmed with creating priorities to see that I didn’t really think about WHAT a place was. And even when we were standing outside, waiting for the afternoon opening hours to begin, I still didn’t really think about it. They weren’t doing the guided tours – bummer – but there was an app to download. So, there we sat, in a pew in this beautiful space, and it still hasn’t penetrated my thick brain…a friar in brown and white walked by…still hasn’t clicked. OH! WAIT!! Domenico. Dominic. Dominican order! Wait, Saint Dominic is right over there? Sigh. Yep, and I call myself a student of Church history. Pathetic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saint Dominic’s tomb is a glorious thing. It was built some two hundred years after his death by Nicola Pisano and his students, with a later addition by no less than Michelangelo Buonarroti.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The tomb of Saint Dominic. The statuary at the top is the work of Michelangelo.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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The beautiful Chapel of the Holy Rosary.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The organ on the left side of the Chapel. Mozart practiced here.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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In a church filled with beautiful art I almost missed this. Tucked around a corner in a gated off area was a painting by Filippo Lippi (teacher to my favorite artist Sandro Botticelli)!<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

And, last church…even I was about done with churches for one day! But, Bologna’s cathedral beckoned. The Cathedral of San Pietro is lovely. In a city of massive churches it actually feels not massive. I could detail all of the art and other lovely items in it, but the most memorable bit for us were the areas of archeological excavation. A very nice young man gave us an explanation of what we were seeing – and allowed me to touch! – something that always makes me happy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Under the floor of the cathedral are areas where you can see (and touch!) the ancient columns it is built upon. The base of this is Roman, with the upper areas being 8th-10th century.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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This was found while excavating the Roman layer – the prints of an animal that walked across the cement while it was still wet!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now for impressions of Bologna itself…a very lively city with a lot to recommend it! You really do want to stop there. Really. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A beautiful alleyway<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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It’s not just Pisa with leaning towers. These two are leaning towards each other! You can climb the taller one.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A pretty Christmas light display<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Performing pirates!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The taller leaning tower at night \ud83d\udc9e<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Loved this!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Why to own a Smart car…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Our final view of Bologna – a glorious theater!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

An exhausting day, but a day well spent. So much we didn’t see, so much we just took a quick look at. Every reason to return here one day…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yep, finally. We flew into the Bologna airport (got a fabulous view of the city on approach), we’ve been to the Bologna train station a couple of times – this time it was for real! We took a morning train (oh man, now the Sheena Easton song is in my head) in and an evening … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “And We Finally Got to Bologna”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2808"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2851,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2808\/revisions\/2851"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wenomadwehappy.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}