A bit of Bologna

 I chose two cities for my four night trip.  I really wanted to see the mosaics of Ravenna and I needed to change trains in Bologna so I made that my second destination.  Bologna is the major city of the Emilio Romagna region where you also find Parma and Modena, cities you may have heard of for their famous cheese and balsamic vinegar.  It isn't a city that makes the short list for many tourists.  In fact, it isn't even included in the guide book I have.  But there were certainly plenty of people out and about on the weekend I was there and I really enjoyed my short stay.

Bologna was Etruscan, Gaulish, then Roman.  As the empire fell it was frequently under attack by the Goths and Lombards.  It survived and became a prosperous medieval city and an intellectual center.  

It used to be full of medieval towers, perhaps as many as 180 or more, but more likely 80-100.  Most were destroyed or fell and now only about 20 remain.  The towers were built mostly in the 12th and 13th centuries initially for defensive purposes as a final redoubt within a compound of connected townhouses.  This was a time of city states and fierce inter-familial feuds.  The towers which were originally practical, also became status symbols among the wealthy and powerful.  The taller the tower, the better.  

A pair of towers in the city center are the most famous, partly for their height and partly for the rakish angle at which they stand.  These are the tall slender Asinelli tower and the shorter Garisenda tower, with a more dangerous tilt.  They have been in the news lately as they continue to lean and threaten to fall.  The leaning started early.  Dante Alighieri mentions leaning towers in Bologna in his writings.  As of last fall, visitors are no longer allowed to climb the towers and traffic is limited around the base in an effort to preserve the city land marks.  It's just as well.  A local tradition says that if a student climbs the 498 steps of the Asinelli tower they will never graduate.  Since Bologna is a university town, this is a serious threat.

Bologna's leaning towers

Bologna's towers

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Another famous feature are the porticos that line the streets.  In a crowded city these covered walkways came about as a way to increase the floor space of the upper levels.  I appreciated them for the wide covered sidewalks, often a couple steps up from the street level.  In the era of horse travel the separation was probably quite nice.

Piazza Santo Stefano

Evening under the porticoes

The Basilica of Santo Stefano is a unique treasure.  It is a medieval warren of seven churches with the accompanying halls and cloisters.  It's easy to imagine a life of monks and priests in this place.  The oldest part of the church that is still standing date to the 4th and 5th century and was built over a temple to Isis.  As you might expect the church was added onto and rebuilt over the years as the church aged and was damaged by invaders.  Much of the current structure dates from the Benedictine work during 11th and 12th centuries after extensive damage from the 10th century invasion of the Hungarian armies.  

Map showing the growth of the San Stefano complex over time

Intricate stone work in a cloister

Pulpit in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

San Petronio

San Petronio, on the main square, is one of the largest churches in Italy.  Construction started in 1388 and continued in to the 17th century, but it was never fully finished, as you can see from the partially covered facade.  In spite of its semi finished state, it was the site of several historically important events, including the coronation of Charles V as the Holy Roman Emperor (1530) and two sessions of the Council of Trent (1547), a temporary move to avoid the plague in Trent.

The most interesting part of the church is the Chapel of the Magi.  It was one of the first chapels built and features frescoes telling the story of the visit of the Magi who traveled to visit the Christ Child.

Chapel of the Magi

Me in front of the statue of Neptune, Piazza Maggiore

I missed several of the important churches of the city, but I did climb the bell tower of San Pietro which overlooks the main square.  The air was hazy that day, as it often is in Bologna, but the views were still magnificent.

Steps up the bell tower

Terra Cotta figures by Lombardi in San Pietro

My first association with terra cotta is garden pots.  However, in Bologna during the 15th and 16th centuries it was a material for finely detailed and very expressive sculpture.

Cheesy appetizer typical of Northern Italy

The region of Emilio Romagna is a foodie center and Bologna is right in the middle of it all.  I took a food tour of the city and we tasted all of the regional goodies.  Mortadella is from Bologna itself.  Parmesan cheese is from nearby Parma and balsamic vinegar from Modena.  Tortellini are traditional in this region, made in the shape of the belly button of the goddess Venus.  The little pasta buttons are filled with meat and served in a rich clear broth, not a heavy sauce.  Tortelloni are larger pasta cousins filled with ricotta cheese.  The parmesan cheese is aged for years.  It's rich and crumbly and contains crunchy crystals when done well.  It is a treat by itself, not just a powdery pasta topping.  The balsamic vinegar is syrupy and sweet and used to top strawberries, ice cream, and parmesan cheese, not salads.

Here the bread is salted and delicious compared to the unsalted bread of Florence and much of central Italy.  I love to visit the different regions of Italy and see just how much the food changes.  There isn't one single cuisine in Italy.  It is incredibly regional and diverse.  When I am out of town I sometimes test restaurants by checking the menu for carbonara, a strictly Roman dish.  If there is carbonara it's a restaurant that caters to tourists.  I also look for the nonne, Italian grandmas, out for lunch.  That's a good sign.

Dante references all over Bologna

I loved my visits to the University of Bologna.  There are many different things to see including a series of interesting museums.  The university has long history.  It claims the title of the oldest university in the world, having started in the 10th century when a group of wealthy young men organized their tutors and book collections into the Alma Mater Studiorum.  It wasn't so much a physical location as an idea.  Students met where they could throughout the city in rented rooms, private homes and palaces, monasteries, and under the porticoes.  The university became a center of power in the 13th century as it continued to attract wealthy young men from influential families.  In the 14th century the local and papal authorities took more control and students lost some of their autonomy.  The university flourished during the Renaissance of the 15th century.  After the council of Trent in the 16th century the university was centralized into a single physical location under strict papal control from Rome.  With the religious restrictions, the university faded.  In the 19th century the university was revived as a public institution during the time of Napoleonic control and later the independent Kingdom of Italy.  Since the official relaunch in 1888, 800 years from its legendary founding, the university has grown to occupy a large section of the historical center and expanded into modern campuses in the region. 

 

Biblioteca Comunale dell'Archiginnasio

The Archiginnasio, built in the 16th century, was the first location of the forcibly unified university under papal control.  (It is now a city library now that the university is centered in Palazzo Poggi.)  Remember that Italy as we know it today was not unified until 1871.  At this time central Italy was known as the Papal states and Northern Italy was divided into many different city states who were constantly at war.  In 1506 Bologna came under the control of the army of Pope Julius II.  By the mid-1500s the university was the center of the counter reformation and a temporary home to the Council of Trent.  As such, many protestant students from Germany were forced to leave.  

  

The galleries and hallways are lined with heraldic symbols from the families of former students.

Anatomical theater

One of the rooms I really wanted to see was the Anatomical theater.  It isn't a particularly large room, but it is arranged so that medical students seated in rows, theater style, could watch the dissections being performed at the central marble table.  The room is elaborately decorated and includes sculptures of famous physicians.  On either side of the lecturer's elevated desk are Spellati, sculptures of skinned men.  It's rather gruesome, but appropriate for the setting.

I also visited the Palazzo Poggi, built in the mid 16th century for the Poggi family it later became the center of the Institute of Sciences in 1714.  It is now one of the main buildings of the University of Bologna.  Part of the building is now a museum which houses historical laboratories and educational collections.  It's fascinating.  There are rooms of collected animal specimens from around the world, wood printing blocks for scientific botanical prints, and models of star forts from the study of military defenses in an age when cannons were the latest military technology.  There were also extensive anatomical models of normal and abnormal human physiology and incredibly detailed models of sailing ships.  The whole thing was amazing.  Definitely worth the visit.

Models of star forts and cannons

Drawing of the specimen rooms

Specimen collections today

Printing blocks for botanical prints

I loved my visit to Bologna.  It's a lively city thanks to the students.  It gets a share of tourists, but wasn't overrun.  Will I go back?  Maybe, there is definitely more to explore in the region with Parma, Modena, and Verona nearby.