One of the first things I heard about Bologna was that is called "la grossa, la dotta, la rossa" or "the fat, the learned, the red." The fat for the obvious reason that it has amazing food. It is known for Bolognese sauce, for tagliatelle noodles, for pizza, for delicious prosciutto and other meats, for cheese, wine, and gelato, and for the espresso (as with the rest of Italy). I can attest to all of it, except for the meat. It is called the learned because it is home to the oldest university in Europe, established in 1088. There are about 400,000 residents in Bologna, and 100,000 of them are students. And it is called the red, not for the red roofs (although the majority of the buildings in the old city do have red roofs), but for its communist roots. There are some famous bars in the city where communists used to go and have long philosophical debates - so the story goes, at least. One, in particular, has no sign and they only serve drinks...it's bring your own food.
The red roofs
Bologna is known for its towers. Think leaning tower of Pisa only square and taller. Traditionally, wealthy families would build these towers as a sign of prestige and power. At its height, there was something like 60 towers in the city. According to Wikipedia, which we all know is authoritative, there may have been as many as 180 towers at once during the middle ages. Today there are only 6. Because they were built so long ago, I just assumed that the majority of them were long gone by the 20th century. Apparently not. I saw a model of the city as of 1919 and there were still tons of towers! It then occurred to me that they were probably destroyed during WWII.
In any case, there are still a few left standing, including the famous "two towers." They are right next to each other, I think built by the same family, and one of them was leaning so much that it had to be shortened. It sort of looks like a stump now. People can climb the taller one. It is 496 steps to the top. The view is amazing - you get a panoramic of the city. I thought I had a picture of the towers, but I guess I didn't take any, but here is the wikepedia page. I got some amazing shots at the top and inside the tower:
I'm actually in a photo for a change!
One of the many views from the top. I'll put up more on facebook someday...
On my way back down.
I have a long way to go.
The Piazza Maggiore, the town square holds a unique statue. I won't do the story justice, but from what I understand, a pope commissioned a statue to be built as a complement to another one in Rome, and the artist produced this one. When the pope saw it, he was disgusted and had it sent to Bologna (see below and you'll understand why). It certainly says something about how the rest of Italy thinks of Bologna. I also wonder what the artist was thinking and what, if anything, happened to him as a result of this piece.
Yes...that is a mermaid with water spouting from her breasts.
I think I already wrote about my trip up to the Cathedral de San Luca, a beautiful cathedral a few kilometers outside the city center whose path is covered by porticoes the entire way. Here are a few pictures from it:
On our way up.
At the top. It was a really rainy day, so I don't have good shots of the view.
And going back down.
And I shouldn't have made fun of my guidebook after all. There was a strike today by the bus and train workers, and Al Italia is striking from July 19-21. That is the weekend we leave - fortunately most people are flying out on different airlines.
