Bologna

If yesterday we felt tired, drained, emotionally spent, and a little homesick, today we lived in Bologna.

Piazza Maggiore is one of the main areas in the middle of the city. I just stood there, turning from side to side, feeling a little overwhelmed. Other people must have felt the same way because everyone was taking pictures.

The Basilica de San Petrinio was started in 1390 and, according to Italian wiki, the facade will never be finished due to cost and disagreement about the style. The inside, on the other hand, was stunning. I never understand why, but these huge cathedrals just stop me in my tracks. San Petrinio has 22 side chapels, each one like its own little church.

In 1655, an astronomer named Cassini who was a professor at the university made a Meridian Line by placing a hole in a wall for the sun to come in. I barely understand it, but it tells the time of day when sunlight shines in depending on the position of the sun in the sky. The line in San Petrinio is 219 feet long and stretches across the entire left side of the church.

The sun shone on the crucifix and it nearly glowed, with a huge pipe organ in the background.

Next to the church was a display of people from Bologna who fought in the Resistance. My history is so weak here but there were many Italians who openly fought against the Germans in WWII. Here you could see faces and names, men women children families. Honestly, it slayed me.

I just wanted to stay in Piazza Maggiore. We ended up having coffee and a croissant to delay leaving. An adorable dog watched Mike’s every move. Even in this tourist area, 2 coffees and 2 croissants filled with cream was 9 euros.

We wandered the side streets with the most beautiful shops.

Bologna has more porticoes than any city in the world, with the beautiful covered arches covering 33 miles (!!!!!!) of sidewalk. Wiki says the first evidence of them is in 1091, when people built them as like porches on their homes to provide more living space. In 1288, it became law that all new buildings must have them. They were built mostly of wood, but in 1568, a law was passed requiring them to be made of brick or stone. There are all different styles and colors.

We had tried to get a hotel in Bologna but they were out of our price range. We reserved one outside the city center but decided it was just too far of a walk. Our AirBnb solves both these problems and we were glad to have it as we walked home for lunch and short rest.

I felt a little funny, however, when we walked to the University of Bologna in the afternoon. Busta AirBnb! one person painted (Enough AirBnb!). Stop Overtourism, said another. We know this is a real issue because even apartments in Orlando have become hard to find or too expensive and yes, AirBnb and others are part of the problem. In fact, we purposefully are not going to Venice because of these issues.

Anyway….we saw sorta like Venice on our walk! There is one area with a canal running through the city! People literally line up to look out a window to get a glimpse!

The University of Bologna is one of the oldest universities in the world, started in 1088. Like walking through Harvard or other magnificent schools, you can feel things happening. Lives are changing because of this place. It was disconcerting to see soooooo many students smoking and vaping and I wondered what this means for our world.

After dark we walked back to the Piazza Maggiore. John Lennon’s Imagine lyrics crossed the street, every single line, and we walked all the way to the end of the song.