Noi Camminiamo Bologna

Our first full day in Bologna began with a walking tour. It is not our first. We have done walking tours in Cambridge and in Bath in the UK and they were wonderful. Bologna, with our expert tour guide Maurella Zanotti, was no different. We had paid a little extra and we had the wonderful Maurella to ourselves. Just the three of us, taking our time, and hearing her insights about the history and buildings as we went. Maurella was very intelligent, fluent in English, witty, interested, and a pleasure to spend two and a half hours with.

Given that it was our introduction to the city and to the university, I am not able to recall all the details, but we will research them over the coming week so that we can process the marvels we saw today.

Suffice to say, that Bologna had an ongoing struggle between the church ie., the papacy, and the local government. This was an ongoing back and forth between the pope and the magnates of the city. The university is the oldest in the West, commencing in 1088 with its law schools, and was a force in the local economy as well. The Piazza del Nettuno (Piazza of Neptune) stands surrounded by the university, the notaries, the council, and the cardinal’s palace. All power literally centralised. The religious orders came next, the Dominicans, the Franciscans, the Augustinians and they all built their churches and cloisters. They are all still here.

We saw the introduction of the city’s famous porticoes, 40km in the centro district and 62km if you include those outside the city gates; a tradition that lives on. There were 100 towers in the medieval period, with twenty-five still standing. An amazing city, ripe for exploration.Read more