Palazzo Hercole: Alma Mater Studiorum

Mui had a meeting with a tax attorney this morning to learn a bit more about tax filing requirements for Italy and how the tax treaty with the USA will impact our filings. While he was gone, I did some household chores.

It was getting on towards noon when Mui called to say he had completed his errands. I suggested that he pick up some take out for us to eat at home before we go sightseeing. So, he stopped at the Mortadella Lab, which bills its menu as “L’inimitabile street food di rosette con la Mortadella” … or in English, the “inimitable street food of rosette [a type of bread] with mortadella.”

Passing by the shop, we often see very long lines, with people sitting on the pavement outside to eat their sandwiches. No wonder the place is so popular … I’d say that the lab delivers on its motto. Mui came home with two versions of the sandwich. We split the one with the mortadella topped with a lemon carpaccio and rocket. We’ll have the sandwich with mozzarella for breakfast tomorrow.

“Alma Mater Studiorum” is the official Latin name and motto for the University of Bologna. Founded in 1088, it is the world's oldest continuously operating university. Its motto translates as "nourishing mother of studies," and represents a major public research institution with over 85,000 students and a multicampus structure.

The different departments are spread out across the city. Our stroll today took us to one of the mini-campuses. Palazzo Hercolani, commissioned in 1785 by an aristocrat by the same name, houses the Political Science Department … a hopping kind of place as evidenced by the students moving about.

There is plenty of Baroque and Rococo ornateness inside the palazzo: from the grand staircase that is flanked by oversized statues and covered by a soaring ceiling painted with a fresco, to rooms and halls — now used as classrooms — also with frescoed ceilings. In the niches of the balustraded first floor balcony were rather fierce-looking statues … one of which I recognized as depicting Hercules capturing Cerberus, the 3-headed dog that is better known as the Hound of Hades. I figure the others likely depict some of the other tasks.

While we were able to peek into some of the classrooms to view the frescoes, we were unable to go into the ground-floor rooms that I understand have some especially notable paintings. Methinks we’ll have to go back another time … perhaps even take a tour … if one is offered.

From the palazzo, we continued our walk to where the road reaches Porta Maggiore — aka Porta Mazzini — the eastern portal of the medieval walls of the city. The gate dates back to the 13th century … with additional fortifications added at the beginning of the 16th century by Pope Julius II.

We were surprised at how small and simple this gate turned out to be when compared to the others we’ve come across. Turns out that work began in 1903 to dismantle the gate, but was stopped quickly. It has since undergone some restoration work, but it is literally a shell, with no roof covering the arches.

A plus to walking this far out on Strada Maggiore was the chance to get a glimpse of a small section of the old walls … the first we’ve seen since arriving in Bologna.

The rest of our stroll was more in the nature of a recon as Mui wanted to check out the neighborhood where the hospital and several polyclinics are located … though our hope is that we never have to make use of them. From there, we returned to the AirBNB to rest before packing our bag in preparation for tomorrow’s move.

Mui has already checked out the place where the AirBNB host said we can store our bags tomorrow. It’s about 10 minutes on foot from where we are now, so it should work out well … and allow us to kill time with a little sightseeing while we wait for the new property to be readied for us.Read more