• Italy … finally!
    The Clock Tower overlooking Piazza Maggiore
    King NeptuneMain entrance to the clock tower. Saint Petronio aboveA model of old town BolognaImpressive room with loads of paintings and statues. This is part of the art galleryKing Neptune from the art galleryPiazza MaggiorePiazza Maggiore and the Basilica di San PetronioView from the Clock Tower looking south. Some of the houses on the hill looked very niceThe clock up closeClock mechanismLooking north. Note the towers Bologna is famous forThe Basilica di San Luca on the hill in the distance, this is what we climbed on our pilgrimage!BolognaViews againLooking eastPiazza MaggiorePiazza MaggioreKing Neptune againThe climb up was a bit tight!

    The Clock Tower

    May 26, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    The Piazza Maggiore has a number of buildings around it including the local government offices. They started building this building in the 1300s and it evolved over a couple of centuries to be what it is today. The key feature of this building is the large clock tower that overlooks the Piazza and one of the best views in town is from the top so today we climbed it.

    The building was used as the Cardinal’s residence but now it is all administrative and contains an impressive art collection. Being the government offices it also hosts weddings and there were a few of these happening throughout the day.

    We bought our tickets and made our way up and the views are pretty good.

    Afterwards we scored some lunch, wandered around a bit and headed back to the hotel.

    In the evening we did what many of the locals do, sat on the steps of the Basilica and people-watched!

    We met up with the people in our tour group. All are Australians and suffice to say we would be in the younger age group.

    Tomorrow our tour starts!    Read more