Bologna

Today we did a guided walking tour of Bologna.

There has been a university in Bologna since 1088 making it the oldest continuously operating university. We went into one of the old university buildings where they used to teach anatomy. The Teatro Anatomico is the main room where they used to conduct dissections usually on poor people or criminals. Back then they was the belief that anatomy and astronomy were linked so the ceiling is covered in the star signs and the god Apollo is in the middle. Around the walls are famous teachers like Hippocrates.

The students sat around the marble table where the bodies were carved up. The church dictated the rules so they could not hold a heart in their bare hands and the toilet area had to be covered. The lecturer sat up high at one end of the room and his assistant did the dirty work.

Unfortunately this room was badly damaged by a bomb in WW2 but they managed to save most of the statues and so rebuilt the room soon after.

Back in the Middle Ages going to university was only for the very rich so the walls of the Uni are covered by family crests. Students used to come from all over Europe so these different locations were shown as well.

After the Uni we walked around some of the back streets where they have food markets. You can see in the photos it was all pretty sensational. Bologna is known for its mortadella and pasta so most shops sold these and so much more.

We then headed out to where we could view the two towers of Bologna. There used to be literally hundreds of these towers and they were mainly for defensive purposes. If someone attacked the town rich families could retreat to their tower and it would have been hard to get them out. These towers came it all shapes and sizes the tallest one still standing is 97 metres tall. They have a problem with the other one in that the ground has become unstable so it is leaning quite badly, something they are trying to stop.

We then went into the Basilica di San Petronio. This church is the fourth biggest in Italy behind St Peter’s in the Vatican, Milan, and Florence. The Meridian line in the Basilica di San Petronio is the longest at about 60m. Every day at noon the sun shines through a small hole in the roof and falls on this line. At each solstice it stops and heads back the other way along the line.

After the Basilica we headed across the one of the oldest gelato shops Gelateria Gianni. It was sensational! Yes even better than Messina - a big call.

Bologna is famous for its covered walkways or porticos and many are UNESCO heritage listed. They evolved because land was tight within the walls of the city so people came up with ways to give themselves more space by building up and over the street.

After the tour we had lunch and hung around town. Dinner was at a restaurant across from our hotel. Czytaj więcej