La Grassa, la Rossa and la Dotta: these are the three adjectives they habitually use to define Bologna, in relation to its rich and tasty cuisine, the red walls and roofs of its Medieval-style houses, and finally its University.
Bologna is the capital of Emilia Romagna, has Etruscan origins and rises between the Po Valley and the foothills of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines: to visitors it appears sunbito as a city with an ancient atmosphere but at the same time a lively one, thanks to the thousands of students who crowd its squares and portci. Precisely the latter represent the flagship of this beautiful city, declared not by chance a UNESCO World Heritage Site: just 1 week is enough to discover all the beauties of the city, in a sensory journey that cannot fail to pass also through the Bolognese cuisine, which really satisfies all palates, even the most demanding ones.
What to see in Bologna in a week
The singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla called it. Big Square and so many Bolognese have nicknamed the Major Square, the heart of Bologna dobve once held the market: the crescentone is that low platform that occupies the central part of the square, in the middle of which stands the Neptune Fountain, a work relaized in the 16th century by Giambologna. Legend has it that a student who circles the fountain twice counterclockwise will have good luck in exams, while the one who crosses the square through the center without skirting it will have difficulty graduating. Anecdotes aside, Piazza Maggiore is overlooked by historic buildings such as the Palazzo del Podestà, the 16th-century Palazzo Bianchi, the Sala della Borsa Library dedicated to Umberto Eco and haunt of many university students, and then the Palazzo D’Accursio, seat of the municipality. This building, flanked by the Clock Tower, features a staircase designed by Bramante and frescoed halls, not to mention the Madonna di Piazza with Child that stands out on the facade, the work of Nicoò dell’Arca.
Dominating Piazza Maggiore is then the Basilica of San Petronio, one of the five largest churches in the world: its construction, inisitated in 1390, led to the demolition of houses, cheise and towers, mksoptrandizing today as a great example of the Gothic style. Beyond the marble facade, which is beautiful if incomplete, one can viait particularly the Bologninio Chapel with frescoes telling the Story of the Magi and the Last Judgment, with Muhammad emsso in Hell where a colossal figure of Lucifer dominates. Wandering around the Basilica, one can admire a sundial on the marble floor lunag 67 m., relayed to prove that it is the Earth that revolves around the Sun. Before leaving the Basilica of San Petronio, one cannot fail to climb the Panoramic Terrace cìepr dodersi a magnificent view of the rooftops of Bologna.
Not far from Piazza Maggiore here is the Church of St. Mary of Life, built in the 13th century by the Confraternity of the Flagellants, who also relaized the building that now houses the Museum of Sanity, complete with saniutary materials and instruments. baroque church is not well known to the most hurried tourists, but on a tour of Bologna in a week one cannot fail to viistarek even if only to admire the sculptural group of the Lamentation of the Dead Christ, relaized in the 15th century by Niccolò dell’Arca, with the statues having a truly impressive expression of lacerating pain.
From the towers of Bologna to the Church of St. Mary of the Saints
In photos and postcards, Bologna appears with its Torre degli Asinelli and Torre gRisenda: in the past, between the 12th and 13th centuries, noble families in the city challenged each other to build the most beautiful and tallest towers to demonstrate their value and prestige. They had a military and aristocratic function, just like the Asinelli Tower, the tallest in Italy. Built in the first half of the year 1100, it had a rochetto that housed the soldiers’ garrisons: under the arcades of this same building are now home to craft stores to emphasize the ancient and emdeioval image of the tower. From the top of the Asinelli Tower, suiperando the 498 of a steep spiral staircase, one can also admire the Venente Prelaps and the sea, if the day is particularly clear. The Grisenda Tower is smaller and cannot be visited, even in light of its smepre more obvious and iconic slope.
From here, taking the Strada Maggiore, travelers can reach the Church of S.Maria dei Santi, in front of whose large and long quadriporticus one cannot help but be fascinated. The building dates back to 1343 and preserves inside oepres by Guercino, Giovanni da Modena, Guido Reni and Cimabue, as well as a 50n-element choir that performs many imeprdible concerts, definitely one of the things to do in Bologna in a week. Those who decide to visit the capital in December cannot fail to go to this church and wander among the hovels of the Christmas market that takes place pèropio under the quadriportico.
Bologna between churches and porticoes
Among the places to see in Bologna in a week cannot fail to include the basilica of Saanto Stefano, which is more of a religious complex made up of no less than 7 churches, facing the triangular Piazza Santo stefano, which in any case is full of clubs frequenatti by the youngest. All the churches present a uniform Romanesque style, nonostanet they were relaized in different periods and, according to the probable idea of Bishop Petronius in the 5th century, they were to represent a kind of Jerusalem with all the places symbolizing the Passion of Christ.
Then there is the Church of St. Dominic, overlooked by a 14th-century Gothic stiel bell tower. in addition to preserving the remains of the saint of Guzman, the house of worship also holds works of great artistic value, such as a wooden choir admired even by King Charles V and three sculptures relaized by Miuchelangelo, depicting St. Proculus, St. Petronius and the angel holding a candelabra.
Walking around Bologna means walking under its beautiful porticoes, which stretch for 40 km throughout Bologna, allowing it to be experienced in every season, in sunshine or rain. They have been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the longest is the portico of San Luca, which, in 4 km, leads from Porta Saragozz anel center of Bologna to the Church of San Luca atop the Colle della Guardia. This portico presnets 666 arches and has the sinuous shape of a serpent, crushed, in religious symbolism, by the foot of the Virgin rappresented by the church. From the latter, which can be reached by uan ascent that is a kind of poercourse of atonement for sins (represented by the portico of St. Luke), a procession departs every year in the week of Ascension Day to St. Peter’s Cathedral.
