A Pilgrimage Through the Porticoes

The most noteworthy architectural feature of Bologna is the almost 40 kilometres of porticoes - these covered walkways are attached to buildings from one end of the city to the other. 

The granddaddy of all porticoes is the 4km continuous one that connects the old city to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, at the top of a nearby hill.  Built over a period of some 120 years (1674-1793), it was supposedly built as an act of faith to shelter pilgrims making the journey to the church.

The mere mortals of today make the journey in relative comfort compared with the original churchgoers of San Luca, with some even taking the bus to the halfway point. The bus was not for us...we trudged like pilgrims to the top of the hill and spent some time admiring the Sanctuary whilst the priest was conducting a service for some local school children. Truth be told, we were just catching our breath. The walk follows a steady and arduous track uphill - we took over an hour to arrive at the peak. 

Coming down was much faster, even including the stop for coffee and pastries (as we do)! 

Visiting the Deceased

Some would say that we have something of an obsession with going to cemeteries when we travel, and that's not far from the truth.  We've been to cemeteries all over Europe.  Mind you, we've also been to fruit and vegetable markets everywhere, but that's a whole other interest - we really do like food.  We like looking at it, we like sniffing it and we like eating it (clearly....). 

Cemeteries are interesting even when you don't know anyone buried there.  Indeed, that's probably when they're most interesting, because you don't have any emotion attached to the visit.  They're very "orderly", too, and we are both big fans of things being just so.  

Before we travel, we do a fair bit of research, because we don't like to arrive in a place and waste time.  Oh, sometimes we like to spend part of a day sitting in a cafe or bar, watching people go by, but we always try to do one thing each day that's a bit interesting.  Consequently, before we travel, we look up where there are towers (for photo opportunities), where there are markets (same, same) and where there are old libraries (I really do like to look at books, even when I'm not reading them.  I like the smell of lots of books collected in one place. Odd?  Maybe.) We also always check where the nearest cemetery is, to the place we are visiting.

The Certosa di Bologna cemetery is the most beautiful cemetery we've ever visited.  Established in 1801 on the grounds of a former monastery, the building of which began in 1334, it is obviously historically significant, but even setting that aside for a moment, this is an absolutely magnificent resting place by any standards.  Now it's time for our photographs to speak for themselves.

There are kilometres of covered walkways (porticos) throughout the cemetery - there are burial sites in the walls and under the floor of these walkways.

Just one of the roads lined with graves, within the cemetery.  There are hundreds of hectares of these roads.

This huge area is just the "upstairs" - there is a whole separate floor of burial sites underground. The area of just this single building with separate levels covers probably one hundred hectares.

Family mausoleum covered in gold leaf

One mausoleum.

There are literally hundreds of separate family mausoleums.

 Chapel within the cemetery.

Bologna Night Life

Bologna puts on a new face at night, and the following photos give some indication of just how lovely it is to be here. 

A Day of Indulgence

Yesterday we went on our "Italian Days Food Experience" tour into the countryside near Bologna to the district of Modena, (which aside from food is also famous for all things Ferrari - the car factory and Ferrari museum, for example). We were picked up at 7:00am, all set for a wonderful foodie adventure.

Our day involved visits to a "factory" where Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese is made, a "processing" place where the famous (and genuine) balsamic is refined and aged, and finally on to the prosciutto "factory" where 500 new hind legs arrive every week to begin their 14 month maturation process before being distributed far and wide for consumption. 

Needless to say we sampled foods along the way.  For breakfast there was lots of different cheese to try, fresh strawberries, cherries, prosciutto, mortadella, salami and sweet pastries - later we were encouraged to try scoops of delicious gelato with balsamic syrup, all washed down with liberal quantities of Lambrusco wine. 

Then we had lunch! 

Lunch was a three-hour affair at a local agriturismo (a farmhouse where you can stay, but which also offers meals using ingredients grown right there) - they also happened to make organic wine, at the one we went to, several bottles of which were consumed before we were ultimately taken back to our accommodation in Bologna, where we could rest up before deciding that an evening meal was simply out of the question.

There were about ten of us on this little excursion, and a great time was had by all. We are enormously grateful to Alessandro for making our day one to remember forever.  We highly recommend Times of Italy, if you are travelling in the Bologna region.

Parmigiano-Reggiano plant

A few of the 22,000 wheels of cheese! These are manually turned every four hours for 18 months.

Cheese-making is a full-time concern.  Cheese needs to be babysat and cannot be ignored.

Balsamic, getting older.

 

Back legs of piggies.  Pigs need to weigh 160 kilos before they are allowed to be used to make prosciutto.  That's a lot of pig.

We were "forced" to eat three different pasta dishes before we were served the main course of lunch....

The pool area of the beautiful Corte d'Aibo agriturismo. Next time we should stay here for a week (or so....).

Some Things We Like About Bologna

In no particular order, we like (so far) the following things about Bologna.

The Teatro Cummunali (The Opera House): last night we saw a production of Mozart's "Magic Flute" which was not really to our liking, but the venue was sensational and we felt very privileged to be there. We didn't care for the opera mainly because it was an "updated" version, which required us to wear 3D glasses at certain stages throughout the show. On. Off. On. Off. On. etc. etc. ad nauseum.  There was a projection on a background screen which was the part needing the 3D assistance.  We would have much preferred a traditional background of real sets.  I know, we're clearly behind the times in our requirements of operatic performance.... But look how grand the theatre is!!  That's really why we went, anyway!

Churches - Italy does churches very well.  That's not news.  Each one is more beautiful than the last, and you don't need to be a believer to appreciate the architecture, the art and the sheer impossibility of  the question you keep asking yourself - "How did they do it...?"  

 

Cattedrale Di San Pietro

 

 San Bartolomeo Di Reno

 

 

Basilica Di San Domenico (above)

Teatro Anatomica - (below) this theatre was used for conducting autopsies as part of the educational program for medical students 

 

Stabat Mater Lecture Hall (part of the university) - a beautiful space - Einstein once lectured here! Hard to do it justice in a single photo.

 

The numerous colonnaded streets (Bologna has 40 kilometres of colonnades - a huge amount for a city which is not particularly large).

 

Aperitivi and nibbles at the end of the day:  when you buy a drink at a bar in Italy, you are always automatically given snacks to go with it. We've been enjoying bellinis while here - prosecco and crushed peaches.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy