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Bologna is famous for it's food- bolognese pasta, lasagna and tortellini. I looove tortellini so I simply had to go lol. I ate pasta 3 times in two days- tortellini with cheese, tortellini with meat and ravioli and mushrooms. Yum lol. I had some great local wine ant the tortellini and cheese place.
Another thing I love about Bologna is its porticos. So Italy is hot right. Bologna's porticos(covered sidewalks) block the sun, rain etc. And thank God for them because it was hot and My place was a bit of a walk from centre. I stayed at a b&b run by a local family. So cute and they were really nice.
Bologna is quite medieval- several palaces, churches and many towers (leaning and straight!) made out of brick and some castle-like. Thus I loved it. I'm obsessed with castles. I tried to go to the medieval museum but it closed early the day I tried :( instead I went to a decent modern art museum. Free! Another great thing about Bologna. A lot of cheap and free sights. That's because it's a student's town. Bologna boasts the western hemisphere's oldest university. I toured it's first permanent seat, the Archiginnasio Palace. I sat in the anatomy theatre, which had to be mostly rebuilt after WW2. It includes 2 skinless statues and a marble table where they dissected corpses (!!) back in the day. A huge library is here also- the most important in Italy. I didn't o in because it asked that "readers only" go in and I'm a tourist :( lol.
The main square is called Piazza Maggiore and there's another massive church there. Unfortunately the entire front was covered in a huge picture of what the front looks like, because they are renovating. To the side is piazza del nuttuno which was the site of a constant protest and quite the fountain of Neptune.
The two towers are what Bologna is best known for. Important families used to have tower building contests and, in this case, the one family clearly won. One tower's foundation is bad so it leans. They also shortened it because of the threat of it collapsing. I climbed the good one (485 stairs phew) and at the top was a great view of the city.
Finally I took a bus to a church at the top of a hill, called Basilica Madonna di San Luca. It is massive. Unfortunately there was a sermon going on so i sat, looked around, and left. A looong portico is built from the bottom of the hill to the church. I took the bus lol. The view of the surrounding area of Emilia- Romagna was amazing, too.
The city also has a big park towards the train station with a fountain, glorious shade and statues of a lion squashing another creature, mermaids etc. The city has several gates, one of which is fully intact, that I passed under everyday. I found another near the park that was obviously bombed. I had a good two days in Bologna! Off to Lucca.
Ranelle
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