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| Plazza d Accusio Bologna |
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| Towers of Bologna |
With
winter seeming to drag on endlessly, it is a good time to look back to another
part of our wonderful tour of Italy last fall. I still have thousands of
pictures which require editing. I completed a bunch celebrating Rome,
Tuscany, and Florence, so it seems a good time to show some of my images from
the next phase of our trip, Bologna and Lake Como. It is frustrating that
I have so many pictures that I haven’t had the chance to work on, but I want to
show a taste of the rest of our trip, Bologna, Lake Como and finally wonderful
Venice.
Bologna
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| Street Market, Bologna |
Four
days exploring Florence wasn’t nearly enough and I was reluctant to board the
train west to Bologna. For some reason I pictured a dull, working city,
but Bologna was the biggest surprise of our trip.
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| Portico |
Bologna
is a relatively quiet University town with a wealth of well preserved Medieval
and Renaissance architecture. It is home to Italy’s oldest university,
founded in 1088, and currently has over 8o thousand students. Bologna is also
famous for its nearly 40 kilometers of porticos. In medieval times, these
were built to expand the floor space of upper stories, but they became a
valuable addition to public space. In 1288 the city passed an ordinance
requiring all new houses to have porticos. The structures were required
to be tall enough to allow a man to ride through on a horse.
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| Basilica di San Petronio Festival |
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| Soaring, Basillica di San Petronio |
On
our first night in town we were on hand for a religious procession as hundreds
of priests carried relics from the Basilica di San Petronio around the
Piazza Maggiore. After escaping the ring of priests, we explored the
wonderful web of ancient narrow streets lined with open air markets and cozy
restaurants. We returned to the Piazza to try to shoot the full rise, but
given the height of the surrounding palaces, I could only capture the moon long
after the blue hour had faded.
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| Moon-Rise Piazza Maggiore |
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| Dissection Theater |
On
our second day we had a private tour of the city with Giamoco, a wonderfully
friendly and knowledgeable native of the city. The tour was as much about
the local food as the architecture, but I especially enjoyed a tour of
Bologna’s old medical college. The elegantly wood paneled dissection
theater was a tasty supplement to our dining stops.
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| Garisenda and Asinelli Towers |
Bologna
is known for its many towers. In Medieval times a family’s status was
often measured by the height of the tower on their house. During the 12th
century Bologna had over 100 towers of which 24 are still standing. The
two most famous are the Garisenda and Asinelli Towers, both of which are
leaning. They are still safe to climb, but there was no way I could
convince Susan to scale one, even if they weren’t leaning.
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| Student Parade, University Quarter |
The
greatest attraction of Bologna was the chance to wander the ancient narrow
porticoed streets. We explored the large University District and met Abby
and Grayson for a drink at a bar which was converted from an ancient church.
From here we finally broke away from the kids, but it was wonderful to
share so much of our journey with our children. Bologna was a pleasant
surprise and, as was true for all our stops, we could have spent much more time
there.
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| Endless Street Cafes |
The
next morning we got up early for a train to Milan and then a car to beautiful
Lake Como.
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| Como and Swiss Alps from Brunate |
Lake
Como
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| Como Harbor |
Lake
Como is located in Northern Lombardy close to the Swiss border and the Alps.
It is of glacial origin with steep surrounding mountains and is about 146
Square kilometers in area.
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| Lake Como Ferry |
We stayed in a lovely hotel on the lake.
It was just up the shore from the town of Como and had panoramic views up
the lake and to the town. On our arrival the winds were quite blustery
and it kicked up a serious chop on the lake. On the next day, the winds had calmed
allowing a comfortable boat tour up the lake. The cozy villages and
extravagant lake-side villas were lovely.
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| Torno, Lake Como |
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| Brunate in Moonlight |
After more exploration of Como,
I was actually able to get my height adverse wife to ride the Tram up to the
hill-top village of Brunate. The view took in Como, the lake and the snow
covered Alps and Susan actually survived the trip. Lake Como reminded us of the
mountains and lakes of New England.
We
were beginning to feel ready to get home, but there was one more stop on our
itinerary, wonderful Venice.
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| Basillca di San Petronio |
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