Explorations of a medieval city known for its grand towers, churches, and porticos!
Bologna is a gorgeous city in Italy’s northern region of Emilia-Romagna. The city is home to the world’s oldest university (founded in 1088) and its porticos are a UNESCO world heritage site in themselves.
This was my second visit to Bologna. I saw some of the same places I saw last time, but also a few new places. I even found some fast casual tortellini.
Wandering Jana I was on my way to the Basilica di San Francesco to start out the day. There are 8 large raised medieval mausoleums in the churchyard behind the church, called the Tombe dei Glossatori.
Wandering Jana Many Northern Italian churches are fairly plain on the outside, especially the medieval Gothic ones.
Wandering Jana A typical Gothic church in the French fashion.
Wandering Jana The chapels in the apse are all finely decorated.
Wandering Jana It’s totally normal in Europe for there to be a giant fortress in the middle of the city.
Wandering Jana Palazzo del Podestà on Bologna’s main piazza, Piazza Maggiore. It’s ringed by civic buildings and Bologna’s grand church.
Wandering Jana The 15th century Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna’s city hall and part of the fortress from a couple of photos ago. We’ll be heading in there later.
Wandering Jana The medieval Basilica di San Petronio with its unfinished 16th century facade.
Wandering Jana The interior is fairly similar to San Francesco but on a much grander scale. It’s also very bright inside considering it was raining all day.
Wandering Jana Imagine how much more gorgeous this church would have been when I was painted.
Wandering Jana Moving on because it was a very full day. Here’s the Fontana del Nettuno in the aptly named Piazza del Nettuno, with Palazzo d’Accursio on the right.
Wandering Jana From here you can also see Bologna’s Two Towers. The smaller one (Garisenda) has a severe case of leaning tower and the area around the base was a construction site in an effort to save the 12th century tower.
Wandering Jana The Palazzo Re Enzo. I love the city center of Bologna.
Wandering Jana Did I say before that Bologna has porticos (logge)? These are very convenient on rainy days.
Wandering Jana Piazza Minghetti. I love all the warm colors.
Wandering Jana A fancy portico.
Wandering Jana San Domenico‘s main chapel has the ornate Arca di San Domenico, a monument containing the remains of St. Dominic, founder of the Dominican order. The sculpture took over 500 years to finish.
Wandering Jana Outside in the piazza in front of the San Domenico are another couple of those raised mausoleums. This one has been incorporated into another building!
Wandering Jana I can’t get enough of these medieval buildings.
Wandering Jana Piazza Santo Stefano and the very interesting Santo Stefano. This is my favorite church complex in Bologna.
Wandering Jana Some very highly altered buildings around the piazza.
Wandering Jana Look at all those porticos!
Wandering Jana One of the really interesting parts of Santo Stefano is that it is a large complex with many different churches and chapels. This octagonal 5th century church (rebuilt in the 11th-12th centuries) was built to be similar to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem.
Wandering Jana And the much older Santi Vitale e Agricola. There could have been a basilica here all the back in the 4th century.
Wandering Jana The 8th century Church of the Crucifix (with later remodels) built by the Lombards.
Wandering Jana The interior of the Holy Sepulcher look alike with a giant pulpit. The relics of St. Petronius (the guy who built the first church here) are under the pulpit.
Wandering Jana A giant religious complex wouldn’t be complete without a cloister.
Wandering Jana Another gorgeous cloister.
Wandering Jana Inside of the very old Basilica di Santi Vitale e Agricola.
Wandering Jana The so-called sarcophagus of Saint Agricola.
Wandering Jana Santa Maria dei Servi, a Gothic church with its own portico.
Wandering Jana A medieval building with very ornate windows.
Wandering Jana Skipping ahead by a lot (so much to see in Bologna). La Piccola Venezia (Little Venice). Streets and buildings mostly cover this little canal except in a couple of spots.
Wandering Jana Teatro Anatomico, a 16th century hall used for dissections and anatomy lessons. It’s, however, an exact reproduction of the original which was damaged in WWII.
Wandering Jana The teacher would give directions from up here to his students doing the dissections. In the days before antibiotics, dissections were dangerous to the dissector.
Wandering Jana I did not expect for this place to be so popular.
Wandering Jana Now the Palazzo d’Accursio and the civic museum.
Wandering Jana It’s still an active city hall, but they have set aside some rooms as a museum. You can pay more and climb up to the clock tower.
Wandering Jana It’s a pretty museum.
Wandering Jana Ahhh… damask.
Wandering Jana My camera shutter echoed so loudly in this room that one of the museum minders came to make sure I wasn’t doing something stupid.
Wandering Jana Bologna has so many porticos.
One day is not enough for Bologna. Two separate one day visits will not suffice. I had to skip so many neat things that I saw for the post to be not insane in length. Bologna is very easy to reach from Florence or Milan. I suggest a visit.
Check out my next update where I visit the gorgeous city of Brescia!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure.
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