Bologna

last year we made it to Naples and Florence, and we already had plans to visit Venice in November. so when we arrived back in Rome in August, the other large Italian city on our must-see list was Bologna! (yes, i know Milan should probably be up there too, and maybe we'll get there -- but we're far more interested in cities that still look old!) in talking with some of my Italian friends, they all said that Bologna was one of their favourite towns in Italy, and now, having seen it for ourselves, we absolutely concur. the locals were friendly and most spoke excellent English; streets and tourist destinations were well-marked, and yet there seemed to be very few, if any, tourists around. i guess that's to be expected for a university town with lots of fascinating history but not many huge monuments to attract the selfie stick crowd.

we took a fast train from Roma Termini (the main train station) up to Bologna in about two hours. our Airbnb was absolutely perfect -- located just across the street from the train station within a large shopping and restaurant complex, on the third floor so there wasn't any noise, and in a beautiful apartment building. it was a struggle to get the girls to leave the apartment because it was so child-friendly, with lots of children's books and toys, and even baby gates on the stairs. we got all settled in and set off to find some dinner!

the view from our Airbnb. surprisingly not loud, even with the traffic!

a delicious but cheap dinner al fresco at Pizzeria Altero. you have to love it when
your food comes out on a cafeteria tray. Greta ate three of those huge squares.

after we were sufficiently stuffed, we wandered down the main road a bit farther. immediately we were struck by how clean everything was -- no graffiti, no trash. the street was lined with all sorts of shops, from discount stores to high-end fashion boutiques.

obsessed with these pink Moka pots! 

the entire street was lined with these porticoes. the weather was fine
the whole time we were there, but we could imagine how nice it would be
to be able to stroll under a roof when it rains!

trying to convince Daddy to buy a new shirt

a few blocks down from the pizzeria, we noticed these painted slogans on the arches of the portico. "PANIS VITA, CANABIS PROTECTIO, VINUM LAETITIA." Bread is life, cannabis is protection, wine is happiness. alrighty then!

we finally arrive in the main square, which is lorded over by a huge statue of Neptune. the girls stopped for a drink first at the small water fountain adjacent. this is a popular spot for filling up water bottles or just slaking your thirst -- there was a line about ten people deep when we got there!

Nettuno (Neptune), built in the 1560s by the Flemish sculptor Giambologna (I'm
not sure if his name bears any relation to the town). this statue was commissioned
by Pope Pius IV as an analogy for the Pope's power.

 the next large building on the square is the city hall. i quickly walked through the entrance to look around at the interior courtyard. it's still a functioning civic building today, and additionally houses an art museum.

on the opposite side of the piazza from the Neptune fountain stands the massive, but unfinished, Basilica of San Petronio, the patron saint of Bologna. the basilica was constructed from 1390 to 1479. initially, the builders wanted the facade to outdo that of St. Peter's in Rome. when the Pope found out about this, he cut off their funding so the majority of the facade remains partially undecorated. it's a bit hard to see in my picture below, but the white facade covers only 1/3 of the base of the church; the remainder is plain brick that towers over the square. yes, we certainly have had some nasty popes... yet somehow, by God's grace, the Church has hung on through the centuries!

the piazza was full of people, sitting on the steps of the basilica and chatting, little kids running around, bigger kids riding bikes. there were also a few vendors selling light-up rubber band whirligigs. the girls begged and begged for one. initially we just said no -- we're not spending €5 on a piece of plastic that will probably fall apart after the first use. but then we realized we could use this to our advantage (i feel like half of my parenting depends on discovering what motivates my kids!) and promised that if they were good the whole next day, without fighting or complaining, and listening the first time, then we could come back tomorrow night and they could get a "blue thing". mollified, they spent the next twenty minutes playing in the piazza while Nick bought a couple of beers from the bar next door and we sat shoulder to shoulder on the steps of the basilica, sipping our drinks and watching the world go by.

the next day, we had breakfast in the Airbnb before taking the regional train 30 minutes southeast to Modena, where Enzo Ferrari was born in 1898. a large, sleek museum now stands next to his birthplace, showing off dozens of Ferrari cars. even though this destination was obviously Nick's choice, i was still fascinated by the history and the undeniable beauty of these masterpieces.

a very helpful map just outside the train station in Modena

literally, the Enzo Ferrari House Museum

approaching the museum

the warehouse of Alfredo Ferrari, Enzo's father

even here, in this testament to modern invention, you can't get away
from archaeology! 

the largest part of the museum is a gleaming showroom for the cars. Nick said his childhood bedroom was decorated with posters of some of these. although i don't know much about racing history or the engine mechanics, the cars themselves are a feast for the eyes.

750 Monza, built in 1954

250 California -- the car made famous by the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off

i made Nick stand behind the car and pretend he was driving ;) 

250 GTO. Nick said it was surreal to see this car in the flesh. 

salivating...

Monza SP1 

Greta borrowed my phone for a bit to take pictures

not a bad shot for a 5-year-old photog! 

the next part of the exhibition is the house where Enzo was born, and the adjoining mechanical workshop.

but first, posing next to the dog kennels outside the museum

entering the house

looking at a model of the house and factory 

the office

Enzo's notes on the proposed deal between Ford and Ferrari

the old workshop has now been converted into a display area for Ferrari engines

the F1-90 car that Alain Proust was driving when he won Ferrari's 100th Formula One race in the
French Grand Prix. Greta was not impressed.

we had time for a quick bite to eat before catching the train back to Bologna. we had our first taste of authentic mortadella, and boy, was it delicious! however, i don't understand the Italians' disdain for condiments on sandwiches. you get bread, meat, sometimes cheese, and that's it. no mayo, no mustard, no pickles, no soup for you.

then we were back to Bologna to explore the city a bit more. our first destination was the University of Bologna. the university was founded in 1088... yes, 1088, making it the oldest European university, and it is the oldest university worldwide that is currently operating. the university moved to its current home in the Palazzo Poggi in 1803. this building also holds the Museum of Science and Art. tit for tat: Nick gets a Ferrari museum, i get a science museum. this is the secret of a happy marriage, folks!

ancient Roman gate ... 19th century staircase

the city just invites you to promenade!

entrance to the university in the Palazzo Poggi

it makes me want to register for class or something!

the courtyard of the main university building

the main room of the Ulisse Aldrovandi Museum, named after the founder of modern
natural history (who lived from 1522-1605). his personal collection of 18,000 "natural things"
and 7,000 dried plants was turned into a museum in 1617. over time the collection has been dismantled,
but was partially restored here in 1907. 

a mosaic portrait of Pope Benedict XIV overlooks the collection. the pope was born in Bologna in 1675 and
was a lifelong supporter of the arts and sciences. 

one of the museum's two tapestries, woven in Brussels in the 1520s.
a bit out of place amidst all the scientific specimens, but oh well!

the Tabula Affinitatum or Table of Affinities. developed in the 18th century,
this table showed the affinities of various chemical substances to each other (affinity refers to
the likelihood of two chemical substances to form bonds). 

and then, the part of the museum i was most excited to visit: the Obstetrics Museum! the small room is chock full of teaching models that were used in medical instruction in the school of obstetrics, founded in 1758. i was surprised that they had such a good understanding of labor and birth even back then. sure, no one had a clue about bacteria spreading illness, but they knew all about fetal presentationsust what to do for a

the top shelf shows models of fetuses with hydrops and hydrocephalus,
which both made vaginal delivery impossible. 

papier-mâché model of a uterus with the early stages of embryonic development, 1868

birthing chair, from the 1750s. above it hangs a "birthing machine," used for instruction.
the professor would place a cloth fetus inside the glass "uterus" in various positions, and blindfolded
students would practice palpation and various obstetrical techniques including version and delivery. 

  

the models in the next room were pretty cool as well. modern medicine has advanced so much
in the last few centuries that sometimes i forget our predecessors had such a thorough knowledge of anatomy!

the Venerina, a somewhat disturbing anatomical model based off of the famous Florentine model made in the 1780s.
the chest and abdominal cavities can be opened to remove the organs. the model is pregnant,
 adding another layer to the potential for learning. 

a huge portrait of Luigi Galvani, the father of bioelectricity, applying an electric current to the legs of a frog

the next section of the museum is dedicated to maps, navigation, and ships. 

this globe was created by Vincenzo Coronelli, a Franciscan monk, in 1688. he was
the official cosmographer of the Republic of Venice (what a job!). some of his globes
were created for Louis XIV, the Sun King. 

i was drooling over this library

what treasures lie on these shelves?!

whenever we visit a new city, i like to find a self-guided walking tour to follow so we can hit some of the main sights in a somewhat orderly fashion. usually i use Rick Steves' audio guides (although often i just read the transcript), but for some unknown reason, he doesn't cover Bologna at all. perhaps he wants to keep this jewel of a city all for himself? in any event, i found this wonderful guide written by a Fulbright scholar. we had already deviated from her itinerary a little due to time constraints, but on our way to the Two Towers (Due Torre) we ducked into the Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore (St. James the Greater).

a few minutes' walk down the road, we spotted the Two Towers, Torre Asinelli (the taller one) and Torre Garisenda, which were likely built in the early 1100s. Torre Garisenda is mentioned several times in Dante's Divine Comedy, and fanciful legends about both towers have developed over time. one popular story says that each tower was built by a man trying to woo the same woman, who would give her hand in marriage to whoever built the taller tower. superstition still prevails among the local university students, who refuse to climb to the top of Torre Asinelli during their studies because of a legend that whoever does so will never graduate.

the iron hand (just below the Farmacia sign) dates from Roman times.
the finger is pointing in the direction of Rome. 

Greta's store! unfortunately it was closed.

legend has it that this was the home of a Bolognese nobleman and his adulterous wife. he hired
three archers to ambush her in the home. however, when she saw them, she immediately
disrobed and they were so distracted that they all let their arrows fly into the ceiling of the portico
and she escaped unscathed. supposedly, you can still see the arrows lodged in the ceiling here,
but i couldn't make them out, nor could a gaggle of chatty Italian girls and the delighted septuagenarian
whom they asked for help. "no, non lo visto," they all sadly concluded. 

next we visited the Complesso di Santo Stefano, a complex of seven churches built by St. Petronius in the fifth century. the first church was built over a Temple of Isis as a replica of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. other churches were added on over the centuries.

the huge complex of Santo Stefano

Cece in the cloister

14th-century wooden carvings of the Magi

  

the girls love to light candles at every church we visit, but of course they're limited to one (or sometimes two)
per church because they have to ask for a coin from me before they can light one. Cece took matters
into her own hands with this small arcade token she'd been carrying around in her pocket.
i caught her just as she was about to slip it into the donation slot. 

the basin in Pilate's Courtyard is supposed to be modeled off of the one in which
Pilate symbolically washed his hands before condemning Christ to death

detail of the earliest church

the crypt dates to 1019

the church where St. Petronius's remains were first buried

we were really hitting our sightseeing stride now. as with so many European cities, simply walking around was a delight in itself, and we were continually amazed by how clean and orderly everything was. we do love Rome, but it certainly was nice not to be stumbling over litter.

letterboxes at the main post office

i really love the "voluminose" box! 

we next headed to the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, which housed the University of Bologna from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries. it's hard to imagine studying in such a beautiful building. at the same time, i can't imagine a place more conducive to learning, with its inspirational parade of inscriptions and coats of arms of the university's teachers and students.

dream big, little one!

i mean, seriously? walking down this hallway to lectures? pinch me!

i was most excited about visiting the Anatomical Theater, which was built in 1637 to enable medical students to observe cadaver dissections. a technician would do the actual dissection, while a professor lectured from the podium. the Spellati (skinless) statues on either side of the lectern served as additional teaching tools. 

"look at his butt!" giggled Greta. 

Galen, one of the most influential anatomists of antiquity

Hippocrates, the father of medicine

 Nick was most excited about the Sala dello Stabat Mater, which was the original courtroom and lecture hall for law students. the room is named this way because it was here that Rossini's Stabat Mater was first performed in 1842.

the monument of Cardinal Fabrizio Savelli

more books!

melt my heart!

we were running out of time before the Basilica of St. Petronius was due to close, but we just made it in with about ten minutes to spare. despite the unfinished facade, the interior of the basilica is finished very nicely. there are actually two organs inside (dating from 1476 and 1596) that are apparently still in use.

the basilica by day

according to legend, this and three other stone crosses were placed at the
perimeter of Bologna by St. Petronius as a symbol of protection

the meridian line was placed in 1655

statue of St. Petronius

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zodiac symbols along the meridian line

the tomb of St. Petronius

we slipped out of the church just as they were locking up the doors, and set off in search of food! the downside to going on a trip in Italy in August is that many restaurants are still closed down for the summer holiday. virtually every restaurant i looked up on my phone that was within walking distance and had good reviews was either closed for the month, closed on Saturdays, or closed until 7:30 PM when most restaurants reopen for dinner service. finally i found a restaurant close by that had good reviews for its traditional Bolognese dishes, and we set off down the square.

this little boy wanted to make friends at the fountain. Greta was not entirely interested.

the Salaborsa used to house the financial exchange market, and is now a public library.
the plaques and photos on display in front memorialize the Bolognese Italians who were killed as part
of the Italian Resistance movement in World War II. In total, 14,425 fighters came from Bologna, including 2,212 women.
Bologna came under Allied fire as well, since it was an important hub for trains and manufacturing. 

we spotted this tiny train crossing the piazza and hurried to see if we could catch it. alas, it had just finished
its last trip of the day.

i love the decorations on this street lamp!

spotting the Due Torri again. Torre Asinelli is, in fact, leaning a bit. i'm not sure
we'll ever make it to Pisa but at least we've seen one leaning tower in Italy!

crossing one of the canals which connect the city to the Po River. this just
whetted our appetites for Venice! 

finally, we arrived outside the restaurant ... which looked decidedly closed, despite the fact that it was a few minutes past seven when it was supposed to open. "maybe they're not going to open it until 7:30?" i guessed. but from the outside, it looked like it might not even be open at all -- the building was completely shut up and no one was around. even if they would open in half an hour, we were all starving after our early lunch of sandwiches. it was back to the drawing board. i was so glad to have my phone (and for my crazy data plan in Italy -- i get 40 GB of data, plus texting and calling, for only €8 a month!). of course, if we had been stuck without a phone, we could have just wandered in some place, but especially with the girls in tow, i always like to know what to expect.

eventually i settled on a little bistro that was back over by the university, but seemed to be the only place that was absolutely reliably open right then and also wouldn't cost us an arm and a leg. mentally, we began preparing ourselves for another meal of sandwiches. i don't mind sandwiches or pizza, but we usually like to sit down one nice dinner on our weekends away so we can really experience the local cuisine (believe it or not, it varies tremendously from one region to the next).

well, imagine our surprise when we found that Buracca e Burattini turned out to have some of the best food we've eaten in Italy to date. we sat at a table outside, enjoying the pleasant late summer evening. our appetizer arrived: involtini (stuffed pastry shells) with parmagiana, mortadella, pistachios and balsamic vinegar. it was incredible. our own foible of the night was ordering what we thought were regular meatballs for the girls to split -- they turned out to be made entirely out of vegetables. Greta immediately looked at them skeptically, and while we got Cece to eat a few, Greta was not having any of it. they were happy enough to wolf down two bowls of spaghetti, however, while Nick had a delicious bowl of tagliatelle al ragu. the shining star of the whole night was my bowl of balanzoni, a traditional Bolognese spinach pasta similar to tortellini. mine came stuffed with ricotta, mortadella, and mint, and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. it sounded a little strange but the flavors were absolutely perfect together. my mouth is still watering remembering it!

the unfortunate meatballs that weren't

with bellies full of food and beer (i forgot to mention, being so far north in Italy has its advantages! German beer was on draft!), we now had to walk back to the Piazza Maggiore to make good on our promise for "blue things". along the way, we stopped into the Cathedral of St. Peter, which we were happy to see still open late into the evening. the bell tower was open for climbing until 10 p.m., which we thought was ingenious. as soon as we stepped inside, we could hear an organist practicing. Nick struck up a conversation with him when he was finished. we made plans to return the next day for mass.

terracotta sculpture, "Lament over the Dead Christ" by Alfonso Lombardi (16th century)

looking down to the original foundations of the church, which was first built in 1184.

talking shop

at last, the moment the girls had been waiting for all weekend! they could barely contain their excitement as we approached the piazza. a block away, we spotted a police van driving off and several carabinieri patrolling the square. "hmm," we chuckled, "i guess somebody got the shakedown."

and then -- devastation. "where are the blue things?! where are they!" we suddenly realized that the police van must have carted off all the unauthorized vendors, as the piazza was practically empty except for a few locals. oh, the heartbreak! oh, the humanity! Nick hadn't given up hope yet, though. "let's just wait a while, girls. maybe someone else will come around to sell them." once again, we relaxed back on the basilica steps while the girls ran and played in the piazza. after a while, the carabinieri drifted off to other pursuits, and after ten minutes or so, sure enough, one fortunate soul emerged with a whole armful of blue things.

i doubt that vendor has ever seen happier children than Greta and Cecilia when they were each presented with their very own blue thing. to put this in perspective, they started asking for these last year when we would see them flying all around the Piazza Navona at night, and they got so used to us saying "no" that they just stopped asking for a while. finally, after a whole weekend of good behavior, that €5 piece of plastic crap suddenly seemed like a small price to pay.

i mean, just look at that face. 

Daddy learning all the tips and tricks

that's someone else's "blue thing" coming back down to the ground; Greta's flew so high
i couldn't capture it in the picture.

after half an hour of glee, we herded the girls back to the Airbnb to sleep. we had just more morning in Bologna before heading back home!

on Sunday, we got all packed up and walked back to the Cathedral of St. Peter for morning mass. we actually brought our suitcase with us because we wouldn't have time to go back and fetch it before the official checkout time for the apartment. no one batted an eye when we stashed the suitcase and the stroller in an alcove behind the holy water font, but we sat in the back row just in case anyone tried to move it.

loved the sunlight streaming down on the altar! 

after mass, we had just enough time to pick up sandwiches to go from the deli just below our Airbnb, before getting on the fast train back to Rome. that pig was holding a fake sandwich, complete with slices of faux mortadella that were impressively lifelike.

Cece, bringing the smolder

i sure hope heaven has a store like this

in the train station, we purchased our travel essentials: bottles of "fizzy water" for all of us and cappuccinos for Nick and myself. seriously, Italian train station cappuccinos are insanely good, and they're usually only €1 or €2. Greta fell sound asleep in the stroller while we were waiting for our train, so she didn't discover the impressive heft of the sandwiches until we had actually boarded.

well, Bologna, maybe one day we'll have a chance to visit you again. we certainly could have used at least one more day to explore ... and i wouldn't mind tasting some of that balanzoni again, either!