Bologna – a walk into history under its endless arches
I’d love to say that I chose Bologna for its lively scene and historic architecture, but the simple truth is that it was one of those super bargain deals that are way too hard to resist. So on one sunny November weekend I found myself in Bologna, a city in northern Italy known as the foody capital.
It’s not your stereotypical kind of Italian break like going to romantic Venice or majestic Rome, but we were looking forward to 2 full days of exploring Bologna’s ancient streets and seeing what culinary delights the city had in store for us.
The charming, compact and pedestrian-friendly centre is breathing with history – you can’t miss the beautiful and sprawling Piazza Maggiore lined with arched colonnades, cafes and medieval structures. Like Pisa, Bologna has also its own Leaning Tower – actually, Towers! Yes, they are both leaning in opposite directions. The towers are the focal point of the city – you can climb only one of them (Asinelli), after taking on the 498 steps, you will be in for a treat of breath-taking views across the red roofs with mountains as the backdrop.
The best thing about Bologna is that no matter what the weather, you can enjoy exploring the city and the outdoors. The majority of the city has its streets lined with arches sheltering you from the fierce sun in the summer or rain/snow in the autumn and winter months. The arcaded streets run for 25 miles!
The same goes for Sanctuary of San Luca located on a hill majestically overlooking the city – to reach the top it’s a steady 4km climb of uneven stairs under the colonnade (portico) the entire way up – the amount of labour to build the colonnade that must have gone into this work is incomprehensible … it’s a lovely walk though, you will be rewarded with some amazing views of the city and the rolling countryside and mountains in the north. You can start along the streets of Via di Monte Albano and Via di Casaglia which make for a nice solitary itinerary to reach the hill.
After the 4km hike down we explored the little alleys with shops and bars full of cheese and hanging salamis of gigantic proportions – you really can’t escape the food even if you wanted to, and wine of course! But can a veggie survive in a city where prosciutto ham is the most common item on the menu and you have to literally physically move out of its way as the huge chunks hang from the ceilings of most restaurants … turns out quite easily! Being a Melanzana (aubergine) lover, I couldn’t have more embraced having as much aubergine as possible. Cheese, step aside – I’m having a melanzana moment! After all, maroon is definitely an autumn colour.
We tried a couple of traditional Bolognese dishes too – no, not spaghetti Bolognese, but tortelloni pasta with filling made of ricotta and spinach, or also of pumpkin. Another favourite was Tigelle bread with cheese board and olives washed down by some Sangiovese red. Who says you can’t be a veggie in Italy?! 😉 It is customary to have a small glass of Limoncello, lemon liquor, served after dinner. I’ve never been overly keen, but this particular brand was so tasty – perhaps because this one turned out to be Meloncello! – a fact which didn’t go unnoticed by the owner of the restaurant. With true Italian style and nonchalance, he casually put the whole bottle on our table and said to enjoy as much as we want, Saluti! I don’t have to say that there was very little left after we’d gone …!
After our bellies were nicely full, we continued with sightseeing. In Via Piella, there’s something of a Bologna secret. Did you know that Bologna allegedly looked a lot like Venice back in the day? There used to be a 37-mile network of canals which are now mostly covered except for 5 canals. It’s a bit hard to find, but when you eventually locate a small graffiti-covered window in the wall, open it for a view on to the Reno Canal, also known as Bologna’s own “Little Venice” – well, I wouldn’t trade this for Venice in any sense, and as far as I’m concerned it was a major let down, but we had fun searching for the small window!
Another place I was really interested in seeing was a complex of 7 churches at Basilica Santuario Santo Stefano; these were built through the different eras and the place is really stunning located on a wide Piazza Santo Stefano.
At sunset we headed to one of the palazzos’ roof tops; there’s a lift to take a limited number of visitors up. It was so windy and the lift didn’t seem all that safe so we didn’t spend much time, but the views were amazing. We then stopped off at some tiny café where we couldn’t resist the Italian gelato on offer – it wouldn’t be a proper Italian break without an ice cream now, would it?! 3 scoops later washed down with some Prosecco, we concluded that dinner was not needed.
We flew with BA and our hotel was included in the package, it was in a perfect location right in the middle of the historical city. To get from the airport is really easy, just use the BLQ Aerobus which runs from the main train station to Guillermo Marconi airport every 10 to 30 minutes. The 20-minute journey costs €6 and tickets can be bought on board. Some people tend to tour Italy so from here you an easily reach other amazing places like Ravenna, Ferrara or Florence which is 35 mins away by train.
The city is so compact that a weekend trip with 2 full days is just perfect. You won’t be rushed off your feet and will be able to savour and admire the sights with plenty of time for frequent wine & food pit stops in between.
Eyes On The Cloud 