Bologna: Mon 16 – Sat 21 Sept: Accommodation
Mon 16th Sept: arrival day
It was another glorious sunny day for our drive from Alba over to Bologna and we stopped at Parma on the way to have lunch. We’d stayed here once, years ago, but this was before Google was available and we both had little memory of the trip. It was just a short stop this time but the place was buzzing with activity and loads of people were out enjoying themselves so it definitely looked like a place that could warrant a re-visit.
We arrived at our accommodation in Bologna at around 2:30pm and were excited to discover that it was the most delightful apartment. There were two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a huge terrace and even a separate store room for Dagwood, so that was a huge plus. It was also a most beautiful, light filled space and somewhere we were very happy to drop our bags for the next 5 nights.
There was little time for us to settle in though as we’d booked a wine tasting experience for 5 pm. It was a 15 minute walk to the wine experience and, as we travelled, we realised that we were located in a most ideal part of the city as there were loads of cafes, bars, shops and restaurants right on our doorstep.
There were only three other participants at the wine event but it was a fun night and it was nice to chat to other travelers; one girl from Sweden and a couple from Köln. After that, we headed home to do some washing and collapse into bed. It had been a very full day.
Tue 17th Sept: walking tour day
It was a cool morning but we set out for a morning walk before our 11 am walking tour. Our tour was with Free Walking Tour Italia and this was a good way to get a better perspective of the city. We discovered that a nick name for Bologna is La Rossa due to the city being of mostly red brick construction. The history of the city was on full display with the basement of the old Stock Exchange, now Library, having 2nd century BC Roman remnants of clearly distinguishable walls and sewer lines, the oldest evidence of Roman ruins in Bologna. The tour lasted just under 2 hours and took us past most of the major sights worth seeing. We had lunch in the food market area after the tour and then headed back to the apartment for a rest given it was raining a bit.
It was almost 5 pm before we ventured back out and we headed to the old Stock Exchange, now Library, to get a better view of the Roman ruins and then headed back to the old University to see the Teatro Anatomical where the medical students used to have lectures. We’d been told that most of the specimens used for dissection purposes came from the cadavers of the local prostitutes that used to do business near the University. It was therefore a somewhat sobering experience to view this magnificent wood paneled room. It was still raining throughout our afternoon of walking but we were lucky to be keep fairly dry due to the many porticos in the area; Bologna apparently has 40 km worth of porticoes! There was a bit of a funny ‘lost in translation’ event when Mark was trying on some clothes at Lacoste. The young female assistant became rather animated when she heard we were Australian. She mentioned that she knew Australia from a famous action movie. Here was me thinking she was going to quote Crocodile Dundee. Nope. It was Finding Nemo. Who’d have thought to put this one under the ‘action’ movie category but, heh, this girl did. She asked me about ‘Wallaby Way’ and if she’d be able to find it. I think I inadvertently shattered her dreams when I stated I thought it was a fictional address. Am I wrong though?
Our dinner tonight was at a venue our host suggested, and is where John Grisham prefers to dine when he’s in Bologna, and this was Franco Rossi where we enjoyed a lovely meal. We didn’t see Mr Grisham but there was an interesting group of men dining near us that Mark was convinced were Mafia so he was keen to leave before any shoot-out, should a rival gang appear. We left after our meal and made it safely back to the apartment.
Wed 18th Sept: day trip to Ravenna
It was a wet and cool day for our trip out to Ravenna to view the wonderful 5th-8th century mosaics that the town is famed for. We had a guided tour starting at 10 am but set out from Bologna at 7.30 am for the 75 minute drive to enable us enough time to find a park and have a coffee before the tour started.
Our guide for the 3 hour walking tour was Celia, a native of Ravenna, who had a most commanding knowledge of history and a sharp sense of humour so she made the time fly by. These tours need to be booked well in advance so I would definitely make sure to do this if you’re ever in the area. The mosaics were jaw droppingly beautiful and the attached pictures do not do them justice. They have to be seen in situ to be fully appreciated for their magnificence.
Ravenna is a city made up of many islands and previously had numerous porticos, like Bologna, but these were destroyed by the Venetians. Like Venice, the city suffers flooding in periods of extended rain and we experienced that for ourselves today; the roads were saturated and the ground was sodden. Whilst few of you may have ever heard of the city, it was critically important in the early centuries of the eastern Roman Empire.
One of the most interesting points I picked up from Celia was how the early Christian Church had much more joyful imagery of Jesus Christ and this was evident throughout the 5-8th century Basilicas and Baptisteries we visited on our walk. Celia explained that it wasn’t until the 12th century that the crucified Jesus started to dominate popular imagery. Celia explained that modern streams of Christianity, like Catholicism, brought the doom and darkness to the religion in the Middle Ages. A rather sobering and dismaying point.
Our tour finished up around 1 pm and we had lunch in the town before heading 15 minutes out to Classe to see another impressive Basilica with magnificent 6th and 7th century mosaics, Basilica di Sant’Apollinare in Classe. We were all mosaic-ed out after that and headed back to the apartment to dry out before dinner.
It was 6 pm before we headed out for dinner and this was at Trattoria Leonida that was another great suggestion from our host. This was a lovely setting, with cloth napkins I might add, and our meals were delicious. Just don’t bother ordering the zabaglione dessert as it was very disappointing and nowhere near as good as what my mum and I used to make from the Women’s Weekly Italian cooking class cookbook!
