Bologna - City of Towers and Porticoes

Once upon arrival, to my delighted surprise, I discovered that Bologna, the capital city of Emilia-Romagna Region in Northern Italy, was a sprawling metropolis and it was as ancient and exotic as an American tourist could hope for, and it was also a living and breathing thing, teemed with people, particularly young university students.

After several days' exploring, I believed that Bologna was the city had the most porticoes in the world - in total, there are over 45 kilometers of arcades, some 38 in the city center; and perhaps in the past, the most towers as well (estimated at about 180), though there were only a couple dozens remained, with with two most prominent ones emerging the symbol of Bologna. Below is a model of the ancient Bologna with its hundreds towers on display in the city's Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale):


Model of ancient Bologna

The most famous two towers, both of them leaning, were collective called Le due torri (The Two Towers, consisting of Torre Garisenda, and Torre Asinelli) and were located at the intersection of the roads that lead to the five gates of the old ring wall (mura dei torresotti). The taller one is called the Asinelli while the smaller but more leaning tower is called the Garisenda.

The first tower we saw in Bologna, a bit off the city's central square Piazza Maggiore was a tower I still couldn't confidently identify, when we chance entered in a small courtyard. 



As we went on to the opposite direction, towards the Universities and Pinacoteca, the unmistakable Le due torri (Torre Garisenda, and Torre Asinelli) lay right ahead of us.  Climbing upon the taller tower supposed to be great fun but can be physically demanding and dangerous due to some open sections so we decided not to do so, rather, we just admired it from different angles and distances.  Below are a few shots from various angles during day and night:


Torre degli Asinelli and Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale)






Torre degli Asinelli


Le due torri (Torre Garisenda, left and Torre degli Asinelli, right)

















Tower and arcades were quite ubiquitous in Bologna.  Below was a picture of Bologna's lovely Piazza Santo Stefano, where both the arcades and a tower could be seen within a single frame:


Piazza Santo Stefano

Around the amphitheater looking Piazza Santo Stefano, there were many buildings with lovely porticoes of many styles:






Piazza Santo Stefano













Another area I felt that I was overwhelmed by many arcades was around the university, with some especially noteworthy ones as those with frescoes inside the loggia and the multiple-leveled arcades inside the law school courtyard:











  


Law School

I wondered if umbrella would be really necessary in Bologna since one could almost always walk inside one portico after another, some beautifully decorated, some more austere and more functional oriented but no less remarkable, all around the city space we managed to cover within those three day:











Back to the Two Towers area at night and those lit arcades were even more enchanting.  Inside one of such arcades, there was an art deco style food court so we were able to have a glimpse of what was within:






Food Court on Via Rizzoli, near Le due torri

Bologna used to be a walled city with many gates and now there were a handful of them remained, though standing alone, without the walls to make their functions apparent, and they became somewhat lonely monuments to the life and time of the begone eras:





Porta Castiglione, Bologna, Italy




Ancient city gate, Bologna


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- A Guest Blog - "Amateur food porn from Austria and Italy"
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Label: Italy, Austria and Italy Trip 2012