Bologna Wrap Up

Bologna had so much to offer that after having discussed its Art Gallery, Palazzo Comunale, its Cathedrals, its gates, arcades and towers, there were still more to it.  Finally, I'm zooming into the city center where two large piazzas met - Piazza Maggiore and Piazza del Nettuno.

Below was the pictures of the already mentioned Piazza Maggiore.  Facing the Basilica was Palazzo Re Enzo, which was built in thirteenth century.  We didn't have chance to explore it further other than walking in its arcade loggia.


Basilica di San Petronio (right) and Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita (domed building) viewed from Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale)


Piazza Maggiore - Palazzo Re Enzo (left), Torre Asinelli (middle) and Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita (domed building) viewed from Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale)


Palazzo Re Enzo


Arcade in Palazzo Re Enzo, Piazza Maggiore

It was a quite remarkable walk around the well preserved Piazza Maggiore area - a sense of time traveling was quite easily invoked and our eyes were quickly trained to ignore the modern inventions, such as bicycles, etc.


Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale)




Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale), Piazza Maggiore



There were many sculptures in Bologna, such as this sculpture of Luigi Galvani (September 1737 - 1798) (an Italian physician, physicist and philosopher who discovered bioelectricity), in Piazza Luigi Galvani, right behind Basilica di San Petronio:


Piazza Luigi Galvani

But no sculpture in Bologna could rival the impact and vividness of the Fountain of Neptune - Fontana del Nettuno, in Piazza del Nettuno, between Plazzo Re Enzo and Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale).  The modest-sized piazza was dominated by a lively and glorious fountain Fontana del Nettuno, which accentuated the otherwise slightly gloomy medieval looking square. The bronze God was so powerful and regal that one expected at any time this god might strike the ground with his mighty trident and cause gushes of water to inundate this plaza and the city altogether.  Thus, stay at a respectable distance and admire!


Fontana del Nettuno, Piazza del Nettuno, Bologna















If Piazza Maggiore was the heart of Bologna, its artery would be Via dell'Indipendenza, a beautiful boulevard lined with endless arcades of shops, and dotted with basilicas, ruins, monuments and sculptures, with noteworthy ones such as Legambiente Bologna & Emilia Romagna, a ruin and park nearby, Garibaldi statue and  Cattedrale di San Pietro.


Via dell'Indipendenza


Via dell'Indipendenza


Legambiente Bologna & Emilia Romagna




Legambiente Bologna & Emilia Romagna


Ruins near Legambiente Bologna & Emilia Romagna in Bologna














Garibaldi statue along  Via dell'Indipendenza


Cattedrale di San Pietro, Via dell'Indipendenza


Cattedrale di San Pietro, Via dell'Indipendenza

Other memorable stops we made in Bologna included Basilica di San Giacomo Maggiore, Teatro Comunale di Bologna (The Opera House), SS Ioseph et Ignatio DIC, and Chiesa Universitaria di San Sigismondo, and other public or private, religious or secular architectural gems.


Basilica di San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna




Basilica di San Giacomo Maggiore


Basilica di San Giacomo Maggiore


Teatro Comunale di Bologna (The Opera House)












SS Ioseph et Ignatio DIC




Chiesa Universitaria di San Sigismondo















Then there was food.  Meals were delicious, markets were lovely and the pastries were dainty.  Nothing, however, topped the gelato shop, Gelateria Gianni, near Le due Torri, where they made gelati with olive oil.  One singlularly glorious flavor was the very best I ever had, aptly named as Inferno - white chocolate gelato with dipping cherry topping.  Every drop of the melting gelato generated a nuclear chain reaction in my stunned mouth.  Not to be missed.

The name of Inferno did trace back to the great Poet Dante, whose Divine Comedy, Inferno mentioned Garisenda, one of the famous Two Towers, together with the Asinelli Tower:

As when one sees the tower called Garisenda

from underneath its leaning side, and then a cloud

passes over and it seems to lean the more,

thus did Antaeus seem to my fixed gaze

as I watched him bend...

Divine Comedy, Inferno, XXXI, 136-140

Never can my eyes make amends to me --short

of going blind-- for their great fault,

that they gazed at the Garisenda tower

with its fine view, and --confound them!--

missed her, the worthiest of those

who are talked about.

Rime, VIII

Caffè Zamboni, between Le due Torri and Basilica Giacomo Maggiore, near Università


Related posts on Art · 文化 · Kunst: 
- Basilica di San Petronio and San Domenico in Bologna
- Basilica Santuario Santo Stefano, Bologna
- Il palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, Bologna
- Palazzo D'Accursio (Palazzo Comunale), Bologna
- Via Marchesana, Market near Albergo delle Drapperie, Bologna
- Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna
- Visiting Four Universities in Austria and Italy
- City of Padova (Padua), Italy
- A Guest Blog - "Amateur food porn from Austria and Italy"


Label: Italy, Austria and Italy Trip 2012