Bologna, May 2025

By Beatrice Wong
June 16, 2025
7:30 pm
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The last time I was in Europe was at the end of 2019 before COVID shut down all travel, and Italy, I haven’t been in over 10 years. The main purpose of this trip, for a change, will not be photography, but instead to relax and meet up with family. Even though I have been to Italy many times over the years, this is my first post on Italy and my first time in Bologna. I flew into Florence and drove up to Bologna, the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. Bologna has also been known as “La Grassa” which means “the fat” because of its cuisine rich in meats, butter, and cheese. Another nickname is “La Rossa” (the red) which refers to the color of the buildings and also later as a bastion of the Italian Communist Party. The other 2 nicknames are “La Turrita” which means “the towered” referring to the many medieval towers in the city, and “La Dotta” which means “the learned” referring to the university here being considered the oldest in the world. The city is famous for the central Due Torri (Asinelli and Garisenda Towers) and its 38 km of UNESCO porticoes which make it possible to walk around the city largely sheltered from the elements. I stayed at the lovely 6-room Casa Bertagni, right by the university, about a 15-minute walk to the center of the old town. It was once a private residence and still family-owned today.

Back in the 12th and 13th centuries, there were an incredible number of towers in Bologna, probably over 100, creating an urban skyline similar to modern-day metropolises. It was speculated that the towers were built by rich families to show their wealth and status, as well as for defensive purposes. Over the years, some towers collapsed, others were demolished and only 22 remain today. The most famous of the towers that remain today are the Due Torri or the Two Towers: the 97-meter Asinelli Tower and the Garisenda Tower, both of which are leaning. Asinelli Tower, built between 1109 and 1119, is the tallest leaning medieval tower in the world and at the time of my visit, it was closed to climbers while restoration work was done on the dangerously tilted Garisenda Tower next to it. Legend has it that if you climb Asinelli Tower, you will never graduate from your studies. I heard it is quite a strenuous climb to the top via 498 steps. An alternative climb is up the second tallest tower (60 meters high) called Prendiparte Tower or Coronata Tower, which is about a 12-floor climb up to the terrace. Built in the 12th century by the Prendiparte family as a defence tower until converted into a prison holding those who had committed crimes against the church. Today it is partly a hotel and offers organized tours to the terrace on Sundays only so reservations are necessary. I highly recommend trying to get up the tower for panoramic views of Bologna.

En route to Prendiparte Tower for my tower climb.

View of Due Torri from the top of Prendiparte Tower

Bologna from the top of Prendiparte Tower

Bologna from the top of Prendiparte Tower

Piazza Maggiore

The Due Torri

Prendiparte Tower

The Due Torri of Bologna

Asinelli Tower, built between 1109 and 1119, is the tallest leaning medieval tower in the world

Asinelli Tower, built between 1109 and 1119, is the tallest leaning medieval tower in the world

Palazzo della Mercanzia

At the heart of Bologna is Piazza Maggiore, dating back to 1200. On the square are the Basilica of San Petronio, the Palazzo dei Notai, the Palazzo d’Accursio, the Palazzo del Podestà, and the Palazzo dei Banchi. Standing in the central Piazza Maggiore is the Basilica di San Petronio, in this incomplete state since the 1500s. Dedicated to the city’s patron saint, it is the largest and most important church in Bologna. Its legendary facade was left unfinished, being only partly covered in marble, when Pope Pius IV decided it would outshine St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and decommissioned its construction and shifted his attention to building the Archiginnasio of Bologna. Inside the basilica are beautiful murals adorning the chapels and the world’s longest sundial, installed by astronomer Cassini in 1655, and measuring at 220 feet. Giovanni Domenico Cassini is most known for discovering 4 of Saturn’s moons and a gap within Saturn’s rings known as the Cassini Division. The meridian line that stretches across the floor of San Petronio Basilica from north to south makes precise measurements of the motions of the Sun. A small hole in the 4th vault above the left aisle projects the Sun’s image onto the meridian line on the floor at approximately noon every day. Using the meridian line, Cassini was able to measure the Sun’s position and its relative size.

Basilica di San Petronio

Basilica di San Petronio

Basilica di San Petronio in the center of Piazza Maggiore

Basilica di San Petronio

Basilica di San Petronio

Palazzo Re Enzo

On the northwest corner of Piazza Maggiore is the Fountain of Neptune in the Piazza del Nettuno. The statue of Neptune with trident in hand, was built between 1563 and 1567 by the Flemish sculptor, Jean de Boulogne, also known as Giambologna, and by architect and painter, Tommaso Laureti. The four cherubs surrounding him are said to represent the rivers Nile, Amazon, Danube, and Ganges. The statue was meant to symbolize then Pope Pius IV is the ruler of Bologna, as Neptune is the god of the sea.

Fountain of Neptune

Bologna

Bologna

The Quadrilatero just off Piazza Maggiore was an area of craft and trade dating back to the Middle Ages. It is the oldest market in Bologna, filled with food shops selling cheese and cured meats to fresh pasta to wine bars and balsamic vinegar shops.

Bologna

Bologna

Basilica San Stefano is also known as “sette chiese” or seven churches because it is the merger of multiple buildings built at different times. Only 4 of the 7 churches still stand today: Chiesa del Crocefisso, Chiesa della Trinità, Chiesa del Santo Sepolcro, and Santi Vitale e Agricola. The complex is said to be built by Petronius on the ruins of a pre-existing pagan temple, flanked by a reproduction of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. Entry is via the 11th century Chiesa del Crocefisso and leads through to the Chiesa del Santo Sepolcro. Next is the central marble basin, Cortile di Pilato, which is where Pontius Pilate is said to have washed his hands after condemning Christ to death. Then there is Chiesa della Trinità connecting to a Benedictine cloister and a small museum. The 4th church here, Santi Vitale e Agricola, is the oldest church in Bologna dating back to the 11th century with recycled Roman masonry and carvings.

Unlike Venice, the canals in Bologna are mostly covered, with roads and buildings built over them, hiding them from plain view. Many of the canals were built for the silk trade as well as the flourishing tobacco and flour trade. They were used to transport goods and people. Today, one of the best places to see the few remaining sections of the medieval Canale delle Moline is through the small “Window to the Canal” or Finestrella di Via Piella on Via Piella.

“Window to the Canal” or Finestrella di Via Piella

Bologna has been known as the City of the Porticoes. These Unesco porticoes in Bologna were built starting in the 12th century as a way for buildings to extend over public walkways and at the same time providing shelter from inclement weather. There are a total of over 60km of these porticoes in the city. The most well known and also the world’s longest covered walkway (almost 4km long) is the Portico di San Luca made up of 666 vault arches linking the Sanctuary of San Luca on top of the hill to the city center at Porta Saragozza. These porticoes provide shelter for the traditional procession every year since 1433 where a Byzantine icon of the Madonna with Child is carried down to the Bologna Cathedral during the Feast of the Ascension.