Bologna is a beautiful city; an emerging tourist destination, a foodie destination, a business hub and a university city. The city's symbol is Neptune; the statue's stylised trident has become Maserati's logo. Ferrari, Maserati, Lamborghini and Ducati are all close to Bologna.
A characteristic of inner Bologna is the extensive use of colonnades. They must be a blessing in mid summer when it can get quite hot!
The Cathedral is undergoing maintenance at the main roof level. This allowed us to ride in an industrial lift, for a fee on the weekend, up to the work site. A great view over the city was the reward![Clock wise from top: View from Cathedral roof, a Ducati, the lift to roof top.]
Inside the Bologna Cathedral.
Like many university towns there is a high population of bikes. On a busy Saturday afternoon there was a team of students performing comprehensive repairs (including new rims) for other students, in a city square. They are clearly a good form of transport, especially on weekends when the city centre becomes a 'no cars' area.However I fear that some students have over capitalised their bikes with the value of their chain and lock exceeding the value of the bike.
A unique characteristic of the town is their towers. Between the 12th and the 13th century, the number of towers in the city was possibly up to 180. The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive/defensive purposes. Today about twenty remain, and it is possible for tourists to climb some of them.
An interesting side story from Bologna: Usually when travelling oversea local events pass you by; with a very few tragic exceptions.Lenore and I quite suddenly found ourselves in the 3 M gap between protestors (with flags and megaphones) and this group of police. The Police had locked down a few blocks as protestors had occupied a building and the police were not allowing anyone including potential supporters into the area.Unfortunately we had left our hire car in an underground car park in the lock down area. The initial police response to our request to retrieve the car was "impossible"!! After talking to a number of very helpful police, and referring up the line, we were eventually told "okay"! Good to know we were considered low risk.
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