A city of reds, ochres, porticos and pork.

by YouShouldGoHere
March 23, 2016
in Go Here
0

[BOLOGNA, ITALY] — Bologna was about 237th on my list of places I wanted to visit, but when a Rome school buddy of mine suggested we meet there to eat, I jumped at the chance. Man oh man what a gorgeous city. Almost every block is covered with some sort of portico, centuries old.

I was there in October, so the golden autumn sunlight weighed heavy on all the nooks and crannies of the city. Each corner revealing some beautiful hue of red and ochre, with the perfect patina. You walk around the corner and BOOM, another amazing palette of colors. And the reflected light gave off a glow that washed the whole city in red.

There’s reason why Italians have always called Bologna “La Rossa” (The Red One).

Bologna La Rossa Tower View — Bologna’s nickname is “La Rossa” (The Red One) because, well, it’s all red. Okay, moving on to our next lesson…

Porticos are a big deal in Bologna, there are almost 40km of them that line nearly all the city centre streets and they are a part of daily life… as they have been for over 1,000 years. Which is why they are now a UNESCO Heritage Site.

They first started as a way for buildings to expand over public spaces, but really became mandatory to shield people from the sooty rains and whatever else might be falling from the sky in those days. Including the random defenestration.

They still serve the same purpose today. Each block, each building has its own character and function. And almost all dripped in rich ochres and deep reds and knurled stone columns. They’re particularly useful if you don’t like using sunscreen. I find them very pleasing.

I bet it would suck to be an umbrella salesman in this town.

Every portico has its own character and light.

fgrgrg

Tight.

Next to Grand Place in Brussels, I think Bologna’s Piazza Maggiore is one the prettiest & perfect piazzas in Europe. After all those narrow streets, they needed to air the place out a bit, so they cleared out some towers and buildings in the 13th Century and made this. Also the perfect place for airing out all the ills and antics of students from Bologna’s famous university, the oldest in the world, which happen as regularly as the bell tower rings. Come, sit, have a cappuccino and watch the world go by.

The streets are so narrow and curvy in Bologna, buildings groaning for the sky, sunlight barely finds its way to the ground. It seems like they dug it into the ground vs. building ⬆️. Like a medieval Antelope Canyon, but probably carved with balsamico and Lambrusco, not water. You know, for the perfect patina…

The light in Bologna is just amazing. Sometimes just a shaft or sliver, other times bouncing off whole walls of red and bathing the whole street in a rosy glow. Like being in a James Turrell. In winter — which is ending now thank god — when I was there, the steep angle of the sun just makes the shadows and shafts of light even more intense. Bright light and deep dark, like cats and dogs, right alongside each other. Sometimes it was hard just to walk without bumping into something. I don’t think they invented the word “chiaroscuro” because of Caravaggio’s paintings, I think it was for walking in Bologna.

😎 I may or may not have taken out a couple of cafe tables walking towards this XFiles tractor beam light. 🎳

Like a lot of medieval Italian towns, Bologna had its own tower wars, with different families building these tall, skinny, side by side towers to taunt each other, shaking fists at each other 20 feet away — much like when Bono and 80s one hit wonder Bill Squier scrabbled over chimney smoke in the two towers on the San Remo years ago. At one time, this city looked like San Gimignano, with over forty of these towers poking out of the porticos. I left a surprise there for you…

Here’s a cool thing: I left a buried treasure in the tower. Look for this mark at 38 meters and then look for the hole to the right. Two friends have already found this in subsequent years. Shhhhhh, don’t tell anyone else….

…. at that stage look across the stairwell to find this little hidden, innocuous niche. I hid a Euro for you there back in 2012, knowing you’d be coming there soon. In theory it should still be there, just above eyesight. Take a picture and send it to me. Pass the story along to friends. I’ve sent two people there and they have found it. An Easter Egg for Easter.

Emilia-Romagna is arguably the capital of Italian food and Bologna is the capital of Emilia-Romagna. Ergo, these people know their food. And cooking food, talking about food and thinking about food is what a visit to Bologna is all about. It’s in their blood like red bleeds through their buildings. Probably why one study ranked Bologna the 🔝 of 107 Italian cities in quality of life. Must be the sauce. Let’s eat.

What I do best in Italy. Sit. Sit and drink it all in.

Woohoo! AFAR magazine is my absolute favorite travel mag, by far. I’m ☺️. Thank you @afarmedia ! And to everyone else who puts up with my incessant ramblings…

Cesari is a beautiful little jewel box of a restaurant in Bologna. Just looks like a perfect bottle of Aperol, sittin’ there all pretty. (The classic bottle, not the cheesy Aperol Spritz logo they foisted upon the world the last few years…great drink, stinky logo. Must have been the owner’s grandnephew who came up with that one…) Loved it. You should eat here.