BOLOGNA -

With our busy Italian schedule last year, we actually had no more than one day to visit Bologna, so instead of wandering around I booked a free walking tour through a web site called guruwalk. Little did I know at the time that our guide would be a Croatian girl.

Ela* is from one of the Croatian islands. She studied in Zagreb, moved and worked in Oslo for a bit and then followed her boyfriend to Italy 🙂 From chit chatting that we made while hanging out with her, we soon discovered that we know, or someone we know knows some people she’s familiar with. A small world you can say 🙂

*Palazzo Re Enzo built between 1244-1246 takes its name from Enzio of Sardinia, Frederick II’s son, who was prisoner here from 1249 until his death in 1272*

Our small group for this 11 am walking tour was a couple from Spain plus us three. Ela guided us through the old historical part of Bologna, showing and explaining all the interesting and important parts of the city that she now calls home. She shared important facts with us, but those out-of-the-textbook stories were the one that impressed us the most.

In the middle of the square rises gigantic bronze statue of god Neptune commissioned by the Cardinal Legate Charles Borromeo and completed around 1567. For a sum of thousand gold scudi, Flemish sculptor Giambologna, wanted to make huge genitals on the sculpture but of course the Church didn’t like that so he played a trick on everyone because if you look to the sculpture from the back it’s left hand looks like the erected penis 🙂

With the population of more than 350 000 inhabitants, Bologna is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region. Like many other big cities due to the rich and complicated history Bologna bears three nicknames: La Grassa, La Dotta and La Rossa.

The vault under the Palazzo del Podestà originally housed the city market and the benches of the notaries and later on, blasphemers were hanged here under its arches. but the vault is probably more interesting due to an extraordinary acoustical effect coming from its curved shape. If two people are facing the corners and stand across each other and talk or even whisper they can hear each other perfectly. This communication ‘’canal’ was built in the Middle Ages as a way for the lepers to confess their sins to a priest

Although many of the facades in the city are of red color, the nickname La Rossa (the red) comes from the political stronghold of Italian Communist Party several decades after the World War II.

*The unfinished façade of 14th Century Basilica di San Petronio*

*The house of the singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla*

13th century Torre Galluzzi is one of a few still standing medieval towers that used to represent power and wealth of a family. The original entrance of this once 30 meters tall tower was on a floor about 10 metres above ground level, and the Galluzzi family used to enter it through a window located halfway up the tower, using mobile wooden bridges that stuck out from their houses.

Between the 12th and the 13th century, there were little less than 200 towers in Bologna. The city looked as a modern day New York.

The most prominent ones are the Two Towers built at the beginning of 12th century. The taller tower, considered to be the tallest leaning medieval tower in the world (97 meters) is called the Asinelli while the smaller but more leaning one is called the Garisenda (47 meters).

La Dotta (the learned) comes from the oldest continuously operating university in the western world established in 1088. Among thousands of local and international students, the University’s alumni was also famous trio fantastico of the Italian literature (Dante, Petrarch and Boccaccio).

At the centre of the Piazza Galvani, originally built to host the University, stands the marble statue of Luigi Galvani, a famous Bolognese scholar mainly known for his research about bio-electricity, while observing the famous frog he used to study on.

We walked the main building courtyard, the Archiginnasio, were once the old scholars walked and exchanged their notes.

The Archiginnasio palace was the seat of the university from 1563 to 1805 and it’s richly decorated in various coat of arms considered to be the biggest existing heraldic wall complex.

The coats of arms of the former students represent the idea of authority and power of the institution. Same as in the gallery of some noble palaces the paintings would celebrate the splendour of the family, so does these decorations emphasizes the history of the University.

Organised in horizontal stripes or around the celebratory monuments, the coats of arms account for more than just the name and the place of origin of the student, but also of the home country that the student was representing.

*Currently, there are around 6000 coats of arms in the halls, corridors and along the grand staircases*

La Grassa (the fat) as Bologna has been often referred is a reference to the abundance, variety, and high quality of the cuisine. Back in the day, but we can think of it in contemporary terms as well, this would be quite the compliment for any city, since the richness of the food culture suggested economic prosperity.

The culinary culture is deeply connected to the University of Bologna. During the Middle Ages only rich students would attend university and many students from around Europe brought their servants. Cooks were among them, of course.

The result of these foreign cooks and their different methods of cooking was the new flavour in the local cuisine.

In Bologna the education and cuisine holds a strong bond, because without the prestigious university, Bolognese cuisine would not have developed as strongly as it did, and without the rich culinary tradition, the university would not have become so well renowned.

*Prosciutto and zampone (stuffed pigs legs)*

Browsing through the Quadrilatero area, where trading tradition is dating back to the Middle Ages, we were introduced to some of the finest samples of Bolognese cuisine. Ela took us window shopping which made easier for us to come back and stuff our bags with all the goodies. But first, we had to eat 🙂

*Just a bunch of people waiting to be seated for late lunch. On Monday*

*You can find Ela here: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/32981-walking-through-bologna-free-walking-tour

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BOLOGNA

Naš prenatrpani raspored prošle godine u Italiji, nije nam dozvolio više od jednog dana u Bologni. Ali i to smo iskoristili najbolje moguće.

Da ne lutamo gradom bez veze, iako i to nekad nije loša ideja, desetak dana prije puta bukirala sam besplatnu vođenu turu preko stranice guruwalk. Tad još nisam znala da će naš vodič biti Hrvatica.

Ela je rodom s Lošinja, studirala je u Zagrebu te živjela i radila neko vrijeme u Oslu odakle se preselila za srcem i dečkom u Bolognu. Iz razgovora smo shvatili da imamo zajedničke poznanike i prijatelje. Svijet se tad nije mogao činiti manjim nego što već jest.

*Palača Re Enzo, sagrađena sredinom 13. stoljeća, nazvana je po Enziju od Sardinije, sinu Frederika II., koji je ovdje bio zatvorenik u drugoj polovici 13. stoljeća sve do svoje smrti 1272.*

Naša mala grupa na ovoj turi počela je u 11 sati prije podne, a uz nas troje na turi je sudjelovao par iz Španjolske. Ela nas je provela starim povijesnim dijelom grada, pokazavši nam i objasnivši sve bitne i zanimljive dijelove iz povijesti Bologne. Uz važne činjenice pronašlo se mjesta i za stare legende te preporuke gdje i što pojesti ili kupiti.

Na sredini trga gdje smo se našli s Elom i grupom nalazi se ogromna brončana statua boga Neptuna koju je naručio kardinal Borromeo u 16. stoljeću. Za iznos od tisuću zlatnih skuda, flemiški skulptor Giambologna, planirao je između ostaloga isklesati i ogromne spolne organe na statui, što mu Crkva apsolutno nije dozvolila. Frajer se snašao tako što je statui položio ruke tako, kad se gleda iz određenog kuta, čini se kao da Neptun ima penis u erekciji.

S naseljenošću od preko 350 000 stanovnika, Bologna je najveći i glavni grad Emilije-Romagne. Poput brojnih drugih velikih gradova ima bogatu i kompliciranu prošlost, no svi ju zapravo više znaju kao Grassu, Dottu i Rossu.

Prostor ispod svoda Palače del Podestà originalno se koristio kao gradska tržnica, a ponekad su se vješali prijestupnici i varalice. No svod je zapravo zanimljiviji zbog akustičnog efekta uzrokovanog svojim karakterističnim oblikom. Ako dvije osobe stoje licem okrenute kutovima ispod svoda i tiho šapuću sigurno je da će se čuti kao da stoje jedna pored druge. Efekt je bio prijeko potreban za vrijeme srednjovjekovne pošasti lepre kad su svećenici ispovijedali grešnike.

Iako su brojne fasade u gradu obojene crvenom bojom nadimak Rossa ili crvena dolazi od činjenice da je Bologna bilo snažno uporište talijanske komunističke partije nakon Drugog svjetskog rata.

*Nedovršena fasada bazilike San Petronija iz 14.stoljeća*

Torre Galluzzi iz 13. stoljeća jedan je od rijetkih srednjovjekovnih tornjeva koji su nekad davno predstavljali moć i bogatstvo pojedine obitelji. Ulaz u ovu građevinu visoku tridesetak metara bio je nekih desetak metara iznad zemlje, a obitelj Galluzzi u toranj bi ulazila uz pomoć pomičnih drvenih mostova.

Između 12. i 13. stoljeća u Bologni je postojalo nešto manje od 200 tornjeva. Grad je izgledao kao moderni New York.

Dva najpoznatija tornja su jednostavno nazvana Dva tornja, sagrađena početkom 12. stoljeća. Viši toranj, koji se danas smatra najvećim nagibnim srednjovjekovnim tornjem (97 metara) naziva se Asinelli dok je manji Garisenda (47 metara).

Nadimak Dotta (učena) dolazi od najstarijeg funkcionirajućeg sveučilišta zapadnog svijeta utemeljenog 1088. godine. Među tisućama studenata koji su grijali klupe na sveučilištu bilo je i sveto Trojstvo talijanske književnosti: Dante, Petrarca i Boccaccio.

U središtu Piazze Galvani, originalno sagrađene da udomi sveučilište, stoji mramorna skulptura Luigia Galvanija, bolonješkog znanstvenika najpoznatijeg po istraživanjima vezanim uz bioelektirku prilikom proučavanja žabljih krakova.

Prošetali smo dvorištem glavne zgrade sveučilišta, Archiginnasio, gdje su nekad srednjovjekovni studenti hodali i izmjenjivali bilješke.

Između 1563. i 1805. sjedište sveučilišta nalazilo se upravo u ovoj zgradi, što se može posvjedočiti po brojnim grbovima. Vjeruje se da su zidovi zgrade najveći postojeći heraldički kompleks na svijetu.

Grbovi nekadašnjih studenata predstavljaju ideju moći i autoriteta ove važne institucije. Kao što bi slike u galerijama plemićkih palača veličali sjaj obitelji, tako ovi ukrasi naglašavaju povijest sveučilišta.

Postavljeni u vodoravne redove ili oko važnih spomenika, grbovi su bili više od pukog imena i podrijetla studenta. Naglašavali su i zemlju odakle student potječe što govori o dobrom glasu na kojem je sveučilište bilo i ostalo. Dan danas tamo studira oko 80 000 studenata, kako Talijanskih tako inozemnih.

*Trenutno na sveučilištu ima oko 6000 grbova naslikanih po hodnicima i uz stepenice*

Grassa (debela) kako se Bolognu često naziva, dolazi od obilja, raznolikosti i visoko kvalitetnih namirnica koje se koriste u ovoj regiji. Nekoć davno, ali možemo to gledati i u današnjim okvirima, ovo bi bio kompliment za grad jer bi označavao stanovito bogatstvo i prosperitet.

Kulinarska kultura duboko je vezana uz bolonjsko sveučilište. Za vrijeme srednjeg vijeka samo bogati studenti mogli su pohađati sveučilište, a velik broj studenata koji je dolazio iz svih dijelova Europe dovodili bi svoje sluge i kuhare.

Rezultat dovođenja imigrantskih kuhara i njihovih različitih kulinarskih metoda dao je novi izgled klasičnoj bolonjskoj kuhinji.

Obrazovanje i kulinarstvo u Bologni ima čvrstu i neraskidivu vezu, jer se bez prestižnog sveučilišta, bolonješka kuhinja ne bi razvila tako jako kako jest, a bez bogate domaće kulinarske tradicije, sveučilište ne bi uspjelo (po)ostati toliko cijenjeno.

Lunjajući kroz Quadrilatero kvart, gdje trgovina ima dugu i jaku tradiciju koja seže još u srednji vijek, Ela nas je upoznala s nekim od najpoznatijih i najfinijih bolonjeških delicija. Strpljivo smo gledali kroz prozore trgovina, slastičarnica, prodavaonica sa sirom, mesom i tjesteninom, markirajući mjesta na koja ćemo se kasnije vratiti i napuniti torbe. Ali prvo smo otišli jesti 🙂

*Elu možete potražiti ovdje: https://www.guruwalk.com/walks/32981-walking-through-bologna-free-walking-tour

BOLOGNA

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