Sunday afternoon I made the journey from Assisi to Bologna by way of Florence. Why did I got to Bologna? Well, I've already been to Florence, Milan is too far and too expensive, I was meeting with my LSE advisor at the university and they have really good food. I did plan enough of a layover in Florence to sneak a peak at the Duomo and have lunch. If you really want to see pictures of Florence from 2005, click here. But back to Bologna...
It is a really beautiful city with some great medieval architecture. It is not a typical tourist destination so I had to chance to relax in the sun, have some food and hang out on the main piazza with a book and a beer. My advisor at Maryland thinks the inclusion of Multinational Firms and World Economy as my book of choice is a bit too much commitment to trade theory.
The main church is the Basilaca S. Petronio. It was originally planned to be even bigger than Saint Peter's, but papal politics put a stop to that. In fact, the basilica is not really finished. It has a foundation of what would have been a beautiful pink and white striped facade that stops abruptly after two stories. The rest of the church is brown brick. They didn't even put the little statues of saints in the cutouts on the front (see the pics). I didn't go inside because you can do so with a backpack.
On Monday morning, the first thing I did was climb the Torre degli Asinelli and its 498 steps. This is one of the few remaining towers that once dotted cityscape of Bologna as monuments to its wealthy and powerful families. It has a much smaller brother next door that has a significant lean to it. The tower opened about 25 minutes late, of course, but I can say with certainty I was the first person at the top on Monday morning. I dusted two little kids and some older dude. The views were awesome and you can see them below.
Bologna also hosts the Basilica S. Domenico that keeps the remains of Saint Domenico (who else?) If there are any doubts, they even have a x-ray of the contents behind the tomb. That church was very nice and had some really amazing wood inlays behind the alter. So I got to see the tombs of 3 saints in 3 days, two of whom founded major religious orders.
An unusual attraction is the Teatro Anatomico. Real dissections were held in this room in front an audience and a priest to make sure things did not get out of hand. It features some skinless wood carvings of the human body. The entire place was bombed in WWII and had to be reconstructed.
That's about it for Bologna. You can see the pics below. Click on the slideshow if you want to go to the webpage instead.
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