Red hot sunshine majestically shed light on the beautiful coloured buildings and portico streets of Bologna, what a delightful city to stay in for a short break. It was a relatively quiet place compared to Florence but with many hidden gems, and no queues to see them, including the amazing terracotta sculptures by Niccolò dell’Arca. (We didn’t see as much as intended so will definitely return )
The Hotel we stayed in was called Il Guercino meaning cross eyed, and was named after the Baroque painter Giovanni Francesco Barbieri who, yes you guessed, was cross eyed and was active in Bologna. Also Garibaldi stayed near the hotel in 1848 and left his horses with the local blacksmith.
Piazza Maggiore is the main square and is a great place to start exploring from, as the restaurant and bar strewn streets lead to the famous “Wonky Towers” (The Two Towers), museums, the student area (Bologna has the oldest University in the world 1088), with great street Art and some quirky shops.
With the help of my daughter I even managed to buy a new nose stud as I had to replace my recent Dawnio mid life crisis addition so that it wouldn’t heal up. (I pointed to her pierced nose : ) ).
While we were there free films were being shown when the sun went down, as part of the Bologna Film Festival which you could watch from either sitting in a bar, or actually on one of the many chairs in front of the large screen.
Piazza Maggoire including Basilica di San Petronio –
Portico after Portico – great for keeping in the shade or keeping dry in the Winter
The Light of Bologna
A pretty to place to chill near the student area
Mourning Over The Dead Christ by Niccolò dell’Arca –
The food was great but it wasn’t always easy to find vegetarian options as it is a very meaty city, but I loved the tapas type snacks you got when ordering a couple of beers. A great find was ‘Flower Burger‘ which had cool decor, including a large print of the Beatles Yellow Submarine and 1960’s hanging swing style chairs at one table in the centre of the cafe. Also I noticed that it is a very dog friendly place, as they are allowed in most cafes and shops, and there are many wonderful clothes shops too which are very affordable. My favourite named shop was Disco d’Oro which was a very hip music shop selling mainly indie vinyl
A quirky brilliant Vegan place to eat
Bologna Bellissima
Art Nouveau old shop sign
How sophisticated is this? : )
Cute Scruffy Mutt in one of the cafes
“Salute Bologna”
The young people were very friendly and cheerful and those who we spoke to all loved Pep Guardiola (unlike my husband), and one person actually loved our accent because he said we sounded like we were from Game Of Thrones…he he.
I hope you have enjoyed these photos (I will be uploading more images in my Places galleries soon) and get the chance the visit this beautiful City sometime.
Closer 