Bologna 22 October

Woke up early with the sound of a clock ticking, who has a ticking clock these days? In the bedroom, anyway. I eventually took the batteries out and now I keep thinking it’s 6:15 every time I glance in that direction.

Breakfast was in a little cafe at the bottom of the apartment building called “Why not?” (Not sure about the question mark actually).

I had booked a walking tour so went on foot the 20 minutes into the old town to get to the meeting point. The sky has been grey all day, and with the remnants of mud I can now see in the daylight it’s not a particularly inspiring city on first glance. The old parts are more appealing.

This huge old church (Basilica di San Petrono) never had its refurbishment completed due to some religious political squabbling that I don’t really understand. It’s looked like this since before New Zealand was officially a country.

What you can’t see here are the two armed guards at the front. The building has been under threat from Islamic extremists because of an old fresco of Dante’s version of Hell inside that dates back to the 15th century. In it the prophet Mohammed is depicted being tortured by demons. No photography allowed but you can Google it if you want that in your search history.

The basilica is on one side of the Piazza Maggiore. On another side is this statue on the wall.

It depicts Pope Gregory of Gregorian calendar fame, one of many popes that came from Bologna. When Napoleon was on his way to the city, the locals heard that he was destroying all the statues of Popes, so they decided to disguise this one. They changed his hat, took away his telltale staff, and put a sign above saying it was Petronius, the patron saint of the city. Apparently Napoleon fell for it because it’s still here.
There are lots of churches around, as in every country you visit over here. There are four close together here called “the seven churches” because seven is a lucky number. They were set up to be like a Disneyland version of Jerusalem, for anyone who didn’t want to go to the trouble of joining a crusade or pilgrimage. It copies all those things that tell the story of Jesus perimortem. I’m sorry I’m not a religious person, I can’t tell you what it’s called. It’s like a comic strip so that you get the gist even if you can’t read. (Are there any religious groups I haven’t offended in this post yet?).

I like this old chapel because they just plonked a dome on top of an old Roman temple, and had to add extra supports to hold it up.

I’ve never noticed before but you hardly ever see Mary pregnant. I quite like her depicted this way, it seems to humanise her.

I don’t know why anyone bothers going to Pisa. Bologna is full of towers and they are all leaning to a greater or lesser extent.

By the way, the luncheon meat type stuff that the Americans call “baloney” is called mortadella here and it’s a local specialty. Also, spaghetti bolognaise is not a real thing because spaghetti is too thin to hold the sauce. You’re better off using tagliatelle. So now you know.

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