the Grand Tour blog

Bologna: Santuario di Madonna di San Luca

All of central Bologna's streets are lined with arched porticos, which allow the upper floors of the buildings to extend over the pavements; there are 35km of porticos altogether. Incredibly there is a 3.5km long path, covered by 666 porticos, extending out to the Santuario di Madonna di San Luca at the top of a hill south of the city. After leaving my case at the station I took a bus to the start of the path at Porta Saragozza. There were many people on the path, some for religious reasons, some surprisingly elderly and slow moving, others for fun including a fun run. It's uphill nearly all the way and very steep towards the end. A quick look in the crowded church, but there was a service in progress. Then the walk back down, and a bus back to the station for my journey on to Florence.

Bologna: Torre degli Asinelli

One of my targets in Bologna was to climb to the top of Torre degli Asinelli, 198 metres I'm told, and 500 steps! Not worth that much effort unless I had some good views, so when the hazy sun reappeared after the midday grey I made for the tower and paid my €3. Actually the climb up the wooden steps was not too bad, though quite steep in places (think ladder). Did my best to take some scary pics from the top.

Bologna: the tour

I’d planned to go on an English tour of the city, which conveniently happens on Saturdays at 10:15. In the event there were only three of us, and a charming Bolognese lady called Carla spent over two hours taking us round almost all of the places of historical interest that were already on my list. 

Much detail about the history of Bologna and the construction of the huge and important buildings on the four sides of the central Piazza Maggiore. One of these is the church of San Petronio, which if built to the original plans would have been larger than St Peter’s in Rome, though construction was halted and money spent on building a permanent home alongside it for Bologna’s already well-established university. The Gothic church is remarkably light and spacious inside, due partly to the slender pillars being unusually widely spaced; the pillars are of brick – there is very little marble in Bologna – beautifully shaped and fluted. The aisle is surrounded by 22 chapels, each originally sponsored by a local wealthy family and with notably different designs. Unfortunately photographs are strictly forbidden.

Worked our way through the bustling market stalls in Via Clavature, off the central piazza, to Santo Stefano, really a complex of four (originally seven) churches, the oldest dating back to the 5th century. Also here is the only (I think) intact replica of Christ’s sepulchre in Jerusalem – it was the habit to build such a replica on returning from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. 

We returned to the centre along a recently opened (about nine years ago) pathway through the later buildings showing how there used to be a direct route to these churches. A long distance Roman road ran through Bologna – one of the reasons it became a rich city – and part of this is visible in the basement of a stylish modern furniture shop constructed inside one of the Mediaeval buildings; the huge cobblestones of the road must have given an incredibly uncomfortable ride.

Finished the tour with my second visit to the anatomical theatre in the University, with information about the old coats of arms of the early students (you had to be well off in those days) which decorate the arches of the university building. We were unable to see inside a lecture room, still in use today of course, but apparently they are decorated in a similar way.

Bologna: Teatro Anatomico

I slept remarkably well listening to the traffic through the open window of my corporate hotel, with the air conditioning switched off, and I woke before the alarm at 6:45. After the awful experience that is corporate hotel breakfast – even the coffee and the water for the tea come from a machine, and you always get back to the table realising that you’ve forgotten an item of cutlery or a piece of cheese – I caught the #13 trolleybus just near the hotel, which sped into the centre on an almost clear bus lane.

I wandered around the almost deserted Piazza Maggiore, admiring the wonderful half-finished facade of the church of San Petronio, before walking down the side of the church at the 09:00 opening time to the original University building, which houses among other things the Teatro Anatomico, built in 1636 to show students – and later interested gentry, normally watching in disguise – what human bodies were like when they were dissected. The whole thing is built in spruce, and includes some remarkable statues including the spelati (skinned) figures. Tricky to photograph though because of some quite strong sunlight (it didn’t last) through the windows on one side causing difficult highlights on the sculptures. 

On the marble dissecting table was a stupid piece of “art” which consisted of various electrical components fixed together, and a TV playing a looping tape of mechanical things happening, which was meant to illustrate something or other. 

Bologna arrival

I am now installed on the 7th floor of the Best Western Hotel in Bologna. Arrived here feeling very hot and sticky after fighting through the Bologna rush hour in the bus – and before that fighting in the chaotic station to find the loos, buy a bus pass, try to check some bus information but failing – and waiting at the bus stop as it started to rain. There is much hooting and crazy Italian driving at the busy junction below. I have air conditioning, but I think I shall die of dehydration if I leave it on overnight, so I may have to put up with the traffic noise.

Everything in the room is perfect, and bears the hallmark of many focus groups. I have a sewing kit, a bath cap, a sponge shoe cleaner, three biscuits, two tea bags, two stirrers in sealed bags, one shot of coffee whitener, three towels of different sizes, some bathroom scales, and not quite enough room to lay out my suitcase.

I also have a wireless internet connection, so for the first time on the trip I can post to the blog from the computer; all the earlier posts have been from my iPhone. But the internet connection is one of the awful hotel systems that require constant logging in through a special webpage, and won’t allow me to use my SMPT server to send email. I can read email without difficulty.

Catching up: regular readers may notice that I’m starting to ‘back fill’ a few posts where it’s been impractical to post from the iPhone at the proper time; that really is quite hard work! That will probably continue, on occasions when I have a proper connection. I feel it’s best to try to keep reports in chronological order.

Busseto: Casa Barezzi

Casa Barezzi was the home of Antonio Barezzi, a wealthy merchant and music lover, who recognised Verdi’s talent as a young man and sponsored much of his teaching. Verdi taught and later married Barezzi’s daughter Margherita. The house is now a Verdi museum. 

I dragged my case the 1km into the town from the tiny station – just as well I‘d already bought the ticket on from Busseto to Bologna as I don’t think I could do so here – and took a few photos of the Verdi statue in front of the Verdi Theatre in the hazy sun, before going into the house. The display consists mainly of many drawings of Verdi and of some of the great singers.  

Then back to the station for an earlier train than I’d planned, to Bologna via Fidenza on two regional trains. We only had about 4 minutes to change at Fidenza, which seems dodgy planning considering that the Italian trains seem often to run late. The second train was actually a very modern 2-level thing, with a display at the end of each carriage showing next destination, arrival time, time late, speed (147kph, 91mph, was the highest I saw), internal temperature, external temperature, and WC status (permanently out of order, fouri servizio, at both ends of the carriage). 

Booking hard!

Booked and confirmed the Rome B&B near the station. Spent some time on Google Maps and Street View – it’s very close to the station! Slightly concerned to see ‘Discoteca Laziale’ on the ground floor, but it’s actually a record shop.

Booked Best Western Hotel Maggiore in Bologna through Venere. Instant confirmation.

Booked Hotel C in Venice through Venere.

Filled in the web form for Hotel D in Vicenza, the last of my must-have hotels.

Spent much time on Venere looking for London hotels. A reasonable-looking one opposite Euston at £55, but that includes breakfast which I don’t want as I’ll be leaving early. No cheap offers on Travelodge, but their offer calendar stops at the end of December, so maybe they’re only available a couple of months ahead.

Tracking hotels

Made a Hotel List today to keep track of the bookings, with preferred hotels from the research to date. However some places are still causing problems, but good old Venere.com seems to be helping out:

Bologna: Hotel M, the one that I think might be a student hotel, is not showing any availability on Venere, and I’m reluctant to contact them direct (the website seems so out of date). The B&B I found is not offering singles at all on Venere, but doubles/triples at €90 in the next couple of months; nothing in 2010. I also found some serviced apartments at €39, in the middle of town; downside is a €50 cleaning charge at the end, which rules it out for just two nights, plus it looks from photos as if the bed is actually a sofa bed.

But Venere are offering the Best Western Hotel Maggiore at €49! Includes breakfast (from 6:30) and free Wi-Fi. About 2km out of town, but according to reviews – which are generally good – a good bus route from the station and into town. Sounds like a no-brainer. I’ll arrive late-ish from Cremona and can eat locally, although it would be nice to have a wander round town to get my bearings. If the bus service is really good there will really be no problem getting between the hotel and the city. From the bus website there are loads of buses passing the hotel.

Milan: My first choice shows an absurd price range of €50-€120 and still won’t accept my next year’s dates. But Venere has Hotel G, a 3-star, closer to the station, at €45 without breakfast. They have a dining room and normally serve breakfast, so perhaps I could buy a breakfast when I get there. I’ll be arriving late and checking out first thing, so I just need a decent place to sleep. Venere reviews don’t quite match the 8.2 score, and there are some bad ones on TripAdvisor. Jury still out.

Lucca: Originally looking at Hotel D, not far inside the walls on the station side. But uneasy about the reviews, some of which are good, but others very critical. Most people seem to post about an annexe, which is more expensive. €40-€50 single in the (small) main hotel, without breakfast, €65-€75 in the annexe. Rated #33 on TripAdvisor. One of the moans is that they force you into paying in UKP, to gain on the currency exchange. An alternative from the Rough Guide, Hotel T, is also split over 2 or 3 sites, further north, but it’s a small city and it probably only adds 10 minutes to the walk from the station. This one rated #36 on TA, though the reviews read better than that. Single €50 with bathroom, €35 shared, according to the website.