The city has a little less than 400 thousand inhabitants, and their measured cultural and social life is diluted by cheerful bands of students and visiting guests of this Italian capital of culture - this status was given to Bologna in 2000. A few years later, the city was awarded recognition by UNESCO for its contribution to world culture and music history.
Remote from the main tourist route Rome - Florence - Venice, this city has attracted admirers of Italian culture for decades. Walking around Bologna convinces of this.
Bologna is called the city of universities, long arcades and numerous towers. Thanks to the course of the city government on the preservation and restoration of the historical monuments of Bologna, the city has a historical center, recognized as the largest in Italy.
At Copernicus's desk
The University of Bologna is one of the most famous institutions in Europe, the oldest educational center that still operates today, the place where Dante, Petrarch and Copernicus studied. It was the presence of many educational institutions in the city that gave Bologna an unofficial name - "scientist". And because of the abundance of buildings in the color of red brick, she was given a second nickname - "red". It is they who make up the traditional face of the present city.
Along the ancient streets
The city map will guide you through the old narrow streets of the city, intertwined with long galleries of high-vaulted arches. There are still many canals here, although most of them were filled up in medieval times in order to prevent infections. But there are places where the "fragment of Venice" has survived.
Among the attractions of their city, the Bolognese include the tallest building that appeared in Italy. The giants of brick - the towers of Asinelli and Garisenda, they have become a kind of symbol of the city. In general, there are more than two dozen towers in the city, this is a tenth of what was once built.
Bologna walks with an Italian flavor
The Bolognese consider food to be their cult. First of all, they tell you the places where you can eat. Among the types of catering establishments here, as in all of Italy, prevail:
- restaurants (high service, prices too);
- trattorias (a more affordable institution for the price, occupying the middle place from a restaurant to a cafe);
- osteria (a semblance of a good quality dining room, but with an Italian flavor);
- a cafe (maybe a small restaurant, or maybe a small one, for a couple of bistro tables or a cafeteria with espresso).
There are also pizzerias, pastry shops, which are called pastures here, and gelateria, or Italian-style ice cream parlors.
The third unofficial name for Bologna is "fat". It is easy to understand that the reason for such a nickname was the fact that the city presented the world with a variety of delicious dishes. Among them - the famous meat bolognese sauce, mortadella sausages, local dumplings and other delicacies that have gone far beyond the town.
Life in pleasure
In the evening, the people of Bologna will certainly meet for an aperitif, they drink, talk, socialize. The life of evening Bologna is a movie on the street, musicians with instruments in the open air, people at trattoria tables eat, drink and enjoy life.
