What does the average tourist know about the administrative center of the Italian province of Emilia-Romagna? Usually, when Bologna is mentioned, a synthetic waterproof fabric, which was invented here in the 60s of the last century, a delicious pasta sauce and a breed of lap dogs, favorites of ladies of noble origin, come to mind. But not only lapdogs, "bolognese" and bolognese raincoats is famous for the city located in the very center of the foundation of the Apennine "boot". When asked what to see in Bologna, local guides will be happy to answer you, who have a variety of excursions to sights and interesting museums in their arsenal. The chefs of local restaurants have their own opinion about the important points of the tourist program, because Bologna is often called the culinary capital of Italy, and this title, believe me, is worth a lot!
TOP 10 attractions in Bologna
Cathedral of San Pietro
The first church on the site where the Duomo of Bologna stands today was built in 1028. The church was badly damaged by fire shortly after its construction and rebuilt in the Romano-Gothic style. Then in the XIV century. a portico of the western façade was added, and in the 15th century the church was adorned with the Garganelli Chapel, the walls of which were frescoed by the artists Ecole do Roberti and Francesco del Cosa. This cycle of murals subsequently influenced the work of Michelangelo. The last reconstruction of the church took place in the middle of the 18th century, when the Duomo received a new facade.
The interior of the Cathedral of Bologna is at the same time luxurious and majestic. The Baroque furnishings are breathtaking and showcase the outstanding abilities of medieval architects and builders. Alas, only fragments remain of the 15th century frescoes, but the walls of the temple are decorated with a later fresco "Annunciation" by Louis Caracci.
Church of the Madonna of San Luca
A sanctuary built in the 17th-18th centuries rises on Guard Hill southwest of the old city center. in honor of the Virgin Mary. The temple contains a particularly revered image of the Mother of God of the 15th century. According to legend, a resident of Bologna Graziolo Accarizi received the icon in the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and delivered it to the Guard Hill. The time of arrival of the icon in the city is considered to be 1160. The skete, where the icon was placed, was built in 1192, and a couple of years later Pope Celestine III blessed the construction of the church.
The modern building of the sanctuary began to be erected in the first third of the 18th century. The work was supervised by the author of the project, the architect Carlo Francesco Dotti. The temple was built in the Baroque style.
Even earlier, the path from the city gates of Bologna to the hill was paved with cobblestones, and in the 17th century. by order of the abbess of the sanctuary, 15 chapels and a portico were built on the sides of the road to protect from the rain:
- The length of the gallery is 3796 meters. It starts from the gate of Saragozza, built in the 13th century. and are part of the third ring of the city walls of Bologna.
- The structure is the longest in the world among its kind. The gallery consists of 666 arches and is divided into two sections. The first is formed by 316 arches, and the section on the hill consists of 350 arches, between which there are 15 chapels.
Three sixes is not a random number. 666 arches of the portico symbolize the devil, crushed by the foot of the Virgin, as it is written in the Apocalypse.
National Pinakothek
The largest art museum in Bologna on the Beaux Arts Street is a gallery where you can see the works of prominent Italian painters who lived in the 13th-18th centuries. The first exhibits of the Pinakothek were the altar canvases of the Church of Santa Maria Magdalena, then the collection was replenished with Byzantine icons of the 13th century. The overthrow of the papal authority in 1796 led to the confiscation of the property of local churches, and all their treasures also ended up in the museum. A few years later, the Pinakothek settled in a mansion built for the Jesuit order. It remains there today and is one of the largest and richest museum expositions in Italy.
In the halls of the art gallery you will find works by Raphael and Vitale da Bologna, Pietro Perugino and Annibale Carracci.
Neptune Square
Bologna is often called the city of squares. There are a lot of them here, but one is especially popular with tourists coming to Emilia-Romagna. Neptune Square is named after the fountain installed on it in the 16th century. The author of the magnificent sculptural composition is the master Giambologna. The customer was the legate Borromeo, who marked in this way the election of his own uncle to the post of head of the Roman Catholic Church, who, as a pope, took the name Pius IV. The Fountain of Neptune became the ancestor of a movement in art, later called Mannerism. The peculiarity of the sculptural composition is the asymmetry of the shape of the bowls, from where the water is poured.
The guides tell tourists who have visited the square an interesting story that the car concern Maserati took the Neptune trident in the square in Bologna as the basis for its logo.
Palazzo d'Accursio
The building of the palace on Piazza Maggiore, which served until 2008 as the Town Hall, is now given over to the needs of the city museum. Its halls display a collection of art objects collected by the municipality of Bologna over the years. Visitors can get acquainted with the paintings of Italian artists who worked from the early Middle Ages to the 19th century.
The palace building itself is of no less interest than museum exhibits. The oldest part of it was built at the end of the 13th century. for meetings of elders. 200 years later, an extension appeared in the form of a clock tower, and the portal from the middle of the 16th century. decorated with a bronze statue of Pope Gregory XIII.
The interiors of the palazzo are famous for their frescoes. The ceiling was painted in 1677 by the masters of the Column and Pizzoli. The Farnese room on the second floor was decorated by the students of Francesco Albani. The painting of the palace chapel was completed in the middle of the 16th century. Prospero Fontana, Michelangelo's protege and follower.
Falling towers
If for some reason you did not get to Pisa, do not be upset. You can also look at the falling towers in Bologna, especially since one of them is a world record holder. The Asinelli Tower, 97 m high, is known as the tallest falling tower on the planet. Despite the fact that the angle of its inclination is not large, its almost one hundred meter height gives a slope of the top of more than 2 meters. The second tower of Bologna has a strong inclination, and therefore during its existence, Garisenda was rebuilt three times, and today it is half as short as Azinelli.
Falling Bolognese "skyscrapers" appeared in the Middle Ages, when the nobility erected similar structures to shelter from enemies. In the XII-XIII centuries. there were at least a hundred such citadels in the city. In the XIV century. Azinelli already belonged to the city authorities, who kept criminals within its walls.
Today, you can climb to the top of the tallest falling tower in the world by overcoming 498 steps of a spiral wooden staircase. The observation deck offers picturesque views of Bologna and the surrounding area.
Santo Stefano
In the V century. the bishop of Bologna built religious buildings, now called Santo Stefano or Seven Churches. The complex was supposed to repeat the main elements of the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulcher:
- The Church of the Crucifixion of the Lord dates back to the 8th century. The crucifixion of the 14th century is kept in the center of the Pilate Hall of the church. works by Simone dei Crochifissi, and the walls are decorated with frescoes about the life of St. Stephen of the 15th century. For the construction of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the V century. used columns of African marble left over from the pre-existing sanctuary of Isis.
- The Church of the Holy Trinity dates back to the 13th century.
- The Portico or Pilate's Courtyard connects the rest of the buildings with the Church of the Holy Trinity.
- Church of st. Vitaly and Agricola was rebuilt in the 12th century.
- The Lenta Chapel is dedicated to the mourning bandage of the Virgin Mary.
In other parts of the city you will find other holy places, created in the image and likeness of Jerusalem shrines.
Archimnasium of Bologna
Copernicus and Dante once studied at the University of Bologna, and the building of one of the most important higher schools in Europe today is a famous landmark. The gymnasium was built in the 16th century, and it united all city faculties.
In the complex of the Bologna Arch-Gymnasium, you can look at the old anatomical theater with portraits and sculptures of famous doctors of antiquity, the monument to Galvani, who conducted medical experiments with frogs, library manuscripts and manuscripts, classrooms and the university church. The pride of the arch-gymnasium is the collection of coats of arms belonging to the students who studied here. The heraldic collection contains over 7000 exhibits.
City Archaeological Museum
The first archaeological excavations in the vicinity of Bologna were carried out in 1869. The finds at the Certosa cemetery laid the foundation for the most important historical discoveries, and three years later the first exhibition of the most valuable artifacts was organized in the premises of the Archimnasium. Then the collection of the University of Bologna was added to the exposition, and in 1881 the Archaeological Museum was opened in the Galvani Palace, specially rebuilt for this purpose.
In the halls of the museum, you will find an Egyptian collection, a collection of ancient coins, exhibits from the ancient Roman and Etruscan collections and finds made in the vicinity of Bologna and telling about the prehistoric period of the city's life.
Ducati Museum
The car factory, built in 1926 by the Ducati brothers, has grown into a world-renowned motorcycle manufacturer today. In 1998, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the brand, a museum was opened in Bologna, in the halls of which you can look at the most famous models of Ducati motor vehicles, get acquainted with the history of technological innovations and admire the latest innovations released by Ducati.
