Italian Labor Day Weekend--Bologna to...Bergamo?

As American students in Italy, we are fortunate enough to celebrate both American and Italian holidays, doubling our school holidays and augmenting our standard three-day weekends. The final weekend in April was none other than Italian Labor Day and my friends and I planed a long weekend on the seashore but only after a quick stop in Bologna. (red landscape of Bologna seen left from Torre degli Asinelli--Tower of Asinelli...click photos for large view)

Bologna is a beautifully reddish city north of Florence, located in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. I say it's red because all the buildings are shades of sienna (much like the city Sienna as seen in a much earlier blog entry). A Bolognese insider told me that there's something like an ordinance which does not allow you to paint your palazzo a shade other than red. The captivating medieval city is not only home to the world-famous Spaghetti Bolognese (spaghetti and meat sauce) but also one of our professori, Cosimo, a former Florentine who chose Bologna's thriving university (allegedly the oldest in Europe, but the French disagree) environment over Florence's tourist inferno. (pictured right with Megan P., Katrina, and myself...Megan, stop drooling)


My time in Bologna began in Piazza Maggiore at the Basilica di San Petronio. The facade of this enormous Gothic cathedral is unfinished, supposedly because the Vatican heard that the Bolognese wanted to build a basilica larger than Saint Peter's in Vatican City (Rome) and the powerful church quickly put a stop to those plans. From what I saw, the size did not rival that of St. Peter's...yet. (unfinished Basilica di San Petronio, above left as seen from Piazza San Maggiore)

Also located in the piazza is the Palazzo Communale (town hall), built in the 14th century. It's red, it's medieval, it's typical Bologna. (portion of Palazzo Communale, right)

It was not until I saw the nearby Fontana di Nettuno (Neptune Fountain) that I remembered I had been in Bologna before, during a trip six years earlier. The fountain is definitely something you remember because many people over time, including the Catholic Church, have considered it indecent. How does one in the 16th century make a fountain indecent? See for yourself (left). Looks pretty tame, does it not?

Upon a closer look, you will see four sirens posed provocatively with water coming from their breasts (right). When I was 16, my friend and I mocked the fountain in a photo and so I had to recreate it upon my return visit (below left).

After making a scene at the fountain, I wandered the city while Megan and Kate were assaulted with their art history lesson compliments of the infamous Helen Manner. Like many older cities in Italy, some of the streets were small, charming, and so ideal that you felt as though you stumbled upon some movie set. Sadly, the camera could not capture this for me to show (my attempt, bottom right).





Although it was a dreary day, blue skies made an appearance so that this photo could be taken (below left).


My wandering about town brought me to the Tower of Asinelli and it's leaning neighbor, the Tower of Garisenda. As was the custom during the Middle Ages, the powerful and wealth families erected towers which served as a status symbol. The Garisenda family clearly had money and clout, but not enough to prepare a proper foundation for their tower and thus it began sinking much like the infamous tower in Pisa. (left: Garisenda tower is the shortr one, Asinelli the taller)

The approximately 490 stairs to the top of the Asinelli tower were no match for these gams! The view looking down from those rickety old stairs did play a number on my nerves though (below left). It was all worth it because of the spectacular views afforded from it's location 334 feet above the city.

The lush valley surrounding the city made me feel like I was in Florence. Bologna is blessed with the same rich colors with which I fell in love while visiting Florence for the first time several years ago. Because the city is nestled in a valley, it is often cloaked with a light haze which prevents one from
taking a crystal clear picture (except in winter when the wind blows so hard that no haze dares to linger). (looking down upon city and surround hills, right)


The obligatory young Italian couple engaging in some over the top PDAs (public display of affection) was one of the many interesting things that I encountered atop the tower. On of the most scary things was the father whose parenting skills were beyond than questionable. (see left, toddler hanging over the city Michael Jackson style...well, almost)

Another disheartening thing to see was how the tower was now being used by the rich and powerful families (corporations, governments) of our time. Who knew that medieval architecture + capitalism/technology = something that looks like a maximum security prison?


Another interesting thing to see from my bird's eye view of the city was the "trailer trash" like rooftop terrace of a 17th century palazzo, complete with astroturf lawn and white, plastic lawn chairs.

After meeting up with my cognitively overloaded art history companions, we took a much desired shopping break at H&M--the one and only store I will truly miss (that is until one opens in Pasadena this fall!).

The next leg of our tour was to be along the beautiful Ligurian coast in Monterosso, one of the five towns that make up the famous Cinque Terre of Italy. As we went to purchase our train tickets to our next destination, we retrieved our hostel reservations to confirm our train stop and purchased the next ticket to the city in which our hostel was located--Bergamo.

According to the hostel website, the hostel in which we had reservations for four very tired and excited gals was located in the Monterosso area. What we didn't know at the time we boarded the train was that Bergamo is 250 km away from Monterosso. After one stop, I expressed my doubts about the direction of the train because it did not coincide with the research I had been doing for the trip. We consulted our Italy guide books to discover the true location of Bergamo and got off that train as soon as possible. (Megan's train ride of shame after booking the Bergamo hostel, right)

A few hours and about 25 frantic phone calls to hotels later, we found ourselves safely locked in a room, close to the sea, enjoying the labors of our Italian holiday. (in our last minute hotel room in La Spezia after a tiring day of traveling, left)

To be continued in next entry...Cinque Terre! (below)