This is one of our first entries since back in 2018 (pre Covid GASP). In the foreseeable future, posts will likely be a mix of entries, jumping around different trips across the past seven years*

Days: 6-7 (26th-27th July 2018)

Total distance travelled: 17,544.87 kilometres (10,901.87 miles)

Our base in Termini near the station made our departure from Rome via train, a relatively simple affair, and it is how we found ourselves speeding towards Bologna at a little after 08:30 on another sunny Italian morning.

I’ll be honest, we went there without knowing too much about the city.

The birthplace of Bolognese sauce, an old city and they had a football team and for us, it was to be a staging place for us to make a day trip to visit that tiny city state of San Marino.

We’d arrive just before 11:00, our views typically Italian.

Rolling vineyards and the odd town or castle (sometimes both) clinging to distant hillsides.

From Bologna Centrale, it was about a ten minute walk to our hotel, a simple affair, Nuovo Hotel del Porto.

First impressions of the city itself? Well, there’s something very similar about so many Italian, cities.

Red tiled roofs, columned porticos, history, and at times a tiredness (I can’t think of any other way to describe it), that comes I assume with age!

It was also, whilst still busy enough, a lot less manic than Rome had been, or our excursion south to Pompeii or Herculaneum had been.

About a kilometre of wandering through the streets got us to the Piazza Magiore where there seemed, beyond the classic facades of the ancient cathedral and town hall, to be something brewing.

Seating was being erected across the square, and signage and banners fluttered around town.

It turns out we’d arrived as Il Cinema Ritrovato was in full swing, a film festival with a difference (apparently its focus is on restored & rediscovered cinema).

Pretty cool if you ask me, especially as one section of the festival focuses specifically on the year exactly 100 years earlier, making it a fascinating exercise in film history education and salvation!

By now, given our arrival time, leaving our bags at the hotel and wandering into the city proper, the only reasonable thing one could do was eat… so that’s exactly what we did.

All manner of narrow streets and alleys ran off the main piazza, and it was along one of these cute little promenades that we spied our prize.

Cheeses, meats, breads and of course, wine! Bellesima!!

Until this lunch, on this day, I’d also always turned my nose up at Mortadella too, but this stuff was legit.

Bologna was still hot, being the midst of Summer and all, but it wasn’t as oppressive as Rome had been, perhaps a result of the sheer size of the capital, or perhaps the volume of visitors?

Perhaps it was that here, they didn’t seem to be suffering from that same garbage strike…

It did make wandering the streets and exploring the city a bit more pleasant, not to say we still didn’t appreciate any shade, or the chance to duck indoors from time to time!

We hadn’t allowed ourselves a lot of time to explore the city, with our plan for what promised to be a long day getting to and from San Marino the following day, so we made a call.

A bit more chilled time would serve us both well after a non-stop few days, so suddenly San Marino was off the menu, and instead, more wine, more pasta and a bit more time in this perfectly pleasant city was on the cards!

Like most Italian cities, ancient churches are still all the rage here, and a short walk had us at Santo Stefano, a sprawling complex of religious buildings also known as the “Seven Churches”

Not surprisingly, it was home to several churches, some nice cloistered areas and plenty of religious motifs and iconography that mean far more to many others than I (apparently it is a place of pilgrimage for some).

Regarding entrance, they have what I think is quite a nice spiel:

“Riteniamo che questo luogo appartenga a tutti perciò l’ingresso a tutte le zone indicate è attualmente gratuito.”

“We believe this place belongs to everyone, so entry to all designated areas is currently free.”

A nice touch I thought!

So, how would you round out your first day in Bologna?

It was never in doubt for me, that Ragù alla Bolognese was going to be on the menu, and paired with a little red wine, it most certainly did not disappoint!

Given how wonderful it is paired with a ribbon pasta like Tagliatelle, I really have no idea why it’s been butchered abroad with the use of skinny Spaghetti!

A pleasant stroll back to our hotel, skirting the large plaza where an event for the film festival was in full swing, we admired the lighting budget for the many churches and towers that dot the city, and turned in for the night.

I mentioned our simple, yet well positioned accommodation, Nuovo Hotel del Porto earlier and it delivered us a brilliant surprise the following morning.

Tiramasu for breakfast anyone?!

Very happy and likely somewhat fatter, that was how our day of chilling in Bologna began!

Now, as we’d not expected to be in town for today, our plans were few, but we had an idea at the very least to explore the cities leaning towers (even though we weren’t yet in Pisa).

The fact that they are leaning somewhat meant that one wasn’t open to be climbed anymore (at least when we were there), but we figured we’d try to get tickets to ascend the Torre Asinelli a little later if possible.

Now the city was also famous for it’s porticos, and if you believe the locals, there’s apparently over 60km of them that stretch across the heart of the city, meaning in the wet, you can remain largely sheltered, whilst in the heat of summer, you’re also never far from some shade.

Perfect!

Now if you think that is impressive, a bit like Venice, but not nearly extensive, the city is also home to 60km of something equally impressive… canals!

Apparently, they used to be hidden away (behind walls I assume) to serve the cities industry, but some are now being gradually revealed, and they are I think, pretty cool!

So it turned out that the leaning tower wasn’t the one that we were going to be climbing (not a bad thing, as the higher tower would give us the better views), but with our tickets sorted, we were all set for our ascent of the almost hundred metre monolith.

The sky was a clear and bright blue, so the promised views we hoped would be worth the climb on a hot day.

Inside, the confines were narrow, and the stairs creaking, ancient wood that clung to the stone walls in a similar manner to how we clung to its hand rails!

There were a lot more people allowed entrance (and use of the wooden stairs) all at once than I’d have expected, so we hustled up the tower, lest we be stuck jostling for position and views at the top, views that can be glimpsed during the ascent through the odd narrow window.

Atop, well the views as you’d expect were pretty cool, with 360 degree views of terracotta roofs, bar the odd distance hill, visible as far as our eyes could see.

As you can imagine, all of that climbing up and then down works up an appetite, so there was nothing for it, but to indulge in a little more local fare and keep the fluids up with a bit more vino!

This was after all our indulgence day.

A day to be a bit more chilled after a pretty hectic first week in the hot Italian summer.

It was a Friday, but the streets were somewhat empty, so it was with some surprise when we found Trattoria Osteria Buca Manzoni, we were its only lunch patrons, at least on our arrival.

Tortellini two ways? It was a winning combination, and a lovely way to while away the early afternoon.

We were moving on the following morning, and aside from another crack at Tiramasu for breakfast, there wasn’t much else we did of note, which was just fine by the way.

* Our open jaw (into Rome, out of Amsterdam), flights cost us $930.05AUD each, which I found and purchased through work at STA Travel

* For accommodation in Bologna, we booked a couple of nights at Nuovo Hotel del Porto via Booking.com for €132.00

* Entrance into the Santo Stefano complex (Seven Churches), is FREE!

* Our tickets to climb the Torre Asinelli cost us €5.00 each

* I purchased Eurail Italy 5 days within a month travel passes through work (which provided an industry discount) for $72.00AUD per person