Italy Day 9: Bologna and Florence
Monday June 7, 2010
Bologna
Grazie Tante – (Thank you a lot) for reading about my amazing trip!
Today we had a very long (approx. 6 hour) bus travel day. We had a few stops along the way to help break up the trip. Our first stop was at an “Auto Grill”. As I said before, this is for the fast and furious who are on a mission to load up on caffeine.
We traveled another two hours and then stopped in Bologna, which is famous for it Bolognese meat sauce and its university. It wasn’t my favorite place but had a few interesting sites to visit.
We went inside the Basilica di San Petronio, which is the 5th largest church in the world. It houses some very beautiful frescos and Cassini’s (astronomer) Sundial which is a meridian line inlaid in the flooring back in 1665.
ornate ceiling
We were not allowed to take photos inside the Basilica, but there were a few frescoes done by Giovanni da Modena, that stood out to me. These were based on the work called the “Divine Comedy”, by a 15th century Italian poet named Dante. There was beautiful heaven, and then Giovanni depicted Dante’s inferno in the most detailed and disturbing fresco painting. Apparently Satan is eating Judas and excreting him out the other end (if you know what I mean). Also, there are two popes in hell, along with Muhammed being devoured by demons. This painting has been quite controversial for the obvious reasons. Click on link to see the fresco.
We toured the old University of Bologna and got to sit in the 16th century “Anatomical Theater”. Back in those times, due to religious reasons, it was prohibited to dissect corpses. So dissections of corpses were done secretively in this room, on this very table (ignore electric stuff on the table – previous demonstration). It was quite eerie in there! I may be wrong, but I thought I heard that Michelangelo studied anatomy there.
This statue of Neptune is in the Piazza Maggiore, very near to where we had lunch. I had a lovely shell pasta salad with sweet cherry tomatoes, feta cheese, black olives and a light basil and olive oil dressing. Yum!
We walked through a deli before lunch and snapped some nice pictures of food!
sweet treats
After lunch we found our way to el poste, a post office, where we took a number and were “lost” trying to simply mail our postcards. Luckily we asked an nice American college student how it all worked, and she directed us to a drop box outside the building. You never really know how difficult simple things can be with a language barrier!
We then were back on the bus to our next destination: Florence!
Florence
It took about 2 hours on the bus to get to Florence and upon arrival we made a short stop at a tour attraction of a “fake green David.” This statue paled in comparison to the Michelangelo’s real David! The overlook of Florence was stunning nevertheless.
Benito, our tour bus driver had to have special permission to navigate the narrow roads of Florence in the coach, in order to drop us off near the town square at the Grand Hotel Cavour. Apparently it cost the tour company 500 Euro to have such a privilege… so those are the perks we paid for, ha!
Upon arrival, we did a short walking tour to the Neptune Fountain Piazza. Our guide pointed out the Academy Gallery – the home of Michelangelo’s original statue of “David,” and the Uffizi Art Museum which is famous for its gorgeous paintings.
Neptune Fountain in the piazza
There also was another fake “David” in this piazza.
Fake David in Neptune Fountain Piazza
Dinner tonight was with the group at a cozy, charming, local Italian restaurant. I actually ate some goose liver pate (first and last time … so sorry Mother Goose!) as an appetizer. We sat with 3 other Aussie couples and had a really fun time. Tim and Denise were just great to talk to.
After dinner we strolled around for awhile to admire Florence and her beauty in the evening.
Ponte Vecchio over the River Arno
Ponte Vecchio is well known for its high end shops, and has been in business as such for hundreds of years (Dave’s fact … not mine).
This is a statue of Giotto, who was a famous painter and architect during the late Middle Ages. He broke away from the Byzantine crude style of painting and drew accurate paintings from life. We saw his extraordinary fresco work in Assisi as well as his paintings in four chapels in Santa Croce in Florence.
Giotto - famous painter
We enjoyed the company of our “younger” new friends on the tour.
Italianas? No?
The church photos are of the Basilica di Santa Maria.
"Porcellino" - Little Pig
I tossed in a coin, and rubbed the nose of “Porcellino”, or “little pig.” It is believed that if you do this, you will return to Florence one day. That would be nice!
Well it was off to bed for what turned out to the worst sleep of the entire vacation. More about that tomorrow.
Maiale – pork
I guess I was thinking about Porcellino!
Buonanotte goodnight
July 20th, 2010 at 5:04 pm
Awesome job– keep up the good work. Thank goodness I don’t have to try to remember all of this.
July 21st, 2010 at 9:27 pm
I love the pictures of you! Especially the one of you and Dave together!
July 24th, 2010 at 6:22 pm
Thanks D and Ally! It’s a real stretch to publish me in photos, so I appreciate the encouragement.