on to Rome...the Piazza Navona

I took tons and tons of pictures while in Rome. I am still going through them trying to decide what to keep and what to delete.

Where to start when sharing my images from Rome? After some thought, I decided on starting with Piazza Navona since it was where I started after arriving in Rome.

There are three fountains in Piazza Navona. On one end, you will find the
Fontana di Nettuno or Fountain of Neptune


and on the other end, you will find the
Fontana del Moro or Fountain of the Moor.


In the center of Piazza Navona, you will find the star attraction, the famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi or Fountain of the Four Rivers. Unfortunately this year, it was surrounded by scaffolding.




and here are a few more pictures of this beautiful piazza...

smart cars

For fun, here are a few pictures of my FAVORITE car...the SMART CAR! I have photographed these cars during my past few trips to Italy.

a Bologna smart car


a Rome smart car


another Rome smart car - smart cars are small, you can even park them sideways!


twin Rome smart cars


a Bergamo smart car


a San Giovanni smart car


a Bellagio smart car


a San Terenzo smart car


and a Torino smart car


and one more view of the Torino smart car

food pics from Bologna

One more entry for Bologna and then I will move onto Rome. The food in Bologna is definitely one of the highlights of this wonderful city. Here are a few pictures that I took during my afternoon there:

a few more photos of Bologna

When I first walked into Piazza Maggiore, I was a little disappointed that there were men setting up this huge stage with an area roped off and scaffolding placed right in front of the Basilica di San Petronio. There were two reasons for my disappointment. I was disappointed that it would be very difficult to get a good picture of this church and also that I would not be in Bologna for the free festivities about to take place over the next few days, a dance marathon of some sort.

Fortunately, a couple of hours later when returning for one more moment in this beautiful piazza before heading back to my hotel, I found that although the chairs and the stage was still there and the men were still working on some sort of electrical work, the roped off areas and the scaffolding were no longer there. I started to walk down one of the aisles to get to a good angle to photograph the church when a dog that was by his owner under a chair started growling and barking. I was pretty freaked out (barking dogs and thunder & lightening being my two fears). I jumped and let out a little scream. I was glad to see that he was on a leash, but still was not comfortable being near him and so I maneuvered my way through a few more rows and then was yelled at by the men working on the electrical wiring telling me I could not be there. I sort of acknowledged their message but continued on to get my photo.

The Basilica di San Petronio is the 5th largest church in the world. As you can see the top half was never finished. This makes it a rather unique church today.



In this picture, you can see the sculptures by Jacopo della Quercia on the top of the main doorway, the Porta Magna.



The next three pictures are of the Palazzo Communale, also found in Piazza Maggiore.







Right next to Piazza Maggiore, is Piazza del Nettuno. This piazza is slightly smaller and opens up into Piazza Maggiore. Here you will find the interesting statue of Neptune.



The following two pictures were also taken while in Piazza del Nettuno. I took the first picture earlier when all the scaffolding and workmen had the basilica roped off. The second picture is of the Palazzo di Re Enzo (Palace of King Enzo).

more of beautiful Bologna

I can't believe it has been 8 days since my last post. Where has all the time gone? When I returned home from my trip, I started to download all of my pictures onto my computer and ran out of room! I also ran out of room on my external hard drive. After doing a little research, I found a new external hard drive that seemed to meet my needs. It was delivered last Friday. While everyone was enjoying their new Harry Potter books, I spent 3 full days re-organizing my computer. I also learned a BIG lesson. If you have a Mac, DO NOT touch any of the folders or information in your iPhoto program. I was able to retrieve them all using iPhoto Library Manager, but it was a long process. My eyes were pretty blurry after all that work and so I avoided the computer for a few days after that, but now I am back.

For this post, I wanted to share more of Bologna. The following pictures are of the porticoes and the beautiful buildings and colors of Bologna.









The next three photos were taken inside the Palazzo Communale, one of the buildings in Piazza Maggiore. I learned from Everything Bologna that "the Pope had the stairs built with wooden planks at set intervals so that a horse drawn carriage (presumably his) could ride up to the second floor."







This picture shows some of the colorful buildings you will see in Bologna.



And finally, here is my amazing "single" room at Hotel San Porta Mamolo in Bologna!! Check out the couch!! AND look at all that space! A great find!!

the Two Towers in Bologna

Bologna is known for its food, its porticoes and its towers. At one point in history, many have said that there were up to 180 towers in Bologna although more recent studies now suggest that the number is closer to 80 - 100 towers. Click here to see a panoramic picture of Bologna in the 11th century. Less than 20 towers remain today.

The two famous towers in Bologna are the Garisenda Tower and the Asinelli Tower. It is pretty difficult to get both towers from top to bottom in one picture. I took this picture on my walk over to the towers from the main piazza in Bologna



Both of the towers are leaning towers. The Garisenda Tower is shorter, leans more, and is not available for climbing. It is the tower pictured above on the left. The Asinelli Tower is the taller of the two towers, the tower I climbed, and the tower pictured on the right. I have read that there are 498 steps to the top. I lost count on my way up. It definitely was a challenging tower to climb.

More pictures of the Two Towers.





It certainly looks like a long way up!!



Will these stairs ever end??



A view partway up out a tiny window.



Stunning views from the top.







Looking down at the Garisenda Tower.



What goes up must go down.



A picture hung in the entrance way of the Asinelli Tower displaying many of the tallest towers in Italy. For a larger view of this picture, click on it.

Pisa, Pompona, Modena, and Verona are still left on my list of towers to climb. Where the heck is Pompona? AND, how did I miss climbing the tower in Verona or perhaps I have and just don't remember it? Another reason to return I guess. Perhaps my next trip should be a "tower climbing" trip? I could arrange my entire itinerary around towers to climb.

One of my most challenging towers I have climbed was the tower in Cremona, not only because of the height and the number of steps, but because it was thundering and lightening outside. I climbed this tower with Katia and Guido. Katia climbed about three fourths of the way up but would not go all the way to the top. This was a wonderful accomplishment for her as she is afraid of heights. Most years when I visit, I drag her along to climb something. As for me, my two big fears are barking mean dogs and thunder & lightening. I am proud to say that I made it to the top.

And back to this climb...

My reward after my climb!



Here is more information on the Two Towers in Bologna.

Bologna is a fabulous city! It is tops on my list of places to spend more time in during my next trip to Italy.