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.

views from my 2nd tower of the day

The island of San Giorgio Maggiore has always fascinated me.



I have taken many pictures of this island from afar but I have never actually visited this island. After a wonderful lunch, I headed back to take a vaporetto to finally go into the church that dominates the island and to go to the top of the clock tower.

The vaporetto was a little tricky to find as there were either two or three docks close together (am having difficulty recalling the exact number now) and I was not sure which one would take me to San Giorgio Maggiore. I went to the wrong dock, but was redirected. I still was not sure if I was at the correct dock (which is why I am thinking there must have been three docks) but then saw the route on the board and knew I was in the correct place. The vaporetto for this route did not run as regularly as the others. Fortunately for me the next vaporetto was set to arrive in about 10 minutes. The boat was not too crowded. This allowed me to take some good close up shots of the island.

As we got closer, I was amazed at the beauty of the plain white church against the deep blue sky. The church was so simple and yet so stunning.



There were only a few people outside of the church when I arrived. I headed into the church and looked for the clock tower lift. As a fan of climbing towers, I was a little disappointed that there was not an option to climb this tower, but it was still exciting to be able to get to the top. I had heard that the views were incredible.

Finding a person sitting in a lift collecting money for tickets no longer surprises me after a few encounters over the years, but I still wonder how they can do this job day after day. The guy in this lift was young, possibly in his early 20's. He barely looked up from his book to collect my money and give me my ticket. He then moved his hand to press the correct button without even glancing at the buttons, all the while continuing to read his book. I guess if reading books in enclosed places that go up and down all day is your thing, this would be the job for you!

The views from the top were indeed incredible. I took a little video but it came out pretty blurry. Here are a few pictures. I have been trying to keep the pictures sizes smaller so that my webpage does not take forever to load for those with a slower connection but I did make a few of the pictures below a little larger in order to see more of the details.













After spending about 30 minutes at the top, I headed back down to catch the next vaporetto. I continued to go around the island for a view of the Zattere and the Guidecca instead of up the Grand Canal. I love being on boats and never tire of riding the vaporetto, especially when I get a good seat in the front. As we came closer to the train station stop, I took this picture of one of the three bridges that cross the Grand Canal.



Instead of heading back to my apartment, I decided to get off at the new Rialto Market stop to go to Peter Pan, the mask shop that I spent time in the previous year. The woman, who actually made many of the masks herself along with her sister, was so kind, taking the time to explain the process and telling me about the history and significance of many of the masks last year. I wanted to buy a mask last year but because I visited the shop on my last day in Venice, I did not have time to get to the post office to mail home my mask and definitely did not have room for a mask in my luggage. I decided right then that the next time I returned to Venice I would buy a mask a this shop. I was so mad at myself for not bringing the card with me, as I could not find this shop. I clearly remembered it being in the Santa Croce district not far from the hotel I stayed in last year. I could have sworn that I remembered just where it was located but could not find it.

I finally gave up, but did come across an internet site during my search that I stopped in to update my blog, check my messsages, etc. By then, it was getting late and I was getting hungry. I took this picture on the vaporetto on the way back to my apartment.



After a quick stop at my apartment, I headed over to La Strega, a pizzeria recommended by Chow Venice, which was located just past the beautiful Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo. I had a delicious pepperoni pizza (again peppers/not the meat). Although the peppers on this pizza were sliced peppers instead of grilled pepper, the sauce and the cheese were so ono!

A great way to end a wonderful and busy day in Venice!

bustling Bologna

First a little more about my hotel. Hotel Porta San Mamolo is quite an interesting hotel. I had to pay close attention when shown to my room and later got lost a couple of times finding it. My room was on the second floor after walking through this maze of outdoor and indoor corridors. As I mentioned earlier, I thought there must have been a mistake as I asked for a single room, but this room was huge! There even was a couch in the room!! I was staying for one night but still there were tons of towels (the fluffy type) and soaps and shower caps, etc. The shower was wonderful and the bed was also huge! The breakfast in the morning was one of the usual buffet types. There was a man at the bar taking orders for coffee. He made me a delicious Caffè macchiato. The staff were very friendly and helpful. I would definitely stay there again if returning to Bologna.

I had been to Bologna a couple of times before; once on a day trip and once for an overnight stop. When making my itinerary this year, I thought about 4 days in Bologna but then decided on wanting one smaller place to stay instead of all cities (since my other stops would be Venice and Rome). I know that one night is definitely not “slow travel” but it would have been six hours and 3 train stops to Cortona and so I chose Bologna as my half way point. This year, I was much more organized with my packing and so I only had to take a few things out and really did not lose much time except the taxi each way to make this stop. And with the canceled train and last minute changes which ended up taking me four and a half hours instead of three hours to get to Bologna from Rovato, I don’t even want to think about what my day of traveling would have been like if I went straight to Cortona from Rovato.

After dropping off my bags, as I mentioned earlier, I ate at a little restaurant right down the street called Al Sangiovese which was recommended to me by the hotel. Because I was there on a Monday, unfortunately most of the “famous” Bologna restaurants were closed. One of the things I love about Bologna is the food. I had a very delicious lunch at Al Sangiovese The service was great and all the other customers appeared to be locals from Bologna. When leaving, I made a dinner reservation there that night so that I would not have to spend part of my day looking for another place to eat.

I went back to my hotel, was shown to my room, and then headed out for the afternoon. Bologna is a town full of energy. It is also a pretty easy town to navigate. Although you need to watch out for cars, motorcycles, and bikes, when you get close to the main piazza, the area becomes a pedestrian only area which is nice. One of the famous things about Bologna are all the porticoes. I took a lot of pictures along the way. I then headed into the main piazza, Piazza Maggiore. I love spending time in this piazza. The day that I was there, they were setting up a stage and putting out a bunch of chairs for a dance marathon that would be taking place the next few days and nights. Too bad I didn’t know about this when making my plans. It would have been fun to watch. There was also a Charlie Chaplin exhibition going on much of the week or possibly month. I took a bunch of pictures, wandered in a few shops, went into the Basilica di San Petronio, which is huge church, and then wandered into the big library. After spending some time in Piazza Maggiore, I wandered down one of the side streets where you will find lots of fruit and vegetable stands. I then headed over to the twin towers.

One of my passions when traveling in Italy is climbing towers. The last time I stayed in Bologna, I was still very jetlagged and passed on climbing the Torre degli Asinelli. It is one of the taller towers in Italy with nearly 500 steps. There are signs posted where the tops of other towers are on the way up. The Pisa tower sign was about three quarters of the way up. I had to stop a few times to rest on the way up to the top of this tower. But the climb was worth it as the views at the top were spectacular! I was glad that I walked around the town a little first as I could recognize much of what I saw earlier in the afternoon.

By now I was thinking GELATO. I saw some people eating gelato and followed their trail. Gelateria Gianni! I hit the jackpot! I stood in line and saw when I got closer to the front that this was one of the places where you pay first and then you choose your flavors. I ordered what many would think of as a strange combo of pistachio and peach. The peach gelato in Italy is wonderful and I have not had one yet. For some reason, pistachio has been my thing this summer to I ordered the combo. In the past, some sort of chocolate has always been in the mix but since I have found out that chocolate (one of my all time favorite foods) is a definite migraine trigger for me, chocolate has been out. YUMMY, both flavors were heavenly. I did however have to concentrate on first eating the peach and then the pistachio as they did not mix well together.

I wandered into a few more shops and took a different route where I became just a little lost back to my hotel. I had another delicious meal at Al Sangiovese and then went to bed. I was exhausted from a long day of travel and then the walk to the top of the tower. I will definitely return to Bologna again!