Monday in Bologna

I'm writing this on Tuesday Wednesday morning, while Paolo is in the shower getting ready for today's adventures.

Yesterday  Monday we began our day with an excellent breakfast here in our B&B  (a bit late as we slept in).  Each day, the tables are set with goodies for each pair of guests (so far we've only seen one other couple here).  There's an additional buffet with a selection of meats and cheeses, yogurts and cereals, juices, etc.  They take your coffee order for you (Paolo usually gets "Americano" while for breakfast out I prefer cappuccino (because breakfast time seems to be the only acceptable time to have one).

We decided to walk towards Piazza Maggiore to see what that looked like, then decide where to go next from there.  On our way, we passed the Due Torri (with 498 steps and no lift available, we passed on visiting) and crossed the Piazza del Nettuno:

It may be a little hard to see here, but the towers lean somewhat

Neptune in all his glory

The Piazza Maggiore, we discovered, is right next to the smaller Piazza del Nettuno.  

Basilica di San Petronio

From here, you can pick up City Red Bus tours (hop-on-hop-off buses), as well as the San Luca Express, which is a little "train" bus that takes you across the city and up a route running more or less parallel to the famously long Portico di San Luca (there are 664 arches!), arriving at the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca overlooking the city from atop the the Monte della Guardia (a high, forested hill).  We happened to arrive at the piazza just as the Express was about to depart, so we jumped on, because we'd rather pay €10 each to ride up the hill than die walking the steep Portico di San Luca for free.

Paolo listening to the pre-recorded tour in English

View as we approached the Sanctuary

The Sanctuary Basilica

It's hard to get a good look at the Madonna di San Luca - an icon of the Madonna and child allegedly made by St. Luke.  It seems they do bring it down from behind the main altar on certain dates of the year.  This was as close as I could get to the icon - zooming with my camera.  

Looking up into the dome

Looking down at the city below

Looking down the Sanctuary end of the Portico di San Luca

After we returned to Piazza Maggiore, we enjoyed wine and snacks at an outdoor café while waiting for the church across the piazza  to re-open (the Basilica di San Petronio, like many places in Italy, closes for a few hours in the middle of the day).  

They started building this in the 1300's; they never got around to finishing the façade.

San Petronio (Saint Petronius) is the major patron saint of Bologna; like Sant'Oronzo in Lecce, San Petronio can be found all over Bologna.  I have to say, Petronius' basilica is pretty impressive:

San Petronio is to the right under the red and gold canopy

These are pictures of parts of the meridian line that is inlaid in the floor

After taking time to rest and freshen up, we ventured out to dinner at Trattoria dal Biassanot, less than 10 minute's walk from where we're staying.  Our hosts at the B&B recommended it for its "traditional, rustic dishes."  They weren't wrong; we had a very enjoyable meal:

Primi piatti:  tagliatelle al ragù for me, and a plate of mortadella and Parmigiano Reggiano for Paolo

Secondi piatti:  ossobuco for me, and tortelloni for Paolo (technically from the first courses menu, but hey, he's American, so...besides, I shared my ossobuco with him, as it was an unexpectedly large serving)

From the entryway of the trattoria.

By the time we finished dinner and began walking back to our B&B, it was about 22:00; I observed that the streets were relatively quiet for such a large city (with a university nearby to boot); many cafés and restaurants were already closed for the night.  I'm not certain whether that is par for the course on a weeknight, or for Monday nights in particular, or just typical of the off-season, but I'm not complaining!