Bologna

There is so much to cover about this great city but I will stick to some personal highlights. Bologna is a university town and it is quite clear, street after street contained many people casually hanging out in groups, or having drinks outside at a bar. Again I was very lucky to get a comprehensive night-time tour of the city from Lucia and Fosca on the first night of my arrival.

Palazzo della Mercanzia, the only photo evidence I have of the vibrant nightlife in the streets

That day I checked into Dopa Hostel, which seems to be doing quite a bit better for business. It was almost at full occupancy on one day and the usual hostel culture was present.

The following day I initially took some time to see the city in daylight. One of the more striking features of the city is a pair of towers. It’s important to know that Bologna had upwards of 100 towers in the 13th century, supposedly either for prestige (they were family owned) or defensive purposes. One of the two towers mentioned above lists heavily to one side and was apparently shortened in the 14th century as the lean started to cause the foundation to uproot. It’s a very visible lean and a little unsettling.

Le due torri, the smaller of which is leaning with a displacement of 13 metres!

One can climb the taller “Asinelli Tower” with an advance reservation for 5 euros (which can be done online quite easily), which is exactly what I did! The tower has 498 steps so it’s not an easy climb especially as masks are currently mandated inside too, but the view at the top is very worthwhile.

The view from the taller tower

Although I did visit a number of other sights, I could go on forever about really nice attractions that you can read about from a much more comprehensive blog than my own. Instead I want to give a third thanks to Lucia and Fosca for inviting me to join their friends at a quite secluded hangout spot along a stream approximately 1 hour drive from the city.

What is really great is that the stream has a number of pools about 2 meters deep and it’s amazing to be able to enjoy the sun and swim so close to an inland city! I managed to follow the river and pools a little with my drone:

On my final day in Bologna I decided to explore the outskirts of the city. In the south there is a hill with a lot of green space and I took a rather dehydrating walk around there. In spite of that I also managed a second walk up the hill to see Santuario della Madonna di San Luca. It is a Roman Catholic sanctuary church that is accessible from a very long covered walkway starting at Arco Del Meloncello.

Arco Del Meloncello, the start of a fully-covered walkway to San Luca

The fact the walkway is covered is a fantastic because in the sun this would have been an unbearable walk. As it is the walk is still quite long, taking 30 minutes to an hour depending on fitness levels.

The walkway to San Luca extending out into the distance

Getting to the top is quite a good feeling and, although I didn’t go inside, the view across the countryside is worth the walk. It may be that I didn’t go inside but from outside I was unable to find a clear view over Bologna. Looking at other photos on Google it seems others only had a view slighty obscured by some trees.

The view out to the countryside at Santuario della Madonna di San Luca

That was my last day in Bologna and all the walking nearly turned me into a raisin. I head back to the hostel and had a long sleep ready for the drive to Parma the next day.

Parma

Coming from an exciting time in Bologna I was fairly exhausted, on top of which I didn’t know anybody in Parma. As such it was nice to just get some food, briefly see the city, and then relax at the hotel.

Food is the major highlight here, I was really lucky to find a recommondation on Google for La Pizza Da Piero. Apparently the same man has been running this pizzeria for over 40 years now. He was incredibly kind in giving me some salted bread before I had even ordered. During the course of my time tfhere I ate two very tasty focaccia, as well as a slice of very tasty pizza. Some locals were there and he seems to know everyone very well, and in the end it was unbelievably cheap. I can highly recommend a visit!

Focaccia so tasty I already ate piece before taking the photo

After one short day in Parma I was back on the road heading to La Spezia, but not before a stop-off at Castello di Torrechiara.

Castello di Torrechiara

Castello di Torrechiara is a castle hidden in the countryside below Parma. I can’t remember how I found out about it but I’m glad it did. It stands out quite a lot in an otherwise fairly sparse area, but the real beauty is that by going there you end up on a small road route through the hills to La Spezia.

Aerial shot of Castello di Torrechiara

Hopefully the following drone video highlights the remoteness of the castle, I highly recommend switching the quality to HD:

And that’s it for this post! I’m falling a little behind as on Sunday I will need to start writing about La Spezia and Cinque Terre, and trust me, it’s going to be great.