Bononia Docet (Bologna Teaches)

Greetings:

Okay we are not in Italy anymore as this is written. Life has been moving like a river full of logs heading for the mill. One hopes that the inevitable waterfall is after the mill.

To begin buzz-sawing the current inventory let a certain context be formed. After leaving the company of Geoff and Linda in Capri the tone of the adventure would change. The destination was Bologna for four nights before a romantic one night interlude in Venice and one more night in Amsterdam and then home to New Hampshire for more fun and frolic.

Our first hydrofoil ride provided conveyance to Napoli from Capri.

Napoli was a bit of a mindblower after the laid back ambience of Positano and Capri. Every square inch of real estate was humming with cars, taxis, limos, foot traffic, trams and pedestrians. Our search for an economical bus ride to the city train station lasted about two minutes before deciding to throw ourselves at the mercy of the local cab drivers. Chris’ Italian was dismissed when negotiations arose for the fifteen euro ride. “Normale!” seconded another taxi person. Fine we will pay the “normal” fee.

The entrance alone onto the main thoroughfare begged for musical accompaniment and sound effects. We were soon on two wheels and definitely careening toward the train station (hopefully). At one point the driver decided that instead of slowing he would swerve, at full speed, into a horseshoe driveway in front of a commercial building. The miraculous incident free emergence gained at least 8 car lengths and a traffic light bypass.

A single euro tip was met with a subtle sneer and we parted company satisfied for the moment having had our respective expectations met.  Ora andiamo a Bologna!

Bologna might not leap to one’s lips when one is imagining the idyllic Italian holiday. The primary reason for this is due to some familiarity with the city from previous visits. This had come about due to the interesting history (at least to Chris and his Kappa Sigma brothers) of Chris’ fraternity. Though immediately traced to an 1869 start at the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, Kappa Sigma is eponymously (current word of the communication world) named because of its connection to the City of Books and Letters (Kirjath Sepher). This would be Bologna.

The University of Bologna is believed to be the oldest university still in operation dating back to 1088. Its popularity beckoned students from all over the known world. The down side being that the local governor and his minions had a feeding frenzy on the money and wares of the foreign visitors. It became necessary to find a way to defend oneself. Safety in numbers and an ad hoc brotherhood generated the formation of a secret society dedicated to such protection.

It was the banner of this society that a select group of Charlottesville students discovered back in the nineteenth century upon a visit to Bologna. An invocation of the related history bonded the students to a dedication to the secret society’s ideals symbolized by “a poor blind student” being safe to pursue academia.

Fraternity ritual (most of which is still secretly guarded) embraced the Bologna roots. Pledges (prospective members) were issued the Bononia Docet book that was to be learned and memorized before initiation. Front and foremost was the visual of the two towers of the medieval city. Lo and behold our AirBnB reservation took us to within a few blocks of the structures:

In a previous excursion to Bologna, Chris and several of his fraternity brothers separated themselves from the grand troupe heading for Venice to bask in the shadows of these two puppies.

Chris’ fraternity experience is linked to Lowell, MA; textile capital as the world ushered in the twentieth century. Interesting enough Bologna had been the previously flourishing site for this business before shifting to America.

(Both cities boast canals as the skeletal machine serving the populace. And of  course both are proud of their academic presence. Currently Bologna serves 100,000 students among its 23 schools.)

The other part of the context is that touring would not be the focus. Yes, there might be a day trip to a nearby attraction but the main agenda was that when in Bologna do as the Bolognesi do.

The train station had just been expanded with three lower levels and was quite the trek to the surface. Our hosts would be Francesco and Cristiana. Communications had been ongoing and the directions were rather good. The arcades were exited (more about them later) and the small side street presented itself:

Thanks to the magic of digital photography a virtual sequence of discovery follows:

The front door:

A push of the buzzer yielded:

Once again, as in Turino and Chatillon, we would be seeking the upper altitudes:

Francesco had come down to help with Gini’s suitcase. Gravity had also come by but did not offer any assistance. The top of the stairs was finally reached:

This door opened on to a comfortable living space that, we were soon coming to realize, we would share with Cristiana and Francesco:

The outside terrace was a treat as it floated amongst the Bologna rooftops.

Our expectations had been influenced by AirBnB’s accommodators in Venezia and Turino who rented out an entire apartment. This was not really a big adjustment just a bit of a surprise. Within the hour we had sat and chatted with the host couple and found them likable and very interesting. The guest area of the apartment had a private bath and bedroom that also opened up onto the neighborhood. It was hot but breezy. Va bene. This would do.

On a recommendation from Cristiana and Francesco it was decided that dinner awaited just two blocks from the apartment on the main street with the arcades. It was fabulous. The setting was a courtyard and the food presentation was exquisite. A signature appetizer was panelle; described as Sicilian fritters from gram flour but that just does not do it justice.

The return to the apartment was without incident as the issued key worked fine and no major seizures on the climb up. However the guest room was quite warm and the air conditioner did not work – whoops.

Gini had not been feeling well now for several weeks with a chronic cough and stuffiness. She felt that if she did not have air conditioning breathing would be a problem. The discussion of this led to the possibility that another location would be needed for the next three nights. Yikes!

Thankfully Cristiana’s sister was also there and after consulting her the air conditioner came on. Bravo! It did quit half way through the night but the initial lowering of the temperature and circulation allowed natural ventilation and the cooling night to take over for the rest of the stay. Whew! Too much drama for a vacation.

Francesco had made bread and a healthy breakfast was waiting on the terrace the next morning. Chris had come with a supply of decaffeinated tea which was complemented by some wonderful honey from the kitchen. Both Chris and Gini felt sufficiently nourished to go out and about.

Turino is very similar with its streets covered by arcades. However they seemed to be everywhere in the old city section of Bologna. An interesting observation was that Chris, who by this point was automatically donning a hat, noticed that no one was wearing one throughout the city. Duh – with every street covered to protect one from the sun and the rain who needed it?

Just a small sampling of the arcades:

 

Of course there must be music:

The astute among you would know that Chris’ mom’s family name is Rienzo. If one were to separate that into “Ri” and “enzo”, a reference to King Enzo might be made for an ironic twist:

Enzo’s lineage is a bit questionable since he was the eldest illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II. He did have some glory as a short term ruler of Sardinia but spent the last 23 years of his life a prisoner in Bologna in the Palazzo Re Enzo:

Notice the honor guard out front.

This city is also your basic modern metropolis:

However this is a bank:

In the midst of some Renaissance flexing:

This statue of Nettuno (Neptune) and the Palazzo Re Enzo are part of the big square (Piazza Maggiore). City business can be taken care of at the Palazzo Communale (or take in some art):

Similar to Miami Beach, the town would like big screen movies to be available to one and all. At least once a week the outdoor theater has public offerings which includes live music (orchestra doing music from Hitchcock films), a huge screen and many seats that will all get filled:

We wouldn’t be in Italy unless you were amidst legions of scooters:

Incidental artifacts:

As previously mentioned there was a little touring. This transpired as a day trip to nearby Ferrara. This will have to be described through another blog posting.

There is one more place, however, to celebrate and that is Camera a Sud (vino e cibo). One does pride one’s self on which urban hangout is to be selected to aesthetically provide physical context, be hip and personal. In Cambridge there was Casablanca, in Lowell there was Pollard’s, the Worthen and a plethora of repositories of coolness. Well in Bologna that designation would go to Camera a Sud. It is in the Ghetto section (formerly Jewish) of the city tucked away amongst the alleys and narrow streets.

Upon crossing the threshold you are met with:

Yes, a nice bar with a very comfortable ambiance. As you continued to peruse the place many charming details leapt out. Pictures, postcards, books, vinyl albums (vinyl albums!!), and…wait…that can’t be…

Patti Smith!! Her photo was tucked in a corner of an archway….but wait it says something on the archway:

It’s a quote in Italian by Frank Zappa…be still my sang froid. A word for word attempt was meager in understanding so the iPhone had to be consulted…Oh yeah, that quote: “Jazz isn’t dead. It just smells funny.”

There were several rooms of mismatched comfortable couches, tables, chairs and eclectic furniture. An interior room was filled with what was obviously college students and some of their instructors. Wine was flowing quite freely and assessments were going well.

The food was quite good. The second time we went back we indulged our Spritz mania. Just so cool…

We felt quite pleased to be able to tell our hosts about our discovery (for us) as we knew they were quite familiar with it.

And here are our wonderful hosts from their AirBnB site:

She is a “libraia” who formerly ran her own bookstore while he was a librarian at the university before moving over to web design. The economy has had a serious effect on their careers and provided some interesting exchanges amongst us. The most fun, however, was talking about film. It is a passion of all four but especially Francesco and Chris. “I love that film!”; “I hate that film!”; “Have you seen…?”; “Did you know…?”. They were quite gracious to conduct almost all of this in very good English.

Currently the barn in Alexandria, NH is being offered as a B and B. These two will be our role models. Let us hope we can do as well. Ciao.