Once you’ve covered the main tourist cities, youwill be free to start discovering the wealth of other treasures that Italy hasto offer and there’s no better place to start than Bologna. Among the manynicknames bestowed on Bologna are ‘La Rossa’ and ‘La Grassa’; la rossa, meaningred, refers to the colour of its buildings and its politics, la grassa, meaningfat, referring to the fact that Emilia Romagna is considered to be the foodcapital of Italy. Pre-dating the Sorbonne in Paris and Oxford in England,Bologna has the oldest university in Europe and has the sort of youthfulvibrancy that universities bring to a city. During the Middle Ages, noblemenvied with each other to build the tallest towers, both for defence and to showoff. Florence has lost most of its towers but in Bologna, many have survived,including one with a decided lean to it and it is here that you learn that Pisais by no means unique. Piazza Maggiore has been at the heart of Bologna for2500 years and dominating one side of the square is the Basilica of SanPetronio, one of the finest examples of Italian Gothic architecture. On theother side of the square is the Palace of the Podesta, nowadays what we wouldcall a city hall but in the Middles Ages, very much the seat of government.
