I’ve previously posted about my two-mile morning walk around the city – but the Forli visit (posting immediately below) brought home the radical nature of the city’s political scene, readily evident on that walk.

Bologna is known as the ‘Red City,’ not only because of the city’s brickwork and red tenda – but also because of its political leanings: it has long been a center of leftist political action and Communist strength in Italy…. and in Western Europe, for that matter. It is one of the reasons that SAIS Europe (with CIA funding) was established in the city, instead of in a political capital such as Rome or Paris.

It is not uncommon to have students and/or other young people approach me on my morning walks, offering newsletters or brochures pushing the Communist viewpoint – and of course they are fervently against right-wing fascist governance. My apartment is on Via Irnerio, and every day I pass graffiti assuring me that I live in the ‘Irnerio Zona Antifa.’ As I stroll through the University area, colorful street art makes clear that Bologna will always be ‘Antifascista.’

Other (non-political) slogans on the walk are more attuned to the city’s other renown. In Stanley Tucci’s ‘Searching for Italy’ segment on Bologna, he mentioned Frederico Fellini’s comment, also prominently displayed: