Earlier postings have already focused on Bologna’s 38 km of porticos….. and one especially well-known portion is the world’s longest portico, stretching 3.8 km up a hillside to the Basilica of San Luca. I took the opportunity to climb it on a recent weekend, and it turned out to be rather vigorous exercise – but the view over the city was really nice, and it was much easier coming back down!

I have no qualms about varying my morning walking routine, but the one described three postings below was still my standard – until I completely reversed things a few weeks ago. That reversal allowed me to keep all of those sights, but to bring in a few new things. The most obvious difference is the view of the Tower Asinelli. Before, I would suddenly arrive at the base of the Tower from the relatively closed, narrow Via Zamboni – but now, I can see the majestic Tower from blocks away as I turn onto via Rizzoli.

Another change is the addition of the Parco della Montagnola, located across via Irnerio from the Piazza dell’ Agosto. The weekend market located in the latter has expanded, and now threads up through the park’s pathways too – as you can see from the adjacent photo taken on a recent snowy morning. The park itself was commissioned by Napoleon in the early 1800s, and — depending upon that day’s path — I can also take in the park’s northwestern staircase entrance, which includes the Fontana del Pincio.

Adjacent to that entrance are the remains of the Castello at Porta Galleria. That fortress was built by Pope Julius II, who chose the site himself in 1506…. despite the fact that four papal forts built in the previous two centuries at that very same site had all been destroyed – by Bologna’s own citizens! The new fort was “reputed in its time to be the strongest fortress in Italy” according to one architectural historian, who went on to note that it “was intended to dominate rather than to defend the city. The citizenry came to hate it as a tool of repression.” It ultimately met the same fate, and was destroyed by the citizens of Bologna (“assisted by French bombardiers”) in 1511.

Julius II re-took the city the following year, after the French lost the Battle of Ravenna and withdrew from Italy. But the papacy apparently learned from the event and did not re-build the Castello, and for most of the 16th Century it “was careful to govern Bologna less by threat of military force than by tactful diplomacy.” [Also aided, no doubt, by the fact that the Reformation was soon underway!] Today the remains are all that are left…. but the Bolognese remain both independent and very proud of their city, and it is indeed a magical place: witness the rainbow over the fort on one recent morning jaunt.