Easy Way to a Beautiful Italian Vacation: Bologna, Italy

One Italian city that is still undiscovered by the great majority of the vacation travelers that visits Italy every year is Bologna.
Located in the north, Bologna has strategic position in the Italian railway system as main junction for major train routes, allows short transfers to the main Italian cities; Florence is one-hour away, less than two hours to Venice and Milan, and the furthest away is Rome reachable in little more than two hours train ride.
But once arrived, it's way easy to decide that leaving Bologna, even for a day trip, can wait until your next trip to Italy.

The origins of the city dates back to 9th century BC as an Etruscan village named "Felsina". In the 4th century BC fell under Gallic domination and was ruled by the "Galli Boi" until 189 BC, when was conquered by the rising Roman Empire, becoming a colony and renamed "Bononia". In 88 BC, was declared Roman city and the Bolognesi were given Roman citizenship status, expanding the city and building infrastructures that, for the most part, are still in perfect conditions; like the aqueduct and several routes. One above all is the Via Emilia; 162 miles long, connecting in a straight line, Bologna to Rimini on the east, and Piacenza on the west side.

Still maintaining parts of the protective walls built between the 3rd and 4th century and 10 of the beautiful original 12 gates that gave access to the city, still untouched, Bologna is Europe's second largest medieval city still in place and perfectly preserved, second only to Venice.

In 1256 the city's authorities abolished slavery and reached the peak of his power at the end of the 13th century, when Bologna was among the five largest cities in Europe and third in Italy.

During that period was custom, for the more wealthy families, to build tower houses to display their power, unfortunately out of the several dozens that were built, only 21 are still standing.

The two most famous towers in Bologna are the "Asinelli" and the "Garisenda", They stand next to eachother and, known as "The Two Towers" have the peculiarity that, like the Tower of Pisa, they are both leaning.

In the 14th century, the "Garisenda" was badly damaged by a ground yielding but her twin tower "Asinelli", that was built between 1109 and 1119, is still in perfect conditions and open to the public, can be climbed to the top (498 steps), for a beautiful an breathtaking view of the city.

It was during this period that was founded Bologna's University that, dating back to the year 1088, is the very first University established in Europe (Alma Mater Studiorum) and had among her students: Dante Alighieri, Nicolò Copernico and Erasmus of Rotterdam.

Another unique peculiarity of Bologna is the over 52 miles of portico's, that shelter the sidewalks allover the historical district, and makes shopping through the streets of Bologna easy in any weather.

The portico's were initially built to shelter the activities carried out on the sidewalk outside their front door; much like a veranda, where the Bolognesi could sell their goods protected from the rain and the sun.

The sheltered sidewalks made it easy for the economy to flourish in Bologna, to the point that, in 1288, the city passed a law making mandatory, for any new building, to be built with a portico.

The longest single portico counts 666 arches and stretches for almost four mile;, from the St Petronio Cathedral, in the center of Bologna, to the St Luca Basilica, on the top of one of the hills south of the city, giving a beautiful view of Bologna.

St Petronio Cathedral, named after the Saint protector of the city, is located on main square (Piazza Maggiore), right in the center of Bologna, where the St Luca's portico begins. Is the world 5th largest catholic church; construction begun on February 29th 1390, and continued until the 1600's, when Pope Clement VI, halted the project to avoid, Vatican's Cathedral of St Peter, to lose his status of world's largest church.

But the real pride of Bologna is the food; who like to think that also the palate shoul feel on vacation, it may be interesting to know that this is the birthplace of Lasagna, Tortellini, the traditional Tagliatelle and the Mortadella, called "bologna" in some parts of Italy, and poorly imitated out of Italy.
Here they take food so seriously that in April 1972, a copy in gold of the beloved egg noodle was deposited at the Chamber of Commerce by the local Culinary Association, to set the official standard size of 8 mm. The best example of the rich culinary tradition of Bologna is "Tamburini"; a food market that here is considered a real institution, and has delighted the palate of the locals since 1860.

Bologna has also a very important exhibition district (Fiera District ) that hosts important trading events such as "Motorshow"; one of Europe's largest car and motorcycle industry expositions , 'Saie' and "Cersaie"; dedicated to home construction and remodeling, "Fierarredo" for interior decoration, "Lineapelle" for the leather industry, and cosmetics products with "Cosmoprof".
During these particularly large events, the Hotel's offer gets overwhelmed, for this reason is advisable to consult the Fiera District calendar (web-site at the bottom of the article) and visit Bologna when no particularly large event is taking place.
Not being among the mostly known tourist destinations in Italy, Hotels in Bologna do not have other resources than the Fiera District visitors, which is why, with the exception for large Hotel chains, in between large events it's easy to get rooms discounted, sometimes down to half the price, and lower considerably the cost of the vacation.

Other two local products that the people from here like to brag about have names maybe more popular than Bologna itself: Maserati and Ducati.
The Ducati factories also have areas where visitors can view the stages of the motorcycles construction, and a museum with every model exposed.
If that's not enough legacy, about 12 miles west of Ducati Motorcycles, the small citiy of Maranello, is home of Ferrari and the Ferrari Museum, where are displayed the cars that Enzo Ferrari have made the history of car racing, and few minutes away, in Modena, is the home of Lamborghini.

As I have mentioned before, with a quick train ride, from Bologna it's easy to visit all the major cities in Italy; in the warm months a destination, that also the residents like to visit in the weekends, is the "Riviera Adriatica"; the near eastern coast. The two busiest and most popular coastal resorts are Rimini and Riccione, and they are both located on the southern part of the regional coast, at the eastern end of the Via Emilia, less than one-hour train ride from Bologna.

The Region, of which Bologna is the capital, is Emila-Romagna, and the "border" if can be called that way, is about fifteen miles east of Bologna, by the city of Imola; another name that will sound familiar to car racing fans hosting the San Marino Grand Prix of Formula One.

The name "Romagna" comes from the time of first Roman colonization and comes from the fact that this was where the Romans had chosen as their operational base on Italy's eastern coast.

They had many reasons to decide for this particular stretch of the coast: but four were the most important ones:

- The easy access from the opposite western coast where Rome is located,

- Beaches stretching uninterrupted for almost hundred miles, making ithe task of berthing easy and safe, and giving easy control of the entire eastern seaboard.

- The control of the Po River, Italy's longest river, that cuts the north of the Italian peninsula in half and here has his delta.

The most important Roman city in Romagna is "Ravenna" that became more important than Rome itself after the Roman Empire was divided in eastern and western, with the eastern capital Constantinople, now Istanbul, gaining more power than the old capital.

One vacation to Italy won't be enough to see all that this country has to offer, but including Bologna in the list is definitely a good way to start.