Bologna

I liked making one-sentence summaries of the cities I'd visited in Italy. Perugia sits cramped and high on a hill. Assisi sits within a ringed wall, dropped on a hill. Florence sits in a river valley, bejeweled by its cathedral, il Duomo. This game was hard to play with Bologna because you don't get a feel for its geography upon your approach by train. You have to walk past the modern monstrosities to its center before you are cognizant of its magic. Shades of burnt amber, red, and orange color the buildings walls. The flagstones of the streets aren't crudely cut off incongruously by cement sidewalks. There are no sidewalks per se, but the stones of the streets run right under the arched overhangs of the buildings, which run the length of the streets, supported by columns consistent with the edifice's color. So you walk the city, protected from the sun, rain and traffic, embraced in shadow, free to window shop in a kind of enclosed privacy. It's dangerous to jaywalk because as soon as you step out from the overhang between a building's columns, you are, in fact, in the crazy street, subject to the mad flow of motorcycles and buses, mopeds and taxis. On the busiest promenade that runs from the main square to the station, there are iron fences to prevent such an ill-advised adventure.

The cathedral is interesting because, in spite of being lovely to behold, there seems to have been a mistake. From the ground to the horizontal line that intersects each corner of the lower end of the roof, the facade consists of the glorious marble that we've come to expect of Italy. Above that line, the marble ends, and a dark red brick, ornately set, takes over, running clear to the top. I didn't understand it but liked it for being so different.

Finally, maybe I was just lucky, but my visit to Bologna was also noteworthy for the two meals I had, which were the best I've ever had in Italy. Maybe that's par for Bologna....or maybe the god of travel whimsically decided to be prompt in rectifying my balance sheet for Italy. A little fine pasta and wine definitely put me in the black.