Scenes from Bologna on Day 4

Playing catch-up, I am sharing a few photos from the previous days of our meanderings in Emilia-Romagna

One of the miles of colonnades for which Bologna received UNESCO world heritage status.

Two of the surviving family towers. Both are currently closed due to the imminent danger of collapse. Both are leaning but the one on the left has recently worried monitors and there are fears it will fall into the one on the right. Oi!

On a rainy day, we went in search of Bologna's water canals that once powered its silk mills.

Nearby is a restaurant for late-night cats, known as Biassanot. We enjoyed dinner here later that night.

This is the location of our cooking class with Carmelita. More about this fun time later.

Later, we went in search of four small statues by the 19-year-old Michelangelo. Well worth the search! What a genius!

So many images of the Nativity have graced our visit -- all with one cow and one donkey. This donkey was particularly expressive. :-)

Parma the Colourful

 

I am getting a little behind in my reporting. The days are full of sights and delights requiring a good night's sleep -- which limits time spent on the computer. To catch up with the travel tale, a visit to Parma's Duomo and Baptistery was the focus of our day yesterday. I had in fact, set out to see the private rooms of the abbess of the Benedictine Convent of San Paolo; but, alas, they are closed on Tuesdays. This only means I shall keep Parma on my bucket list. ;-)

The Baptistery is a delightful pink-and-white layer cake with fascinating frescos from the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.

Deciphering the symbolism in Benedetto Antelami's sculptures of the months was fun. For example, Libra appears on the righthand sculpture along with the grapes being harvested in bare feet to denote October. In the centre, Scorpio appears in the tree branches and now the figure wears a heavier cloak and shoes against November's cool temperatures.

The focal point of the Duomo is Correggio's whirling painting of the Assumption of the Madonna, capturing the event's vortex of energy.

While Correggio's work, painted in the early sixteenth century is the star of the show, the Duomo has been graced with frescos through time, including this late nineteenth century ceiling and a chapel dedicated to the fallen from World War I.

Around the corner, their modern counterparts were hard at work in the mid-day sun. This may in fact turn out to be our only warm, sunny day of the trip. Time will tell.

For now, buonanotte and sweet dreams.