BOLOGNA

Cue (NZERS), Issue 17, 15 February 1945, Page 14

BOLOGNA

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THE great Italian cities have each | a marked individuality, and with a very good reason. Each has a very different past, and each in its time has been a capital of a sovereign' state, making* its own laws, setting its own fashions and cherishing with pride its differences from its neighbours. In spite of the constant exchange of artists and architects in Renaissance times there was no blighting uniformity. Bologna, long famous for the high quality of her sausages, has other and prouder claims to - notice. Not that the Bolognese would minimise the importance of their cookery. Grass#, or well-nourished, has been one of their nicknames since the Middle Ages and their tagliatelle, a form of macaroni, and their cheeses are locally as famous as their ’’boloney?’

Bologna is sometimes called "The Turretted Town” and its handsome brick buildings, with their tall turretted facades silhouetted sharply against the clear Italian sky, give it an unforgettable character. Another unique feature is the arcading of the old streets. These arches, supported •on their graceful and slender columns, make the streets a cool and delightful place to saunter in, even in the hottest part of the summer, and in' summer the Po Valley can be as hot as Naples. Under

them the Seicento citizens used to sit I and gamble all day till the Council was compelled to prohibit it. ' - a Situated as it is, on the Via Emilia,' the great Roman road from Rimini to the passes of the Alps, this has always been an important centre .of communications, linking Milan, Florence and the Eastern ports. So it is not surprising to find that there, has been a town here , through recorded history. Etruscan Felsina and Roman Bononia became in due course mediaeval Bologna. The mediaeval city, far larger, is clearly marked'by the fortifications now partly demolished, that enclose it .in.a rough pentagon, some five or six miles round. Inside this circuit many • quarrels were fought ' out. Bologna,■. once under the Exarchate of Ravenna, was kindly given by King Pepin to the then Pope but in 1123 it was. an < independent Commune though sti supporting the Guelph or Papal cause. However, the usual internal strugg the fell disease of all city states, laid, it open to various conquerors an coming under the Papacy again in 15° . it . remained under' that dona ion almost without a break till the Uni ca - tion of iB6O. . ' . Bologna was of no particular a is ■ fame during the Renaissance, France- ,

Francia (1450-1517) being the only local 'ainter to make his name. Its artistic importance first became marked when th e Caracci family founded the "eclectic" school at the beginning of the seventeenth century'.. This century, the seicento, saw the rise of Domenichino, Guercino and the celebrated Guido Reni, who painted the "Aurora" in the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome, and of whom his biographer records as remarkable that he was so clean that he never smelt. This was the century of the baroque and Bologna possesses many examples of this art. _

Always supposing that the town is not too- severely damaged by the chances of war, there will be much to see: The visitor should start in the real centre, the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele 11. This and the Piazza Nettuno, which adjoins it at right angles, are two of the loveliest squares in Italy. The particular feature of the Piazza Nettuno is the impressive 16th century Fountain of Neptune by the French sculptor Giambologna;

. Round these two squares are several of . the most interesting buildings in the town. On the West side rises . the massive Gothic Palazzo Communale. It was begun, in 1290 but almost entirely rebuilt in 1425-30. Its clock-tower dates from 1444. The bronze statue over the main entrance is of Pope Gregory XIII, a Bolognese. The relief of, the Madonna, to the left of . His Holiness', is by Niccold dell’Area (1478). Opposite the Palazzo Communale is the Palazzo del Podesta. This, . though it dates from 1201; was also rebuilt and is . really Early Renaissance in style. Adjoining it is the Gothic Palazzo del ? e . Enzio, which has romantic memories °f the old struggles. Here King Enzio, the gifted young son of Frederic 11, was imprisoned for. twenty-three years. It is said that he was not entirely solitary p. his confinement, and the celebrated entivoglio family, later tyrants of ? na , traced their descent from his mistress, the lovely Lucia Vendagola. o 0 the right of this group, in the P uth East corner of the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, is the Gothic church of

San Petronio, a testament of great 1 intentions unfulfilled. Begun in 1390, it was to have been a vast cruciform basilica 700 feet by 460, with a dome higher than St Peters. Actually only the nave and aisles as far as the transept were completed and that took till 1659. It has a severe and imposing interior enriched with many works of art. To the East of this church, at No 2 Via Archigin nasio,\ the Palazzo Galvani contains a museum of prehistoric antiquities, of various dates, not very exciting unless you like that sort of thing, some interesting Renaissance medallion' work, and the magnificent head of Athena Lemna ascribed, with more hope than confidence, to Phidias.

Continuing south-west through - a series of piazzas dedicated respectively to Galvani, . Cavour and Galileo, you come to • San Domenico, resting-place of the great St. Dominic, the Spanish founder of the Dominicans, the "hounds of God," who died here in 1221. His sarcophagus by Niccolo Pisano and a pupil, and the fresco in the half-dome by Guido Reni of scenes from his life are the particular glories of the church.

Returning to the centre, the via Rizzoli-at the other end of the Piazza Nettuno, leads east to the most, prominent features of Bologna, . the -two leaning towers, the Asinelli and the Gari§enda. They were built within a year of each other, in 1109 and mo, for the security -of the two families concerned, in the merry merry town life of the time. The Torre Asinelli, a slender, almost windowless tower ,of brick 320 feet high, with graceful proportions and the typical Bolognese turrets, is the chief landmark of the town. It leans slightly to one side. The Torre Garisenda, beside it, is only 163 feet high, as it was never finished. This was probably just as well, as even its truncated top is ten feet out of plumb and it has an alarmingly "crazy” appearance. These towers are the last memorials of a time when Guelph and Ghibelline struggled in the streets, and every great family had its tower. The town had then a grim forbidding aspect which has now disappeared. From these towers radiate the five main streets to the Eastern gates. A walk down the via Zamboni takes one first to S. Giacomo Maggiore founded in 1263 and restored about 1500. Its portico and the barrel-vaulting inside are renowned and on the walls are some of Fr. Francia’s best work, including one of those charming displays of Renaissance family pride, a Madonna

enthroned with the . Bentivoglio Family The Monument of Antonio. Bentivoglio by della Quercia, in the ambulatory; earns a ftar from Baedeker.

Continuing down, the street and passing the Palazzo Poggi, which now. houses the historic University, an nth Century foundation, famous for such great scientists as Galileo, Malpighi and Galvani, one reaches the junction of the Via delle Belle Arti. On this junction is the Picture Gallery (once the Jesuit College) which in peace time housed the treasure of Bologna, Raphael's Saint Cecilia, as well as Titian’s Crucifixion, many most attractive ’ primitives’ and pictures by the "eclectics” and the Venetian school. Another interesting walk from the two towers is down the Via Santa Stefano, flanked with many stately palazzi, the most notable of which is the Palazzo Isolani, built in 1452 by a follower of Donatello, the first example of Florentine Renaissance to be built here... - There are hundreds of other points of interest which there .is no space to expand on. Carvings by Niccold dell’ Area and other masters, frescoes and paintings are to be found in the innumerable churches and palazzi and the many fine squares have each their own particular treasures. Bologna will not be exhausted in a day or a week of sightseeing. Lt is only to be hoped that it will not be too severely damaged in the process of driving'out its present undesirable occupants.