Entries about emilia

Gabicce Mare was the second base for my summer holiday. It was chosen by chance.

I visited this town in order to get to Gabicce Monte. Unfortunately I couldn' t get there due to lack of time. So I thought about looking for a room in Gabicce Mare.

This way I should have had more time to visit Gabicce Monte.

Gabicce Mare is a modern sea side resort. It has not an old core.

Spending some time on the beach is one of the things to do in Gabicce.

At the entrance of some beaches there are some paintings. Some of these are real masterpieces in my opinion.

I booked a room for some nights at hotel Paris. It is a nice two stars hotel; even if it is quite old.

I was given a room with three beds and the bathroom en suite.

At hotel Paris they seved a good buffet breakfast with several home made pastries.

Gabicce Monte is a nice village. It is some kilometers from Gabicce Mare. It is part of Gabicce Mare.

In the old times it was a fortified village.

I went to Gabicce Monte by bus.

From Gabicce Monte you can enjoy the view over Gabicce Mare and on some other places.

There are some cafes and restaurants in Gabicce Monte. I think there are even some hotels here.

Gabicce Monte is a small village. It is possible to visit it in a couple of hours.

Here we can read that Gabicce Monte was the birthplace of Girolamo Lanfranco and his son; Giacomo.

They were potters who lived here in the 1500.

I also did a day trip to Gradara from Gabicce Mare. I went there by bus. The journey took around twenty minutes.

Gradara is a Medieval village situated on a hill. It is only six kilometers from Gabicce Mare.

Gradara is a small village, but there is no shortage of cafes and restaurants here.

There are some churches in Gadara. One of these is the XIV century church of saint John the Baptist.

Its main sight is a crucifix sculpted by a friar in the first half on the XVII century.

If you look at the Christ' s face from three defined spots on the floor, you can see its three expressions on its face. Silence, sufference and relief.

There is a castle in Gradara. It was built between the 11th and the 15th centuries.

I did not visit it because I was in Gradara on monday; the closing day.

The castle is where the tragic story of Paolo and Francesca happened.

It was written in the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. One of our most famous witers.

Francesca was Giovanni (AKA Giangiotto) Malatesta' s wife. She had a love affair with her husband' s brother, Paolo.

One day, when Giangiotto came home and caught the two lovers together in Francesca' s room he killed them.

Probabably this sad story took place between 1283 and 1285.

The street from the main entrance of the village is quite long and steep.

I hope to re visit Gradara quite soon.

The Gabicce Express train is a way to head to Gabicce Monte and to Gradara.

It is not a comfortable mean of transportation but you can use it if you have children.

Cesena is a nice town located in the Emilia Romagna region.

I choose Cesena as a base for my summer holiday. I thought I could do some easy day trips by public transportation from there.

Unfortunately it was difficult to get to some places I was going to visit; due to not convenient timetables.

In short; I could go to some villages from Cesena, but stay there for a short time; being dependent from trains or coaches.

Piazza del Popolo; the main square in Cesena is surrounded by several palaces, by the rocchetta di Piazza and also by some cafes, restaurantsand shops.

Almost in the middle of this square there is a beautiful and elaborate fountain; the fontana Masini. It was designed and created at the end of the 1500.

Every saturday there is a large outdoor market in piazza del Popolo.

Palazzo Comunale; one of the buildings we see in piazza del Popolo was built from 1358. The building we see today was made joining two structures.

Under the loggia of the palace there is the tourist information office and a nice cafe; La Vineria del Popolo.

At La Vineria del Popolo they also serve food.

I like the colors of Cesena!

There are some rows of porticos in Cesena.

One day I discovered some beautiful sculptures walking in the old center. These were created by Leonardo Lucchi.

This sculptor has his studio in in piazza del Popolo; almost opposite La Vineria del Popolo.

Here you see another creation by Mr. Lucchi.

One of the sight in Cesena is the Malatesta library. It was commissioned by the lord of Cesena; Novello Malatesta. This library was built from 1447 to 1452 into the convent of saint Francis.

Inside it looks like a small church.

Here people could come to read or study. It was not a lending library.

Beside the library you can visit the Sala Piana as well. This room was pope' s Pius VII private library. Here you can see several ancient manuscripts.

In this picture you see two very large (and hevy) ancient books.

Look up!

Another thing to do in Cesena is to have a ice cream at Gelateria del Corso.

This small ice cream parlour is situated in corso Sozzi at n. 64. It is not far from the cathedral (duomo).

There is a small park not far from the center of Cesena. The parco pubblico. It is the right place to have a rest.

There is a castle that overlook the town. Rocca Matatestiana. It was built around the 11th century near the remains of two previous defensive fortifications. It was renovated and improved during the 1400' s.

Today the castle houses a museum of agriculture.

I did only a day trip from Cesena. I went to Senigallia...I will tell you something about this beautiful town in my next post.

I have been to Parma twice in some months only (2016 or 2017...I don' t remember). The first ime I visited this city, it didn' t impressed me much. I appreciated it more the second time I visited it.

Parma is not a very beautiful city, but it is nice. It has a good choice of things to see. There are several churches and some museums to visit; a large park and a plethora of shops.

One of Parma' s main sights is the baptistery. This octagonal tall structure was built in 1196 and finished in 1307.

Inside it is decorated with frescoes between the XIII and the XIV centuries. There are also frescoes on its dome. These were painted in the third decade of the XIII centuries.

Beside the baptistery I visited the cathedral of Parma (duomo).

The cathedral highlight is the dome. It was painted by Antonio Allegri, called Correggio between 1524 and 1530.  It depicts the Virgin Mary with clouds, apostles and angels.I think one should do more than one visit to the cathedral to appreciate this worship place. 

I also visited the church of saint John the Evangelist. I is part of a monastery. 

Here I visited the cloisters and  the old library.  This  was frescoed  in one year  only; between 1574  and  1575.  A priest told me a lot of things about this library and talked me about the frescoes of this beautiful room.

Sometimes, on the way to my hotel I had a stroll at a large public park; the Parco Ducale. It was laid out in 1561 by the duke Ottavio Farnese as park for his villa. In 1700 fell under disrepair. After 1749 it was restored. It was later restored even in the 1800 and between the years 2000 and 2001.

This park has a large lake, various kind of trees and some beautiful statues. There are some buildings inside as well; including the Palazzo del Giardino. I haven' t visited this palace, but I will do it next time I visit Parma.

Art lovers can visit the Palazzo della Pilotta. It is  a huge palace built from 1583 and enlarged through the centuries. It houses more than 700 masterpieces from the Middle Ages to the 1900. Moreover there is a wooden theater inside this  palace; the Farnese theater. 

There are also a couple (or more) of museums inside the palace. I only did a very fast tour inside this palace, so I cannot write much about it.

I usually had lunch at Magnosfera when I was in the city. This is a self service cafe and restaurant situated just a few steps from the old center of Parma. It has a large dining room and even if this restaurant is very popular, I always found a seat.

At Magnosfera you can find several first and second courses and various vegetables you can combine and make your salad. There are also several fruits and desserts. Here You can have a pizza as well.

Well, I tried to describe some things one shouldn' t miss in Parma. There is much more to see in this town. Moreover, is it possible to do several day trips from this town.

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I have visited Bologna a couple of times; as day trips from Ferrara; in 2016 and 2017. There are daily trains from Ferrara to Bologna every day. The journey takes around half an hour.

Bologna is called "la dotta", "la grassa" and "la rossa". "La dotta" (i. e. educated) beacuse of its old university. It was one of the first university settled in the occidental world. "La grassa" (i. e. fat) is a nickname due to the good food you can have in Bologna. "La rossa" (i. e. the red) is an adjective Bologna got for the reddish colour of most of its buildings.

Bologna has a network of around 38 kilometers of covered walkways. The first porticoes date from the late Middle ages, but probably they already existed in 1041.

The porticoes were made due to the population growth; possibly because of the university students who came to the city. The upper storeys of the buildings were enlarged and consequently the porticoes downstairs were made.

In Bologna you can even find some very old porticoes made of bricks or wood.

Piazza Maggiore is Bologna main square. It is surrounded by several palaces.

One of these is Palazzo d' Accursio. It was built by some buildings joined together through the centuries. This is Bologna' s town hall. Another palace on piazza Maggiore is Palazzo del Podestà . It was built around 1200.

Opposite you see a church; the basilica of San Petronio. Next to this church stands the Palazzo dei Banchi. Here bankers and money changers worked.

Piazza Maggiore is connected to another square; piazza del Nettuno.

Palazzo d' Accursio, or Palazzo Comunale is a 15,000 square meters complex made of three palaces. The oldest dates to the 12th century. It was originally he house of the jurist Accursio. Later it became the seat of the Anziani (elders); the higher magistrates of the city.

Inside this palace several rooms are opened to visitors.

On the first floor you can see Sala d' Ercole. This room is into the oldest part of the building. Sala del Consiglio Comunale has frescoed painted in 1676. It is used for the town hall meetings. Sala Rossa (the red room). It was the main room for the senate meetings.

On the second floor you can visit the chapel and Sala Farnese. The chapel was built in 1400 and enlarged between 1561 and 1565. It was restored in 1600. There are several frescoes dated to the 1562 inside. On the second floor you can also visit a museum; the Collezioni Comunali d' Arte; here you can see works of art from the 1200 to the 1900.

Palazzo dell' Archiginnasio; the old university, was built between 1562 e il 1565 to bring together under one place the several university faculties that had been scattered around the city. It was the seat of the university of Bologna until 1803.

It is a two storeys palace; built around a courtyard. On its first floor there are the rooms of the legisti (they were law students) and the rooms of the artisti (they studied other things). On the same floor there are two aule magne; one of these is the so - called Stabat Mater; covered with coats of arms of Italian and foreigner students who attended the university.

Another room you can visit has an anatomical theatre. It is where anatomy lessons where held. Here the students watched the dissection of human corpses. The anatomical theatre was build in 1637 and restored after the second world war. It has its wooden walls decorated with statues of famous physicians and famous anatomists.

Palazzo dell' Archiginnasio also houses the public library.

The Museo Civico Archeologico (the archaeological museum) is housed inside the ancient Ospedale della Vita e della Morte (hospital of life and death). This palace dates to the XV century.

Here are housed several collections which come from the university, from the collection of the painter Pelagio Palagi and from finds from digs in Bologna and in some Emilia Romagna areas.

On the basement of this museum there is a large Egyptian collection with sarcophagi, and lots of funeral items. There is a lapidarium and a plaster cast gallery.

Once you visited these sections you can to go to the first floor where you can head to the prehistory, the Etruscan, the Celt and the Roman sections. There is even a Greek collection to visit here.

There are some Roman mosaics inside this museum.

The Quadrilatero market is practically a maze of narrow streets lined with food shops, restaurants and cafes.

It is located to the east of piazza Maggiore. It is bordered by via Rizzoli, via d' Azeglio, via Farini and via Castiglione.

In the evening this area becomes a place where you can have a drink or a dinner at one of the many restaurants and cafes there.

Here you can find lots of shops; even very small ones where you can buy fruit, vegetables, meat, fishes; bread, pastries and other local food.

Tamburini is a good restaurant to have lunch. It is a self service restaurant and a food shop as well.

Here you can buy various kinds of cold cuts, cheeses, cakes and also take away food for lunch or dinner.

At the restaurant you can help yourself of four first courses at least, some second courses, various vegetable dishes and some desserts.

This restaurant is some meters far from the Quadrilatero market.

In the Middle Ages there were around 100 towers in Bologna. Today there are around 20 of them. The most famous of these are the two towers; the tower degli Asinelli and la Garisenda.

The tower degli Asinelli was built between 1109 and 1119. It is around 100 meters tall. It was probably built by the Asinelli Family. There are 498 stairs to get to its top. Surely you can enjoy a very beautiful landscape over the city from there. This tower was used as jail sometimes.

The Garisenda tower is 48 meters tall. It was shortened due to a fall of the soil and for the excessive leaning.

Saint Stephen basilica. According the tradition it was Saint Petronio who create this basilica. He was Bologna' s bishop from 431 to around 450. The aim of this construction was to imitate the Holy sepulcre in Jerusalem. This worship place was first built around 400 A. D. over a Roman temple of goddess Isis.

Originally it was made of seven churches, but after the renovations works made in the late 19th and early 20th centuries the number was reduced to four.

The first church you will enter is the church of the Crocifisso. It dates to the VIII century. This church was called this way , because a 1300 crucifix is on display inside. Another church you will visit is the church of the Santo Sepolcro. This is the oldest construction of the whole complex. It is a church built in dodecagonal shape.

Another church here is the basilica dei Santi Vitale ed Agricola. It was built in the V century, but it was restored and finished in the XII century.

The last church you can visit here is the cappella della Benda (the chapel of the bandage). Part of this church is used as a museum.

The complex includes a small museum of religious crafts. It is housed into the chapel of the bandage.

Corte Isolani is a public passageway which links strada (street) Maggiore and via Santo Stefano. Inside there are various courtyards with several upmarket shops and some eateries.

At both ends of Corte Isolani there are two palaces. Palazzo Isolani which dates from the XV century and Corte Isolani. This was built in the XIII century. It has a third storey carried by a porch made of two brick pillars and oak timbers of nine meters of heights.

A restaurant inside Corte Isolani.

I suppose there are some offices at Corte Isolani.

Nice spot at Corte Isolani.

The church of saint Dominic was built between 1221 and 1233 to house the relics of saint Dominic. It was enlarged between 1228 and 1240 and restored between 1728 and 1732.

One of its main sights is the Chapel of s. Dominic in the right aisle. It houses the Ark of s. Dominic. This masterpiece was created through several centuries. It is made of a sarcophagus carved by Nicola Pisano in 1267. Its upper part was added from 1469 to 1473 by Niccolò da Bari.

Michelangelo made an angel (you see it on the right) in 1494 and two statues of sain Petronius and saint Proculus.

Another sights inside the church is situated behind the main altar. These are old wooden choir stalls with Old and New Testament scenes made by friar Damiano from Bergamo and his brother Stefano. They carved them between 1530 and 1549. It is said they used 30 different kinds of wood to made them.

Gelateria Gianni is a ice cream place recommended by two VT friends on their VT pages about Bologna (see ex ...virtualtourist.com); Ingrid Trekki and Toonsarah.

I founded it by chance. I don' t remember which ice cream flavours I chose the first time I visited Gianni' s. The second time I went there I think I had a scoop of coffee flavour ice cream and another one of yoghurt. I am not sure about it. I liked it very much. The scoops were big.

There are three branches of this gelateria in Bologna. I went to that one besides the two towers. There aren' t any chairs to enjoy your ice cream inside this ice cream parlour, but you can sit outside on a low stone wall.

Bologna has a long network of underground canals. These were created from the XII to the XVI centuries as a transportations way and to give power to the watermills and to the city's farms. From the 50' s they were covered.

One you can see in the city center is the canale delle Moline. You can see through a small window in via Piella. It is really a picturesque sight as you can see from my picture.

You can find some other canals in Bologna. Just ask the tourist office for a leaflet about these. The tourist office is located in piazza Maggiore.

Don' t skip a visit to Bologna if you are in the area. Even if you can spend only some hours there.

Modena is a pleasant town some 40 kilometers far from Bologna.

I have visited it twice; as a day trip from Ferrara. I went to Modena by train.

The center of Modena is not far from the train station.

The Giardino Ducale is probably the first sights you can visit coming from the train station.

This beautiful garden was created in the late '500 and modified in the ' 800. In 1739 it was opened to the public. Here you can see a lake, various plants and a playground area. Joined to this garden there is a botanical garden. It was created in 1758 by the duke Francesco III to grow rare plants and also medicinal ones.

Inside this garden there is a nice building: the Palazzina del giardino Estense. It was built around 1632 and 1634 for the duke Francesco d' Este. Today it is used for art exibitions.

Piazza Grande is Modena' s main square. It was created in the second half of the XII century. It is bordered by the cathedral, by the the town hall and by the bishop' s palace. It is paved with rounded cobblestones.

Here you won' t miss a big red stone. The Pedra Ringadora. It probably was part of an ancient Roman building. In the Middle Ages it was used as a stage for the speakers, but even as a stone of shame.

It was also used to display dead bodies for the identification.

La Bonissima is a nice small statue of a woman which dates to the 1268. There are various stories about it.

They say it could represent a generous noble woman who gave food to poor people in a famine period.

Another story is that La Bonissima should represent honesty at commerce. Bonissima comes from " bona esma" i. e. fair mesure. In old times this statue held a scale and was located on pedestal where various units of measure were written.

You can see La Bonissima on the municipal palace (the town hall) between via Castellano and piazza Grande.

The cathedral of Modena (duomo) was built from 1099 and completed between 1100 and 1300. This church stands on the site where two previous churches had been built since the fifth century.

It was built by the architect Lanfranco on the site of the grave of Saint Geminiano.

From the end of 1100 to 1300 the works of this church were carried on by the so-called Maestri Campionesi. They were architects who came from Campione; in the Lombardy region.

The bell tower joined to the cathedral is named Ghirlandina. It is 86 meters tall. I think you can climb it to its top.

Inside the cathedral there is a crypt. Here you can see the sarcophagus of Saint Geminiano and lots of nice carved columns.

The town hall is made from various palaces joined together and restored between the 16th and the 17th centuries. These palaces were originally built from the XII century.

Inside the town hall there are some rooms open to visitors.

Here is a short summary; the Camerino dei Confirmati. This room was painted in 1770. Another room is the Sala del Fuoco. It is decorated with frescoes dated to 1546.

The Sala del Consiglio Vecchio has a ceiling painted at the beginning of the 1600.

Another interesting room is the Sala degli Arazzi. Its walls are decorated with 18th century paintings on tapestry like canvases. Another room you can visit is the Sala dei Matrimoni; the wedding hall.

The Mercato Albinelli is a quite large covered market. It was built in the 20' s of the 1900 in Liberty style.

Here you can find a large selection of fruits and vegetables stalls.

There are also several meat and fish stalls and some bakeries as well. Here you can find several typical Modenese pastries. This market is a good place to buy various typical products of the Emilia Romanga region; as cheeses, cold cuts and ravioli (filled dumplings).

There is even a kind of pharmacy into the market.

You can have a lunch inside this market. There are some eateries inside.

This market is open usually every morning except on sundays. It is not far from the main square.

The Palazzo dei Musei is a very large palace which its original destination would be to become a hostel for the poors. Ercole II decided to turn it into a place for arts in 1788. This was meant as a school where young people would be educated to learn various crafts.

This palace houses several museums, as a museum of Medieval and modern art, and an archaeological and ethnological one.

Some of them are closed in the afternoon. One of these that is open until late in the evening is the Galleria Estense. This is an art collection belonged to the Este family. It is made of lots of paintings, some statues and other beautiful masterpieces. I liked very much this museum.

Palazzo Ducale was built from 1634 on the site of an earlier castle. It was used as the court of the Este family until 1861. Today it is occupied by the military accademy.

You can visit it inside on guided visits some saturdays and sundays. You have to book your visit at the IAT office in piazza Grande, 14. Tel.059 2032660.

Inside you will visit the Salone d' Onore with 1696 frescoes and the 18th century Salottino d' Oro.

I haven' t visited this palace yet, but I am going to do it next time I visit Modena.