Bologna?
 

I will travel to Italy for a week, and I will have a one-day stop in Bologna, before heading north to Venice from Florence. I would like to know any suggestions for one day in Bologna. <BR>Thank you very much.

There's a museum of religious art (near the cathedral--sorry, I know that's vague) that we liked better than the official art museum.

My boyfriend and I stopped in Bologna for the evening a couple years ago and really liked it, despite the rainy weather we encountered. We occupied our time strolling under the famous porticos and down the little street. There seemed to be many great restaurants there too, but unfortunately most would go over our tight budget. <BR>I though Bologna was interesting because it was somehow really modern. There were all sorts of business men racing around in suits with cellphones. When I think of Italy, that's not usually what i think of. It was good to break stereotypes.

As of April 7, I am a resident of Bologna, and I have to say I love it. After years of vacationing in a small town near Arezzo, I took a job in Bologna. It wasn't Florence, but I thought it would do. I have since fallen in love with the city; it has so much to offer. It is also one of nine European cities chosen as a Year 2000 City of Culture. Bologna has everything: wonderful food, good museums (a medieval museum, contemporary art museum -- Anselm Keiffer is now showing -- a very active music schedule. I could go on and on. But I hesitate because for some inexplicable but wonderful reason, the city is still off the beaten tourist trail. Therefore, very little English is spoken in the stores. But as in all of Italy, Italians are wonderfully accommodating and apologize because their English isn't any better. <BR> <BR>If you want specifics, reply to me offline. <BR>

I will be in bologna for a month, where are the best hotels?

Just some suggestions: If you're at all interested in architecture or cityscapes, you could spend a lot of time just walking around outside. The Piazza Maggiore and Piazza Nettuno are surrounded by grand buildings; the small streets to the east, between those piazzas and the two towers can be interesting to poke around in; and then of course there are the miles of porticoes, particularly in the University area and along and between the other streets radiating out to the east of the two towers. Keep an eye out for the wonderful food shops, bakeries, etc. <BR> <BR>My favorite Bologna church is Santo Stefano, actually a fascinating complex of religious buildings. San Petronio, on the Piazza Maggiore is an impressive brick Gothic curch with some interesting things -- it's dedicated to the city's patron saint and is its most important church, though it's not the duomo (cathedral). <BR> <BR>I'd guess that the musuem that Martha mentioned is either the Museo Civico Medievale, across from the Duomo, or the Collezioni Comunali d'Arte in the Palazzo Comunale, between San Petronio and the Duomo. Personally, I do like the Pinacoteca Nazionale very much, but it helps if you like Baroque art. If you like quirky small museums, there's an enjoyable museum of decorative arts in the Palazzo Davia-Bargellini, near the university, that has wrought-iron locks and keys, ceramics, etc. The University has lots of specialized scientific collections, open by appointment. If you like looking at food, the covered market in Via Ugo Bassi is pretty impressive; there are other markets nearby, too, but I don't remember where! <BR>