Walking in Bologna
 

We will be on a multi-generational trip to Italy - - spending a week in a villa south of Bologna. We plan a day trip to Bologna to wander through the porticoes and food markets. What's the walk like from Bologna Centrale to Piazza Maggiore? I know the approximate length (under a mile) but what's like - the porticoes? dingy streets? Is it an interesting walk? Any strong feelings pros and cons. They grandkids are all good walkers and we figure a gelato from time to time will keep everyone happy. Our visit is in late June.

The central station is not so central, sitting on the edge of the old city district. The streets around it are nondescript business and residential blocks, in other words quite average. The scenic value of a walk will only pick up once you near the old centre and join the porticoed sidewalks (more than 40 km. of them, it is said, and good to shade the sun in midday June.) ViaMichelin can give you some ideas for mapping a route that sacrifices directness for scenery. In the summer, some of the streets around the piazza are closed to traffic, especially on weekends. Given your short visit, you might consider taking the bus from the station as close to downtown as it goes, or even a cab if your family group is small. Either way, Bologna is a very pleasant city for strolling.

You could walk thru a park on that route but otherwise yes ho-hum IME.

The via dell'Indipendenza is completely porticoed and it a long. busy shopping street with a lot semi-discount clothing stores aimed at young people. it is not quite bargain basement but the stuff is cheap and plentiful: purses, boots, jeans, sweaters. A bit of rock music here and there pounding out. The closer you get to piazza Maggiore, the tonier it starts to get. A fair amount of traffic going up and down the street.

I wouldn't call the streets dingy. If you know something about NYC, it's more like the area around Penn Station, 14th st or Canal Street. Just a long retail stretch for bargain hunters.

There is no park between the station and the piazza Maggiore, and most of the parks in Bologna are not hang outs for kids. I would steer clear of them.

If you feel like waiting for a bus at the station, fine. Cabs are not expensive, and often are big enough for 6 people. But if you need 2, just tell them to take you to the piazza Maggiore and tell your group to meet up at either the door to the basilica or the fountain, and no one will get lost.

But if you want to hoof it, just prepare the group. Tell the they best bits of Bologna will be coming up --and if they are interested in history, you can explain to them that Bologna was such an important "modern" industrial city in the 20th c. for Italy, that it got bombed a lot. The uninteresting newer buildings came after all that.

So here are some pictures of the via dell'Indipendenza

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/p...m/52325729.jpg

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/71716867.jpg

http://bologna.repubblica.it/images/...419891a46a.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jA_CwmtcJF...o+2012+225.JPG

When in the Bologna Central Station seek out the poignant memorial to a 1980s terroist bomb that killed dozens, whose names are on a tablet near a preserved crack in the wall - terrorism is nothing new.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bolo...w=1455&bih=977

Having stayed at a hotel across from the train station, I agree with others assessments that the walk is nothing spectacular, though most is covered by porticos. It took us about 20-25 minutes. Please go see the lovely Santuario di San Luca if you are able-it's a fantastic experience. My near 70yo mom, sister and I walked all the way there and back to the train station area hotel that day-4 hours. When we asked for directions the locals looked at us like we were crazy, but it was WELL worth it! While I'm at it...highlights for us were the climbing the tower, San Petronio Basilica, and Santo Stefano. Enjoy!

Must see in the basilica is the controversial frescoes in the chapel dei magi. In Bologna we also recommend the compianto sul Cristo-very powerful. Good luck!

Sorry I forgot to mention that you should get the book that they offer for sale inside the church at the entrance to the santo Stefano for 5 euro-there should be a lady sitting at a table there. It offers a lot of info and will make your self guided tour more valuable. :)

Thanks for all the very helpful comments. I used Google Earth to "walk the walk" from the train to the piazza. Looks doable and the porticoes will hopefully keep the troop together. I did start learning about the bus and I know where the bus would pick us up if we choose that option. Not sure where one buys tickets. We are a group of eight so we want to stay together and will use taxis only if we must.

Thanks for the sightseeing ideas as well, but we promised the kids we would not "bore" them with many churches and old buildings - if we see only the exteriors of the churches it will be better for them. Plan to do a scavenger hunt in the food markets and in general do things to engage the young set. Travel is different when the age range is about 65 years! Some of us will do the tower climb I think.

Any hints on using the bus or where taxis might be available near the piazza or market? Thanks for your help.

There is no park between the station and the piazza Maggiore, and most of the parks in Bologna are not hang outs for kids. I would steer clear of them.>

Well on the Bologna map there is a large park to the east of Independenza - see map - I think it is raised a bit above the street (see large rectangular area on this map) - I did walk thru that park, best I can recall - or is that large green area bordering Indepenpenza Ave not a park?

I mean on this map of Bologna it shows the park I recall running along the east side of Independence Avenue - or is it not a park snadralist? I could be wrong but rather remember it being one. Not saying a nice park or that parks in Bologna are not drug dens and dens of criminals like you imply because that I do not know.

https://www.google.com/search?q=bolo...ml%3B600%3B500

Try not to miss the Archiginassio, very close to the Piazza Maggiore, which would be interesting to all ages, I think. Here's the description from the blog post I wrote about it in May 2014:

"We came across some wonderful sites, particularly the Archiginassio, the combined faculties of the first iteration of the University of Bologna, in what I think was the 15th century. A gorgeous building covered in frescos and memorials, it contains a working library for students as well as the original theater where anatomy was taught using cadavers. The marble center table remains, surrounded by wooden benches, carved walls and a canopy supported by wooden figures of flayed bodies. I know it sounds gruesome but it isn't at all, just fascinating."

PalenQ,

If you what you are referring to is the green area at the top of this map

http://www.zanasi.com/house/ViaInfernoMap200mt_3cm.gif

that is the Parco della Montagnola. To get to it, one would need to ignore the direct route between the train station and the piazza Maggiore, going out of one's way and then cutting back. It is not the direct path.

The name of the park itself is a bit of a clue as to why it is not an optimal detour. The park sits on a noticeable rise (mountain, montagne), and it is easy to get lost in it. On a hot day in July, the flat shaded walk of the via dell'Indipendenza.

Finally, like a great many urban parks in Italy, maintenence is almost non-existent, and the combination of broken pathways, unwatered flower gardens, and dog-walker detritus underfoot means there is no reason to avoid the via dell'Indipendenza for this "walk in the park". The park is popular with squatters and petty drug dealers, who attach themselves to the student culture of Bologna, although it is often well-used for city-sponsored outdoor concerts and sports events.

But for somebody coming from the train station, there is really no reason to avoid the direct route to piazza Maggiore down the via dell'Indipendenza in favor of a climbing through the shrubbery of the Parco della Montagnola.

(sorry for the incomplete sentence. Should have written: "On a hot day in July, the flat shaded walk of the via dell'Indipendenza is nicer.")

Well for some reason I went thru it and wanted to rather than the boring main well-traveled road but my hazy recollections are of what you described in terms on unkept, etc. Yet photos of the park show what could be a nice place to sit while waiting for trains?

https://www.google.com/search?q=parc...w=1280&bih=860

>>Yet photos of the park show what could be a nice place to sit while waiting for trains?<<

The park is really more steps away from the train station than it appears. One needs to cross some heavily trafficked expanses to get to the station -- and then the Bologna train station itself is an extensive place, especially now that the Italo and FrecciaRossa fast trains have been added in their own annex.

If someone is in Bologna and looking to kill a bit of time pleasantly before catching the train, the best option is to hang out in the piazza Maggiore, and then catch a cab from the taxi rank opposite the hilariously beautiful Apple Store in the palazzo on the via Rizzoli. After 4pm, another option is to make a stop at I famosi Tortellini della Nonna on the via dell'Indipendenza, close to the train station, to buy dried tortellini and other gastronomic treats.

Finally, cheapskate shoppers can actually have a lot of fun along the via dell'Indipendenza, snagging sytlish and often silly baubles, hats, belts, bags, t-shirts, etc. for pennies. it is a street devoted to impulse shopping, at fairly painless prices.

But as I said you can with a short detour walk thru what images show to be a quite interesting and comely park - does not comport with your description of it as a crumbling place full of the dregs of society - have you walked thru the park - my rather hazy memories were that is was nice and whence I mentioned it as an alternative to the main drag. I think you mis-characterized the park through not really knowing what was there?

Well I remember more like the photos anyway and kids could have fun there it looks like and a nice place to picnic - hard to believe the parks of Bologna are all crime-ridden dens and all broken up.

You're wrong. Read up on TripAdvisor reviews if you don't believe me.

We were both wrong then - you said there was no park there and there is - have you been in that park? To me parks with things the photos show are a treat.