{"id":6244,"date":"2011-07-21T11:11:37","date_gmt":"2011-07-21T15:11:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingottawa.ca\/?p=6244"},"modified":"2013-01-21T09:07:21","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T14:07:21","slug":"gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Gritty Bologna is the Cinderella city"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
Bolognese arcade: beauty no safeguard against grafitti<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ravenna is only about an hour from Bologna by a slow train but what a difference an hour makes. Ravenna is a three star tourist city in line for the European Cultural Capital Award for which the competition is ferocious and for good reason.\u00a0 For that year, the award distinguishes a city beyond all others and millions of tourists circle the city that wins the crown.<\/p>\n

You can see why Ravenna is on the short list.\u00a0 It has some fabulous Byzantine mosaics.\u00a0 They are so fine that when you enter the church and see them for the first time, they literally take your breath away.\u00a0 The sun itself seems to pour out of the gold halos which surround faces that are as real as the man or woman sitting next to you on the bus, and Ravenna is clean, quiet and easy as pie to visit.<\/p>\n

The city has severely restricted vehicular access to the centre.\u00a0 You simply don\u2019t see many trucks and private cars but bicycles are everywhere.\u00a0 The beggars ride bicycles in Ravenna.\u00a0 The caf\u00e9 habitu\u00e9s hitch their bikes to the caf\u00e9 bench, the old folks to the park bench, the lawyers ride and talk on their cell phones.\u00a0 There are young parents and grandparents with children on the back wheel and the front wheel and sometimes on the cross bar.\u00a0 I took more photographs of cyclists in Ravenna than I did mosaics because I\u2019ve seen great mosaics before, I\u2019ve never seen such a variety of cyclists.\u00a0 I kept expecting the cycle traffic to ease up, it never did, even in the heat of mid-day.<\/p>\n

Bologna is a different kettle of fish.\u00a0 It is a two star visit city and when you read the guide books, the description is at best tepid.\u00a0 It\u2019s most frequent description is that \u2018it\u2019s an independent, little city living under its many arcades.\u2019\u00a0 Bologna\u2019s not in line to be anyone\u2019s cultural capital.<\/p>\n

I found it much more impressive than Ravenna simply because there is so much more to see.\u00a0 It is the home of the oldest university in Europe.\u00a0 Dante went to school here.\u00a0 It has the finest and most beautiful city library in Italy.\u00a0 There are many extraordinary museums.\u00a0 The city\u2019s archaeology museum has an Etruscan exhibit which has these exquisite glass exhibit cases housing the best Etruscan collection in the world. \u00a0It takes your breath away not for minutes but for hours.<\/p>\n

The city has been lived in since the Palaeolithic and has a fascinating Renaissance history. When Dante Aligheri and Nicolo Machiavelli were talking and writing about a city\u2019s struggle for liberty, they could have been talking about Bologna as easily as Florence. It\u2019s arcades are simply unequalled.\u00a0 It has a single arcade which climbs several kilometers from a western city gate all the way to a hilltop over looking the entire city.\u00a0 It\u2019s a climb worth taking.<\/p>\n

Bologna, as in Ravenna, has cyclists everywhere. \u00a0In fact, I\u2019m willing to bet Bologna would win the European and World Award for most decrepit bicycles on a city street anywhere.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never seen so many rusted out, worn out, broken down bicycles in my life. \u00a0For my money, there is simply no comparison, Bologna wins hands down over Ravenna as an interesting place to visit.\u00a0 Then why the stark difference in the star rating?\u00a0 Why the tepid description of Bologna and the glowing \u2018must see\u2019 report on Ravenna?<\/p>\n

The answer is Bologna is a tough city to visit and Ravenna is a polished apple. Many of Bologna\u2019s beautiful arcades are defaced with graffiti making them look menacing, rather than graceful. \u00a0You know when you meet citizens wearing \u2018guardian angel\u2019 T shirts at night, all is not perfect in Dodge.<\/p>\n

The city has not restricted vehicle access to the city centre.\u00a0 There are large, articulated buses rumbling over the cobblestones as well as many trucks and cars, yet about half the street traffic is bicycles and motor-scooters.\u00a0 They are everywhere but their benefits are blunted by the vehicular traffic.<\/p>\n

The walk from the train station to Ravenna\u2019s city centre couldn\u2019t be easier. \u00a0You leave the station and walk straight down the street which faces the station. The walk from Bolgona\u2019s train station to Piazza Maggiore, Bologna\u2019s city centre is hard to figure out.\u00a0 Do not turn right. \u00a0A visitor cannot amble unconcernedly.\u00a0 Compared to Ravenna, the noise and traffic on Bologna\u2019s streets is disconcerting and the historic sites are not as easy to find.\u00a0 Even Dante\u2019s university must be tracked down clutching a map.\u00a0 In Ravenna, his tomb is impossible to miss. Ravenna is like a girl who doesn\u2019t have much but what she has is clear as a bell.\u00a0 Bologna is like Cinderella, always working, dressed shabbily, hair straggly but underneath all that straggle is the belle of the ball.<\/p>\n

photo by Marja van Bochove <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ravenna is only about an hour from Bologna by a slow train but what a difference an hour makes. Ravenna is a three star tourist city in line for the European Cultural Capital Award for which the competition is ferocious and for good reason.\u00a0 For that year, the award distinguishes a city beyond all othersContinue reading “Gritty Bologna is the Cinderella city”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7083,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5302],"tags":[3670,1508,485,3669,1055,1048,1814,3668],"class_list":["post-6244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-features","tag-bolognese-arcade","tag-cell-phones","tag-clive-doucet-on-cities","tag-dante-aligheri","tag-europe","tag-florence","tag-italy","tag-nicolo-machiavelli"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nGritty Bologna is the Cinderella city - Spacing Ottawa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gritty Bologna is the Cinderella city - Spacing Ottawa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ravenna is only about an hour from Bologna by a slow train but what a difference an hour makes. Ravenna is a three star tourist city in line for the European Cultural Capital Award for which the competition is ferocious and for good reason.\u00a0 For that year, the award distinguishes a city beyond all othersContinue reading "Gritty Bologna is the Cinderella city"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Ottawa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-07-21T15:11:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T14:07:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3299\/3313384886_99bb093107_z.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Clive Doucet\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Clive Doucet\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/\",\"name\":\"Gritty Bologna is the Cinderella city - Spacing Ottawa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3299\/3313384886_99bb093107_z.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2011-07-21T15:11:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T14:07:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/f6f9222a5f24c92459553e1b77795de2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3299\/3313384886_99bb093107_z.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3299\/3313384886_99bb093107_z.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/2011\/07\/21\/gritty-bologna-is-the-cinderella-city\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gritty Bologna is the Cinderella city\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Ottawa\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Ottawa Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/f6f9222a5f24c92459553e1b77795de2\",\"name\":\"Clive Doucet\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/ottawa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf3654c45b7a1c2f882df434aa7b5b1e?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/cf3654c45b7a1c2f882df434aa7b5b1e?s=96&d=identicon&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Clive Doucet\"},\"description\":\"Writer, philosopher, poet, athlete, politician -- Clive Doucet has been a renaissance man too interested in life\u2019s many possibilities to ever settle down \u2013- except for his passion for cities. 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