Where in the World is Sharon Daugherty2: A good day in Bologna

Today we did a bus tour of the city both in the old city and outside the many gates into the old town. The city outside is quite green and more modern, but still ha many porticoes and some really lovely big old homes along tree lined streets.

Porta Castiglione - one of the gates into the old city and one of the most vulnerable to attack from the south

Outside the old city is quite beautiful and lots of green space and lovely homes

View of the old city from San Michelle in Bosco

San Michele in Bosco is a religious complex including the church with the same name and the annexed Olivetan monastery. The latter was acquired in 1955 by the municipality of Bologna, to house an orthopedic center named the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute

Located on a hill not far from the city's historical center, the area housed monastic structures as early as the 4th century AD. In 1364 the Olivetans settled here by will of Pope Urban V. After the church was destroyed in 1430, they rebuilt it in different period, mostly finishing it by 1523. Gaspare Nadi was one of those who did work on it. The church has a Renaissance-style façade designed by Biagio Rossetti and his workshop, and a marble portal by Baldassarre Peruzzi. The interior has a nave with four side chapels, and a presbytery.

The large complex was expropriated during the Napoleonic era and later used as a "house of strength" for those sentenced to life imprisonment.

The Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute was established using a bequest left by the orthopedic surgeon Francesco Rizzoli in 1880. With this hospital Rizzoli wanted to achieve both the advancement of science and the relief of suffering humanity. The institute was inaugurated by the King Umberto I of Italy on 28 June 1896 as the Rizzoli Orthopaedic Institute, and for the next century was one of the best orthopedic hospitals in the world.

The train station. On August 2, 1980 a bomb exploded at the Central Railway Station of Bologna killing 85 people and wounding more than 200. The attack, which had been attributed to a neo-fascist group of terrorists, was considered to be the culmination of a decade of violence by right and left extremist groups.

The clock on the side of the wall, frozen at 10:25 AM, remains as a reminder of the attack.

Another of the old gates

a park

Porta Maggiore could be called the “Gate of honour” (“Porta d'onore”) because it has been standing on the old Roman road Via Emilia that goes towards Romagna region and many sovereigns and popes passed under this gate.

After the bus tour, we walked back to the Archinginnasio for a better look. It was on our walking tour, but not enough time to see everything. Glad we went back as the building is a beauty.

The Archiginnasio of Bologna is one of the most important buildings in the city of Bologna; once the main building of the University of Bologna, it currently houses theArchiginnasio Municipal Library.

The palace seen from the inner courtyard

When it was the main building of the iniversity, there were medical and law students attending classes here. They did not wish to mingle and therefore had separate entrances to the upper floor. Just a magnificent building.

The Doctor's entrance and stairway

The Lawyer"s entry and stairway

On the walls are many memorials to various doctor's and lawyers.

One for the doctors

The theater of Anatomy where anatomy was taught through dissection of corpses, was buillt in 1637 by Antonio Levanti.

The hall contains statues of famous ancient and Bolognese physicians and

The Lecturer's chair consists of canopy supported by two famous "skinless" statues, signed and dated by Ercole Lelli in 1734 but actually made, at least in large part, by Silvestro Gianotti, who also created 12 statues of physicians.

a figure of Apollo surrounded by symbols of heavenly constellations on the ceiling

Galen

A beautiful classroom

The very rich decoration of its walls, hallways, staircases and arches

are striking testimony to its historical glory

Monument to Cardinal Legate Fabrizio Savelli (1648)

Thousands of Coats of Arms of students all over the building

The fresco depicting the Virgin and Child is from 1569

One for the lawyers

Then on to the

Basilica of San Domenico

The church consists of a central nave, two lateral aisles, several side chapels, a transept, achoir and an apse. The interior was completely renewed in Baroque style with refined elegance and well-balanced proportions by the architect Carlo Francesco Dotti (1678–1759). In the lunettes above the Ionic columns along the nave we can see 10 paintings, depicting episodes (true and untrue) in the history of the church.

The Altar

The lunettes above the ionic columns

The paintings beautiful and vibrant

Rosary Chapel - The vivacious fresco on the vault (the Assumption) and in the apse (Heaven and Earth praising the Madonna of the Rosary) were painted between 1655 and 1657 by Angelo Michele Colonna(1600–1687) and by Agostino Mitelli (1609–1660).

Altar

Ceiling

Mystical Marriage of Saint Catherine by Filippino Lippi

St Dominic’s chapel : this is the main chapel of the church. It has a square plan and a semi-circular apse, where the remains of the saint rest in the splendid Arca di San Domenico under the cupola.