The Towers of Bologna

‘Il Due Torre’

Bologna reputedly used to have dozens and dozens of tall towers on its medieval skyline — not solely for defensive purposes, but just because, you know, it made you look good. Prestige rather than security. There are only a handful left now, and two in particular are on the tourist route – they’re known as the ‘Due Torre’ – the ‘Two Towers’.

Bologna: The Red City

Bologna.

Bologna is a surprise and delight. A city of about 500,000 people, between Florence and Milan on the main train line, and home of the oldest university in the world. It’s famous for its miles of porticoes and for its food.

Villa Rufolo

A tragic site?

A tragedy in 1283

At the end of June in the year 1283, things were not going well for a certain rich family from Ravello. Lorenzo Rufolo was beheaded at the Castel dell-Ovo in Naples, on the order of the Angevin prince Charles II. His father Matteo Rufolo was  in prison, the family riches were confiscated, and several other members of the family sentenced to death.

Venus, Juno, and Mars

In Palazzo Altemps.

Apologies if you’re just not that into ancient sculpture, but I discovered yet another treasure trove of it in Rome: Palazzo Altemps, on Via di S. Apollinare not far from the Tiber and Piazza Navona. I’m not sure how I could have missed this until now – it’s full of stupendous stuff. 

The Four Worlds of Basilica San Clemente

Basilica San Clemente, Rome: what you see is not all you get.

About half a kilometre from the Roman Coliseum is an crumbling old basilica dedicated to Pope Clemente I. It was built in the twelfth century – the Basilica San Clemente. It has some curious features, but none more curious than the fact that it is built almost precisely on top of a previous church dedicated to San Clemente.

The older church was built in the fourth century AD, and only discovered by a very curious digging monk named Fr. Joseph Mullooly who found it during the nineteenth century. He is fittingly buried beneath the altar in the preserved fourth century church.

The Pantheon and Ara Pacis

The Ara Pacis

You might not have heard of the Ara Pacis. But you will likely have heard of, or visited, The Pantheon. It’s one of my all-time favourite buildings. There’s something about the sheer scale, and the way it sits so ponderously and immovably, despite the tourists, souvenir vendors, taxis and rip-off restaurants that surround it. There it sits, a monument – nothing has ever deserved the name more. A monument to Agrippa, the great Augustan general; and to Roman engineering. It’s said that even if they tried, it would be very difficult for modern engineers to reproduce the building using the same materials and the same dimensions.

Last Judgement in Orvieto

Luca Signorelli’s frescoes of ‘The Last Judgement’ in the Cappella di San Brizio in the Duomo of Orvieto is claimed by some to equal or exceed Michelangelo’s famous version of that story painted on the end wall of the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. Having now been fortunate enough to see both, I’ll pick Signorelli’s work. Although Michelangelo’s Sistine ceiling is superb, I’ve always thought his ‘Last Judgement’ to be a bit over-rated – rather grim, a writhing and a creaking air to it (even considering that a pious Pope had someone later paint decorous bits of clothing over the naughty bits of the completely naked figures of Michelangelo). Signorelli’s frescoes have more lightness, and more narrative, I think. Recently restored, they have a freshness to the eye, and an absorbing narrative. I managed a crick on my neck from staring at them. Entrancing.

Spotting Spoleto

Spoleto’s impressive Duomo.

Lucrezia Borgia (maybe) Portrait of a Woman by Bartolomeo Veneto, traditionally assumed to be Lucrezia Borgia. (source)

Umbria: another day, another hill town. But this one – Spoleto – has a curious history – in 1499, the notorious Pope Alexander VI, the Borgia Pope, appointed his 19 year old daughter Lucrezia governor of the town. She acted in this capacity, apparently quite well, until 1502. Perhaps she lived in The Rocca, the castle on the hill, and reached it via the tall Ponte delle Torri, a bridge-cum-aquaduct…

In any event, whatever it was like in Lucrezia’s day, Spoleto is a charming town these days. Lots of narrow medieval streets, well preserved, the odd few Roman left overs (there’s an Arco di Druso that’s quite well-preserved). You can buy Umbrian wool and ceramics, and chic modern art pieces; or stop in cute trattorias or bars. You could, at the right time of the year, linger for Spoleto’s famous Summer Festival.

The Twin Benedictines and The Beer

The twin saints: Convent of the Monastero di S. Antonio Abate, Norcia

The town of Norcia, in Umbria, likes to remind its visitors that it is the birthplace of a great religious personage, Saint Benedict. Benedict was a very influential saint – his ‘Rules’ are generally accepted by most in the monastic movement. He spent a number of years as an eremo (hermit), then founded a great monastery at Monte Cassino, which lies on a hilltop between Rome and Naples. Today, San Benedetto himself stands atop a tall plinth looking over the central piazza of Norcia.

The Patron Saint of Lost Causes

Santa Rita souvenirs.

In the overwhelming task of figuring out the stories of the Roman Catholic saints – there are too many of them for one lifetime to be long enough – I occasionally come across a particularly revered saint. One such is Santa Rita, known as the patron saint of lost causes. If you have something really appalling to work on, Santa Rita is the gal – particularly if it’s connected with children or husbands, because unusually amongst saints (setting aside the Madonna herself, of course), Santa Rita had both.