But what we discovered there was not only the foods, but also a totally incredible town that was beautifully preserved. Driving into Bologna was a big undertake for not only the town center was close to traffic, but also it was completely "walled' by 4-5 storied buildings that along the time replaced the original city wall. The layout of the town was probably one of the most dramatic in Italy. All roads seem to radiate or converge (depends on where you are) from the main square Piazza Maggiore. Around the Piazza, there are massive monuments and famed fountains. Among them, San Petronio stood like a giant. Founded in 14th century, the brick church was intended to be larger than St Peter's in Rome. Then it was scaled down because the church authorities diverted the funds to the nearby Palazzos. This left the church in a compromised status that is still visible today. The top part of the front remains bare, lacking a facade and on the side, a row of columns are still waiting to support the additional aisles that never took place. It is said that this incident promoted Martin Luther turning against
Catholicism and subsequently founded protestant church. The interior of the church, though, is nothing but impressive. In the massive chamber, the rose and white marble reflects the lights in a magical way without any compromise whatsoever.
What we found the most interesting in Bologna was its two remaining medieval towers Torri degli Asinelli e Garisenda. We walked over to them one early morning. They sort of just rose up in a small square in the middle of the town. Their very existence is nothing but precarious. Dated back to 12th century, these two towers are among the few that remained out of the original hundreds built by noble families as defense towers but more as status symbols. 800 years passed, the towers miraculously survived the earthquakes, fires, looting and bombings. Yet the time definitely took on a big toll on them. They were twisted theatrically as if they were going to collapse at any moment. When we were there, a large restoration is underway. What we found extremely attractive about the towers was that they appeared completely contemporary to our eyes. Without any trace of ornament, they impressed soely with their minimalism shapes and timeless forms like two large abstract sculptures. We couldn't help wondering what the city looked like 8 centuries ago with hundreds of such towers standing, a miniature Manhattan maybe?
Our imagination was completely verified when we were in San Gimignano. One of the most enchanting towns we visited in Tuscany. If Bologna possessed the medieval twin towers, then San Gimignano owns a complete skyline. As a tiny hilltop town, its size cannot be compared to Bologna, yet within less than half acre, there are thirteen such towers piercing out of the roof line. We drove from Siena to see those towers through the Tuscany countryside. The rolling hills were playing hide and seek with us for the view of the town. At one curve, the town revealed itself for a couple of seconds with such a delusion that one would think of seeing NYC in a flash, then it was quickly erased by the cypresses and orchards.
Someone said if you wonder why a road in Tuscany curves just so, it's probably because the Tuscanians want it to. I wonder if that is true for San Gimignano. When they built the town ten centuries ago, what kind of impression they wanted to leave to the visitors coming from afar?
No comments:
Post a Comment