Portico defined – a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cultures.
Okay – got that out of the way. Why talk about porticoes? They are everywhere in the city center.
They are part of the culture and architectural heritage of Bologna. No other city in the world has as many. They were built to increase living spaces, with the added benefit of a covering in possible inclement weather or the hot Italian sun.
Within the historic center they cover 24 miles. If you include outside of the medieval city walls now you’re talking 33 miles. The first evidence dates to 1041 and were originally wooden. In the mid 1500s brick or stone took over construction.
A portico featured prominently for one of our ‘walks’. The Sanctuary of Madonna di San Luca is a symbol of Bologna and sited atop a forested hill. The church is the most important sanctuary in the civil and religious history of the city.
I had read about it before embarking on our travels and thought the ‘walk’ would be a good memory. Little did I know……….
One of our last free mornings, we started the journey – early. Yep, we’re still walking through Bologna to get to the climb – no one is around.
Walked through one of the city gates before the true start of our trek.
This was created so that traffic didn’t interfere with the journey to the top. In my mind, it signaled the beginning.
This portico has +600 archways and is the longest in the world at 3.8 km and 666 arches.
Walking to the church on top was considered a pilgrimage that started in the 12th century. More on that in a minute. We walk. Yes, that is Adrienne ahead of me.
And walk.
Add in a little construction – now I know why the pathway is so smooth.
And walk more.
What I don’t have a photo of is the stairs, stairs and more stairs that continue forever. And yes, the last bit of the journey before reaching the top, is more stairs. She’s an athlete, I am not. The joke for the remainder of the trip was ‘She tried to kill me’ with the climb. My legs hurt right now as I’m typing this post. I’m not lying – it was tough. Towards the end, my stopping to catch my breath…….and rest my legs……….was getting tiresome.
Telling my story to friends when I got home about walking to the top, apparently, it’s a ‘thing’ for those that know Bologna. Even now in today’s age, it is considered a pilgrimage to make it to the top. Okay, it WAS worth it.
The round part of the building was open when we arrived and the only space available for us to explore. Why was this church here? A church as a chapel has existed on this hill for about 1000 years. The current building was built in the 18th century to replace the 15th century construction.
Inside nuns were reciting their prayers.
The dome………
A side chapel…….
Tradition holds that in the 12th century, a pilgrim from the Byzantine Empire came to Bologna with an icon of the Virgin of Madonna and child, from a temple in Constantinople. A pilgrimage occurs during Ascension week.
Another bonus was the view of the Italian countryside.
Along with a hilltop view of Bologna.
It was time to go back down to the city to tell my husband ‘She tried to kill me’.
As we retraced our steps, a number of the shop fronts were not open but they chose an additional way to advertise their business on the metal grating covering their storefront. Cute.
We both chuckled when we walked past this business. It wasn’t the first time, nor the last time we saw a bit of Disney.
Ginny
Oh yeah, whose idea was it to go up – mine, as Adrienne continued to remind me.