Following Michelangelo: Bologna and Verona (7/15/1983)

Friday, July 15, 1983

Today we had a leisurely breakfast, then checked out of the hotel about 9:00. We were told the room would cost 54,000 ITL$35 per night, and had to send in a deposit of 55, 300 ITL/$36. It turns out the actual cost was 54,300 ITL/$35.20. Including the cost of the drink from the refrigerator, the total came to 174,900/$113.70 plus the deposit, a grand total of $230,600 ITL/$150 for four nights. Whereas the YMCA in Rome was our cheap hotel at about $25/night, this was our splurge at $36/night.

Hotel Paris bill

We went to the train station to catch the 9:50 train to Bologna. It had an air-conditioned First Class car from Austria (the train was headed to Vienna), so we rode in comfort even though the train was a half hour late! Our compartment included a Philippine couple on their way to Venice, and an old Hemingway-type American who spoke Italian with his seatmate, a real Italian. They talked of strikes. The Italian had been to Oklahoma for six months, and was most impressed by Juarez, where the U.S. and Mexico were like night and day.

Arrived about 11:30 and having dozed off, we missed seeing the Madonna di San Luca church on a hill outside Bologna, but connected to the city with a portico/arcade of 666 arches. We checked our bags in the train station and headed out into the big modern city. We cut through a modern building with shops on the ground floor, including a fast-food restaurant called Ping Pong. We followed the arcaded Via dell’Indipendenza. There were these arcades everywhere, and the law states they must be high enough to allow a man on horseback to pass through! They were certainly high enough! We came to Piazza del Nettuno with the fountain by Giambologna, and its giant bronze Neptune, suggesting the rough vigor of Bologna. On one side of the square was the Palazzo Comunale with a façade of structures from various periods. To the left was the 13C arcaded. In the center was the 16C building with a doorway by Alessi topped by a Mengali bronze statue of Pope Gregory XIII (born in Bologna and reformed the calendar). Above and to the left of the doorway was to be a terracotta Virgin and Child by Nicola dell’Arca, but that area was covered in scaffolding. To the right was the 15C Gothic façade with twin-bay mullioned windows. We entered and crossed the courtyard diagonally to a gently sloping staircase that horses once climbed. We went up two flights to the Farnese chamber with an inscription of Napoleon III’s proclamation to the Italians. We continued to the Galleria Comunale and Museum that was free, but we had to check our bags. We saw frescoed rooms and lots of paintings, many by “big” names. There were some statues, and several rooms with period furniture. One large room was painted with coats of arms. We found the Medici pills on one coat of arms.

After leaving, we noted the Gothic Palazzo dei Notai on the right, and beyond was the Basilica di San Petronio on Piazza Maggiore. Only the nave of the huge Gothic cathedral had been built. The lower façade was of “red” and white marble and the upper part hadn’t been faced with marble yet. The main doorway was by Jacopo della Quercia. On the tympanum sat the Virgin and Child between Sts Petronia and Ambrogio. The door frame had bas reliefs of Scenes from the Old and New Testaments and we noted the Adam and Eve reliefs. Inside to the left we found the fresco of the Martyrdom of San Sebastian by Giovanni da Modena in the fourth chapel. In the fifth was a floor of regional Faenza tiles/ceramics. In the seventh chapel was a Madonna by Lorenzo Costa from Ferrara and the tomb of Napoleon’s sister Eliza. On this side of the church, a sundial was marked out on the floor, the largest in Italy. Above us was the small hole that let in the sunlight for the sundial, but it was turned off today! It is here that the Council of Trent was held, where the Pope gave Italy to France. Legend states that Martin Luther became disgusted with the church while attending this council.

We crossed Piazza Maggiore with the Governor’s Palace designed by Aristotile Fioravante, who also designed the Kremlin’s Church of the Assumption. The Renaissance façade had arcades with Corinthian columns surmounted by a balustrade. The attic had oculi/small round windows. We went behind it to Palazzo Re Enzo facing Piazza del Nettuno. We peeked at the inner courtyard that was undergoing reconstruction. The staircase wasn’t so magnificent.

We then walked down Via Ugo Bassi, through arcades, to Piazza di Porta Ravegnana where seven streets converge in the medieval quarter. We saw the brick leaning towers of noble rival families.

Torre di Garisenda an
 Campanile di Santa Cristina

The taller one did not tilt as much and was built by the Asinelli family. The smaller one tilted much more, its poor foundation more obvious, and was built by the Garisenda family.

Torre di Garisenda and
Torre di Asinelli

To the right was the Renaissance Palazzo della Mercanzia/Merchants, with coats of arms of the guilds in the frieze. Beneath a balcony is a statue of Justice. Here court judgments and bankruptcies were announced.

We headed back to the San Domenico church, arriving in a side square to see horse and carriages. There were also a couple tombs held up on columns. We came to the front of the church and noticed all these people in 1920s costumes. A vintage car was moving along with a camera perched above it; a movie was being filmed. The actors were across the front of the church, so we tried to go in a side door, but it was locked. When the filming crew seemed to be taking a break, we went in the front door. The sixth chapel on the right held the tomb of San Domenico where Nicola Pisano did the bas reliefs of his life. Above was the arch designed by Niccolò da Bari, afterwards known as Niccolò dell’Arca.

Michelangelo's Angel on the lower corner

Michelangelo did the kneeling angel on the right, holding a candle, and St Proculus, the virile warrior to the far right, and St Petronius protecting Bologna (holding a model of the city?). It was hard to see the inlaid stalls in the chancel. We left the church, stepping over picnicking actors.

We walked down the arcaded Via Farina to Via Santo Stefano. At Piazza Santo Stefano was the Basilica Di Santa Stefano which is made up of several churches; on the far left was Sts Vitale & Agricola, in the center the Basilica del Sepolcro/Holy Sepulchre, where Petronius is buried, and to the right the Trinità. It was closed, so we were unable to see the basin in which Pontius Pilate supposedly washed his hands of responsibility of the verdict of Christ. San Giacomo Maggiore on Via Zamboni was also closed. We noted that all the major streets were arcaded. We headed over to Piazza dell’8 Agosto, where a huge market was underway. After wandering through several aisles, we went back to Piazza dell’Indipendenza to the Ping Pong restaurant for lunch.

Ping Pong lunch receipt

We had a 10-minute wait for our fish sandwich and chicken. Fast food, indeed… My fish sandwich had two fish sticks, and Marsha had unidentifiable chunks of dark meat. The fries were not great. I did have a very chocolate milk shake.

We returned to the train station to use the restroom, buy postcards, and retrieve our luggage.

Baggage check ticket

We caught the 16:05 train to Verona, arriving about 18:00. We first searched for a tourist bureau and/or the Help for Young Women bureau. We found the latter and when I asked about lodging, the old lady asked if I wanted a hotel. If possible, so she took us outside to a board listing hotels. I thought this bureau could help with any kind of lodging, and asked about a youth hostel. The old lady decided to help us a little more, and pulled out a directory that included prices. She pointed out a few good ones in the price range of 20-30,000 ITL/$13-19.50. But we just wanted the youth hostel at 8,000 ITL/$5 per person. I had come to the bureau because I was afraid that the hostel/hotels might be booked, and didn’t want to waste our time and energy going from place to place. The lady said she would call the hostel to see if they had room. Thank goodness! But then she asked for the gettone/token to make the call! What was the phone on her desk for? I gave her 100 ITL/7 cents and she left. She came back saying to hurry, they only had two beds left. She gave us directions, telling us to take bus #2 to Piazza dell’Erbe, then ask directions to Via Pigna.

Directions to the youth hostel

 So we bought a couple bus tickets for 400 ITL/25 cents each.

Verona bus ticket

We waited and waited for a bus, worrying about the need to hurry. Finally the bus came and took us into the heart of Verona. We got off in the tiny Piazza dell’Erbe, which had a busy market. We walked to one end of the square to a policeman who was giving someone else directions. We waited our turn, then were told to go to the opposite end of the square, turn right, then left, and ask again! So we walked through the market again, where one stall sold birds, and went right, then left. After a block, I asked a lady who told me it was the next street farther. So we found the Casa delle Giovane at Via Pigna #7. The door was bare and locked, but I found a doorbell. There was an intercom speaker and we were asked our business, so I explained that we asked at the train station and were told there were two beds. We were buzzed in, and entered a courtyard to walk up to the second floor. A lady took our passports, and asked if we could come back later as she was alone, and someone had to show us to the room. But she ended up finding a kitchen helper to mind the office as she took us the winding way to a room on the third floor. The room itself was two stories, and we were shown the beds on the lower floor. The lady came back and told us we could have the upper beds if we wished. We did so wish, because the open windows afforded a breeze up there. We had been given sheets and a pillowcase, so we set about making up two of the three beds on the upper level. We had a great view over the rooftops of Verona.

View from hostel of the Duomo/Cathedral

View from the hostel with the Sant'Anastasia campanile

We were also given the rules of the house, in English, that indicated we should pay upon admittance.

Hostel regulations

So after washing up, we went down to pay our 8,000 ITL/$5. Then let ourselves out of the wooden door in the courtyard to head back to Piazza dell’Erbe. The sidewalks were generally made with pinkish stone. This square seemed too small to once have been a forum for chariot races. The fruit and flower market was still in business. At one end was the Palazzo Maffei with the Torre/Tower Gardello to its left. Down along the right was the medieval Domus Mercatorum/Merchant House crowned with battlements. On the left were the houses of Mazzante with painted façades, and the Torre Lamberti to its right. Among the market stalls we found the Venetian column topped by the Lion of St Mark, then a fountain with a Roman statue known as the Madonna of Verona, a structure that looked like a small gazebo on four columns, the Capitello, for proclaiming decrees and sentences, and finally a column with a relief of the Virgin Mary.

We continued down Via Capello to #23, where we entered a courtyard. This was considered to be the house of the Capulets, which was Juliet’s family in “Romeo and Juliet.” A statue of Giulietta/Juliet stood below a balcony, and a plaque on the wall had a Shakespeare quote in Italian and English. “What light through yonder window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun! It is my lady. O, it is my love!”

Courtyard of "Juliet's house"
with statue and balcony

"Juliet's balcony"

Another guidebook gave directions to Juliet’s house on Via Crocioni on Piazza Viviani, but we couldn’t find those places on our inadequate map (N.B. the wrong information, anyway!). Thus, we were unable to find Via Trota to take us to what is considered Romeo’s house at Casa Montecchi/Montague!

We went back in search of Piazza dei Signori, and turned too soon off Piazza dell’Erbe. We found ourselves in a courtyard where nothing corresponded to the description. We went one block over, and found the correct square. Looking back at the arch (Arco della Costa/Arch of the Rib) we entered, we saw that the whale rib bone does hang there! There were no pigeons or children in the square, but Dante was there in the center. On the side from which we had come was the town hall with the brick and stone Lamberti Tower and its octagonal summit. Connected by an arch, the Law Courts kept its Renaissance courtyard well hidden. On the far side of Piazza dei Signori was the former residence of the Scaligeri family with a classical doorway. To the left was the arcaded Loggia del Consiglio, the purest Renaissance building in Verona. Up near the left corner we climbed the five pink marble steps to a tiny Piazza Mazzanti with a pink marble well and old houses with balconies.

Piazza Mazzanti with well

One had an outside stairway. We exited Piazza dei Signori opposite to the whale rib to find the tombs of the Scaligeris. The sarcophagi were held high on columns and had the family coat of arms, including a ladder. The two largest and tallest tombs belonged to Mastino II and Consignorio, and both were Gothic with marble balustrades and wrought iron grilles. Over the door of the church of Santa Maria Antica was the tomb of Cangrande I. On the summit of the church was an equestrian statue of him. The other two tombs also were topped with equestrian statues. We walked across the street into a courtyard of the former residence of the Scaligeris, which had an even nicer pink marble well. We returned to the Piazza dei Signori to find a table at an outdoor café of a pizzeria, the Impero. I had spaghetti carbonara, which had regular ham in it. Marsha had a calzone. Later an accordionist came out to play show tunes. Our bill was only 9,900 ITL/$6.45.

Impero Pizzeria dinner bill      

We returned to the Casa delle Giovane by 21:00 and stated our names in the intercom to gain admittance. We were taken to our tower room where two girls had taken the lower two beds. The showers could be used until 22:00. There were no lamps in the room, and the girls below us went to sleep. Marsha went to the bathroom to read, while I sat and admired the view from our window. Someone in a room near us had a television, and it was pretty loud. It was breezy cool.