We took a italo treno ( train, this is the name of the private Italian train company ) as compared to Trenitalia , owned by the Italian government from  Venice to Bologna . The train ride was for 1 hr 45 mins . We stayed in an Airbnb which is quite quirky , centrally located in town.

Bologna is a medievel city. We walked to Piazza Magggiore where the main square is .

We decided to take a train ride around the city center , you know one of these highly touristic children- like train rides that only tourists will take.

Of course, need to buy balsimic vinegar though we did not go to Modena to do that. Instead we went to boutique balsimic producer Giusti , established in 1605 . Able to buy  two 400ml bottles as gifts and one 100 ml bottle for myself. Its pretty good for salads etc. We strolled around the city center. The town is actually quite old and as I said, quite medievel in achitecture . I am expecting Shakespear to pop out with ruffles and all !

We took a stroll and came across this Two Towers .

During medievel times , Bologna was an important pilgrimage and university city. There were actually dozens of towers in medieval Bologna — wealthy families built them partly as status symbols and fortified homes. The taller and more impressive your tower, the more important your family appeared. The leaning tower was mentioned in Dante’s inferno.

If you are like me who may have heard of Dante ( from Dan’s Brown books ) but have little idea who is, Dante is an Italian poet born in Florence in 1265 and died in 1321. Dante is influential because due to him and his poetry was  that of the  modern Italian language was derived at . Dante’s most famous poem was the Divine Comedy on his mythical journey of after life; Inferno ( Hell ) ,purgatory and Heaven ( Paradiso ). As such the leaning tower was mentioned in one part of the Divine Comedy , the inferno part as Dante was accompanied by Virgil at this part of his journey.

Who is virgil ?

Virgil — Virgil was a Roman poet who lived about 70–19 BC, roughly 1,300 years before Dante.

And this is where Dante gets clever.

🏛️ Virgil wrote the Aeneid
Virgil’s great epic poem, the Aeneid, tells the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero who travels to Italy and becomes an ancestor of the Romans.

The Romans considered Virgil one of their greatest poets.

🔥 Why is Virgil Dante’s guide?
In The Divine Comedy, Dante imagines himself travelling through Hell and Purgatory.

He chooses Virgil as his guide because Dante regarded him as the great master of poetry and classical wisdom.

So you have:

Dante (medieval Florence, ~1265–1321)
⬇️ guided by
Virgil (ancient Rome, ~70–19 BC)
⬇️ through
Hell → Purgatory

But Virgil cannot enter Paradise because he lived before Christianity. So when Dante reaches Paradise, Beatrice becomes his guide.

And that’s another fascinating part: Beatrice was a real woman Dante knew and loved from a distance, whom he transformed into a spiritual figure in his poetry.

So basically, Dante put an ancient Roman poet + his beloved Beatrice + himself into one enormous imaginary journey through the afterlife. So thats the story ! Read all of this !

Bologna is also famous for its porticoes ( covered walkaways ). The city has 62 km of it and is a designated UNESCO heritage site .I didn’t take too many photos of these porticoes but they are certaintly nice to walk on as its shady . Actually, its a more lived-in city unlike Venice hahaha.