It is difficult to explain Bologna to foreigners. How do you explain a perimeter of red bricks and green hills? How do you explain the porticos? How do you explain the green shutters, the cobblestones, and the swarms of bikes? How do you explain the perfection of a tortellino? How do you explain the gluttony and the "fatness" of the soul? How do you explain the secular culture, the books, the professors that roam in packs?
And the smells. Oh, the smells… The perfume of fine charcuterie pervading the medieval market. Turn around the corner and suddenly the smell of freshly made beef stock will guide you to a mouth-watering restaurant. And then chestnuts. The basswoods. The Margherita Gardens, the Talon Park. How do you explain the thousands of smells that hit you during a Vespa ride?
How do you explain life? A life lived here, in this city? You can only live it and you can't escape Bologna. You can’t escape the melodies of centuries-old violins, the inebriated Friday-night choruses, or the vibrant saxophone notes that meander among the columns. They will be intertwined with your soul as long as you'll live.
If cities are like women, then Bologna is a lady in an ochre dress. A lady with sprightly skin who has been sipping Lambrusco until late at night, a lady who has been eating crescentine and tigelle since she was a child, and throughout the years all that heavenly food ended up there, in her hips.
After all, who cares, if she is a little chubby. She is as beautiful as the sun with that flowery and lush bosom, full and delightful. She wears that skirt with that slit that does not hide the flab but makes it cheekily wiggle. And if it is a little flaccid it doesn’t really matter... My Bologna is a sweaty, erotic, and poetic lady. Young and ancient, full of potholes, porticos, pebbles, and hills.
Bologna's Arcades
The arcades of Bologna represent an important architectural and cultural heritage for the city and are its symbol along with the numerous towers. There is no other city in the world that has as many arcades as Bologna: all together the arcades measure more than 91 kilometers in length.
The arcades of Bologna were born almost spontaneously, probably in the early Middle Ages, as a projection (at the beginning illegal) of private buildings on public land in order to increase the living spaces. The first historical testimony dates back to the year 1041. In the first period, the volume of the houses was increased by extending the upper floors with the creation of wooden projections supported by the extension of the supporting beams of the floor and - in the case of a strong overhang - by shelves called "beccadelli". Over time the projections increased in size and it was necessary to build support columns from below to prevent them from collapsing, thus creating the arcades.
