I was in two minds whether to write up this post. We arrived in Bologna around 3pm and starving. After checking into the hotel food was a priority and of course I opted for the towns namesake Bolongese. A massive bowl of pasta, with Brushetta to start, is not the best choice pre photo shoot though. 

As a result I hated pretty much all the outfit photos and the rest are not really up to scratch. I was clearly in an post lunch afternoon slump. The bottle wine probably didn’t help either. 
Bologna was such a lovely little city I couldn’t leave it out entirely. We only spent the night in Bologna as our main reason for the stop was to allow a trip to Maranello, birthplace of Ferrari. We got the train from Verona which only cost around €9 and took about an hour and a half. This gave us an afternoon and evening to explore. 

Unfortunately the area surrounding the main square, Piazza Maggiore, was undergoing some major works. As a result we were unable to climb the Asinelli Tower, fun fact it’s actually taller than its more popular cousin in Pisa. I even struggled to get a good photo due to the cordoned off areas, hopefully you can still see the significant lean. 

The Piazza Maggiore is simply stunning, surrounded by beautiful and important buildings on each side. The most famous being the unfinished Basilica of San Petrino, I’m standing in front of.  The plan was to make this the greatest church in the world, even outdoing St Peter’s in Rome. Not surprising the then Pope put a stop to that. I am pretty gutted I didn’t get to see the stunning interior but we arrived just as they were closing up. 

I must comment on the pretty impressive fountain, standard issue in Italian squares in seems, at one edge of the square. Impressive yes, though I’m not sure what those ladies around the bottom are doing? 

My favourite part of Bologna is the beautiful porticos which adorn almost every building. These were added to to outside of existing buildings to increase in capacity after an influx in population with the university  opening. The detail is stunning, far nicer than the monsterous student housing we build here. Even the badly run down one I got a photo in is still pretty. The rest were far to busy for photos and I’m not getting up at 6am for a good shot on holiday.