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The Walk to San Luca

This week I wanted to write about a walk we did before lockdown. I have been holding on to it because it was not possible to do the walk and I didn’t want to be irresponsible by appearing as if I was breaking the lock down. We completed this walk on 28th February and when we reached the top they were just closing the church because of the virus and it remains closed. However, now you are able to walk up to the church again and for many people the walk up to San Luca is part of a regular exercise routine.

What is San Luca?

For those who have not been to Bologna, San Luca is the church on the hill (Colle della Guardia) overlooking the city. It has been the symbol of Bologna for centuries and is still a place of worship and pilgrimage. There has been a church on the site for almost a thousand years and the current church was built by Carlo Francesco Dotti between 1723 and 1757. The two external stands were completed by his son Giovanni Giacomo in 1774. Since 1433 there been an annual Ascension week procession carrying the Byzantine Madonna and child down from San Luca to the cathedral.  According to tradition The Mother and Child was brought to Bologna by a Byzantine pilgrim in the 12th Century, with the first church being built on the site that same century. The portico San Luca was built to protect the pilgrims and the procession from the weather and was started in 1674 and completed in 1793.

There are some incredible views from the grounds, but when the church is open you can give a donation and climb the stairs inside to the panoramic viewing platform. NB take smaller notes or loose coins as they do not give change. The church itself is beautiful and has some fantastic art so it’s well worth a visit.

How do I get there?

I recommend walking, you can google a map to Porta Saragozza from wherever you are in the city. However if the walk seems like too much or you don’t have time you can get tickets for either the San Luca Express which is a little road train or the jump on/jump off open topped tourist bus both from Piazza Maggiore. Jess and I took the little train to the top on her first visit with us last year and it’s a good way to see the city, but be warned, it does not have a lot of suspension and some Bolognese streets are cobbled. If you want more info you can find it here at Bologna Welcome

The longest portico in the world

Bologna’s porticos cover a large proportion of the city centre. If you are going to San Luca from Piazza Maggiore it is possible to walk under porticoes for most of the route. The porticos of Bologna were nominated as a World Heritage site in 2019.  However, the 666 arches of the official portico San Luca start at Porta Saragozza. This is a very impressive porta on a busy intersection. It is reportedly the longest continuous portico in the world. It is almost 3.5km long and nearly all of it is uphill, however because of the portico structure it does offer some of the most beautiful views of the surroundings while you ascend, winding around the hill. The porticos also provide shelter from both the sun and the rain which is great because Bologna is known for both.

  • Section of the portico

The views from the walk

You start with a view over the stadium, but with the view opening out as you climb higher. There are chapels along the route as well as paintings. Some of the arches still retain painted ceilings, so it is worth keeping your eyes on the porticos themselves as well as on the view outside. Here are the photos we took in February, as is typical in Bologna there was a haze on the city so we didn’t get as many photos as we would have liked. If you were to go at the moment you might find much of the haze has gone thanks to lockdown.

The restaurant at the top

When Al and I did this walk we did it so that we would reach the top at lunchtime, obviously. If you go to the road behind the church and walk a little way along there is a lovely restaurant Vita a San Luca. We ordered from their seasonal pasta menu and we were not disappointed, although we have since been told that their pizzas are also fantastic and it is considered one of the best pizza places in the city. As you might expect from the location they are well equipped for tourists, however they are also accommodating for those attempting the language. I felt like I wanted to eat everything and there was a good wine list. We felt that we had earned our lunch with the walk so we also had desert. The only downside is that there are not really views as the restaurant is tucked into the hill, however the interior is fairly unique and an experience itself. We will certainly be returning here and it’s a good excuse to make the walk.

One of the dishes we ate

Things to note

There is nowhere to get anything to eat or drink from Porta Saragozza to the Church. At the church there is only a water fountain and a coffee vending machine. Vita a San Luca is the only restaurant at the top and although it has a lot of seats it is usually busy, so you could be disappointed or have to wait for a table. If you are planning on picnicking, you need to either bring something with you or stop and get something at one of the many bars, cafes and shops on the way to the Porte. In places the walk is quite steep and you can get warm so you need to dress appropriately. Expect it to be busy on fine days and don’t be surprised if you are huffing and puffing at the end of a section only to be overtaken by a running nonna (grandma).

Portico section
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Bologna Art Week

What is art week?

As Bologna is a city with a lot of galleries and art events  I was pleasantly surprised to find there was a dedicated Bologna Art Week too. It was from 17th to the 26th January and was a collaboration between a number of organisations including the Municipality of Bologna, MamBO (Modern Art Museum Bologna) and Arte Fiera. This year was the 8th Art week and saw more than 57,000 pieces exhibited[1].

There were hundreds of events across a wide variety of galleries, non-profit, artist run and unconventional spaces and included a “White night” on January 26th. Usually, in Italian, a white night means a night where you are not able to sleep. However, happily this “White night” is where galleries and museums were open until midnight. This was to allow people who struggle to get to galleries and museums during traditional opening hours a chance to go. I think this is a great idea and I don’t know how many galleries or museums do this, in other places, but I will definitely be keeping my eye out.

Bologna Welcome

To find out what was happening in Art Week, we turned to our trusty friend the Bologna Welcome site. As we had limited time when we were both free we wanted to maximise the bang for our buck. So, rather then go to several different events in separate locations we decided to go to one big event at Bologna Fiera, which is a massive conference centre on the outskirts of Bologna.

At the end of last year we decided to get Bologna Welcome cards. This is a card provided by the Bologna Welcome centre and with it you can access many galleries, exhibitions and attractions either for free or at a discount. We bought annual cards but they also do short term cards for tourists and visitors. Check out their site for full details (link above). We were expecting to get a discount at Bologna Fiera, but on the day we were ushered through for free just by flashing the cards.

Arte Fiera

We drove to the exhibition because we knew it was on the other side of town, but when we arrived we discovered there was a free shuttle bus from the centre, which we should have researched better. However, we arrived at the venue in time for a spot of lunch at the Eataly pop up and then went into the exhibition. There were two enormous halls hosting this exhibition so to begin with we were a little overwhelmed and unsure where to start. Both halls had exhibition spaces organised by Gallery with a sign to indicate the gallery name and location. There was a mixture of Italian and International galleries. I will shush now and let the art do the talking. As usual terrible photos by me, good ones “borrowed” from Al.

  • Gallery spaces and labels
  • Can you spot the egg
Some highlights from our visit

To get more info and photos check out their site Arte Fiera

Art Week Bologna 2021

It looks like its all systems go for the 9th Bologna Art week in 2021 and I would recommend checking it out if your visit coincides with Art Week or if you are lucky enough to plan your trips around art events.

[1] ‘ART CITY Bologna 2020 – Bologna Agenda Cultura’ (Agenda.comune.bologna.it, 2020) <http://agenda.comune.bologna.it/cultura/artcity> accessed 21 February 2020

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Dozza

view from Dozza

Pronounced Dotsa

In the hills of Emilia Romagna

Last Friday was one of the rarest of all days. A day where both Al and I had the whole day off. We decided to celebrate by getting into the car and travelling out to one of the nearby towns. Since we moved here we have explored the city but not the nearby countryside. Often when we asked people where was good to go, they would reply simply “colli” which means the hills and refers to those that surround the dip in which Bologna sits. We had received recommendations for the various highlights, panoramas and not to be missed food spots but we had not managed to get to any of them.

For our unexpected trip Al chose a village between here and Imola so that we would not spend too long travelling, but we would have a chance to enjoy the scenic countryside, which was not disappointing. One of the things that stands out for me is how open the land here is. I was aware that hedgerows were a feature of the English countryside but I had not really thought about what farmland without hedgerows looked like. There are vast fields wearing the colours of their various harvests and states of cultivation, like patchwork, with houses and farm buildings dotted about, stretching all the way to the horizon with only the occasional tree or patch of woodland. Here you might find any combination of agricultural activity side by side such as a small vineyard next to a freshly ploughed cereal field with only an irrigation ditch to separate them.

We have been lucky with the weather with temperatures reaching into the twenties in the day but dropping to a more comfortable sleeping temperature in the evenings, largely fine sunny days, with about one day of rain a fortnight. We have been told these high temperatures are not typical for this time of year and are above the seasonal average. On this particular day it was relatively warm (20c) but it was cloudy and rain was forecast.

What we knew about Dozza

All that we knew about Dozza what was on the Taste Bologna site recommending the visit, so we knew that it was a small medieval town at the top of a hill, with a castle called Rocca Sforzesca and an art biennale (festival every two years), which had been running since the 60’s, when artists are invited to contribute. We knew that the castle had a winery in the cellar that was run by the local wine promotion board. We also knew that there would be good food.

The Rocca Sforzesca at Dozza

What we found when we got there

The biennale is called “Muro Dipinto” which translates as “Painted Wall” but this does not adequately describe what you see in this incredible place. We arrived just before the castle and used the local free car park, walking to the crest of the hill on which it sits. The ancient village consists of a few streets behind the castle and as you make your way through you see that every wall has art on it, full scale pieces that take up the entire side or frontage of buildings or a series of smaller pieces all completed over the decades, thus creating an open air art gallery.

Each piece has a small plaque detailing when the piece was created and by who. As you can imagine, different paint and application techniques age differently left open to the ravages of time and weather so there is a combination of murals from the 60’s that look as though they could have been painted in the September biennale just gone and others over more recent years that have almost completely faded away. A full list of all the artworks is available from their official site (see link above).

We have read that this is still not a known tourist spot despite being only 35mins drive from Bologna. This chimes well with our experience as there was only us and a couple of girls taking selfies when we visited and you do need a car to get there. There aren’t any tourist shops, just the usual small independent shops, such as coffee bars, pasta shops, butchers etc. Probably there are a few more galleries than your typical village of less than 10,000 residents, but otherwise it is remarkably typical of the area.

Gallery of photos from our visit

I have included the photos from our visit but I have haven’t tagged whether they are mine or Al’s. As usual just assume that the well framed ones in focus are Al’s.

Where we ate

Obviously, being us, we managed to time our visit with lunch. We had spent the previous three days eating and drinking well while we showed Al’s parents around Bologna so we had vowed that we would only have something light, like a sandwich or simple bowl of pasta. We were hungry and looked at a few menus and picked a recommended place that was perched on the side of the village so the terrace, where you were seated to eat, had views across the valley. The restaurant was Cané

The view was breath takingly beautiful and the service formal and old fashioned, but also friendly and welcoming. The waiter brought the standard menu and the tasting menus and, quite frankly, we thought why not? We did not regret it. To eat in such an incredible location, with such expertly cooked local produce was a joy and the price was reasonable too.

  • The Meat tasting menu
  • Local wine by the half bottle!
  • Carpaccio of beef with tomato and rocket salad
  • Cané’s house tortelloni
  • Grilled lamb with Sicillian tomatoes
  • Dessert

It is hard to overstate how amazing this piece of lamb, expertly cooked and accompanied only by a wedge of lemon, piece of lettuce and some incredible grilled tomatoes was. Its emblematic of what I love about Italian food. Great produce, simply cooked.

As we were here it would have been rude not to check in on the winery so after lunch we headed back towards the castle. The winery is in the extensive cellars and there was a lot to choose from. It was a great venue and had a beautiful tasting area/restaurant, although this was not open when we visited. The most famous local red grape is Sangiovese so we decided to take this opportunity to pick up a good bottle. I picked one purely because it was called “You’ll never walk alone” while we were more scientific with our second choice, having researched good years for Sangiovese and agreed a ceiling price. This bottle will probably form part of our Christmas table this year so I’ll keep you posted on whether we chose well or not.