Page 138 - WINE DINE AND TRAVEL FALL 2024 SPAIN

Looking through the “canal window” at a vestige of the Reno Canal, which
served as a means of transport and energy beginning in the middle ages.

So comfortable is it that it has adopted have a long history of intellectualism, from
several nicknames bestowed on it, some of which they do not shrink.
them cynical. La Rossa is the best known, And then there is La Turrita, “The Tow-
for “The Red,” which originally referred to ered,” because Bologna has some of the
its blushing pink buildings, but later re- best surviving examples of medieval tow-
ferred to its left-leaning politics. So what, ers, which were a craze in pre-Renaissance
say Bologna residents. We are who we are. Italy. The leaning Tower of Pisa is the best
Then there is La Dotta, “The Learned,” known of these, but Bologna has two lean-
for the University of Bologna, which was ing towers that date to the early eleventh
founded in 1088 and is the oldest continu- century.
ously operating university in Europe, and Last and best is La Grassa, “The Fat,”
maybe the world. The city and university which Bologna embraces with a full stom-

138 WINE DINE & TRAVEL MAGAZINE FALL 2024