Bologna; Sunday, 14 April, 2019

I had a bit of lie in and a late lunch before heading out to pick up the open-top bus from outside the hotel back to the Piazza Maggiore. There I changed onto the San Luca Express land train that took me from the city centre up to the San Luca Basilica high above the city. As we set off it was a bit grey and overcast, but I didn’t think much of it. By the time we arrived at the Basilica it was raining and the city rather than being beautifully displayed beneath the Basilica was in fact hidden in a grey murk of cloud.

I had a bit of a look around the basilica, but the weather didn’t show any sign of changing soon so instead I headed back to the stop for the land train and caught it back down to the Piazza Maggiore.

By now the rain had changed from a continuous drizzle to frequent heavy showers, but thankfully one of the key sights of Bologna are the miles of colonnades that line almost every street, meaning its possible to get around large parts of the city sightseeing, without actually getting wet.

After having a long wander I found myself back in the Piazza Maggiore and decided, as there was a pause in the showers, to break cover from the colonnades and head across the square to the Basilica di San Petronio located in the centre.

I spent quite a bit of time looking round this spectacular church before exiting back into another beefy shower that I had to dash through to get back to cover without getting completely soaked.

From the Piazza Maggiore I wandered through the old town to the Basilica of Santo Stefano. This is in fact seven different churches, of different ages, that have been merged together into a single – slightly odd, architecturally – complex.

By the time I’d finished looking round the Basilica the rain had finally stopped so I was able to wander back to the Piazza Maggiore and sit at one of the square side tables to have a well deserved and very late lunch, whilst I watched the world go by.

I finished up just in time to catch the last open-top tour of the night back round to my hotel where I was able to freshen up before heading back out for a light dinner, given lunch had been barely 3 hours previously, and then back to the hotel with my stomach topped back up to full.