Laurels

We decided to have a slow day today after yesterday’s trip to Venice and got up later and had some breakfast before walking over to the University at Palazzo Bo. It was again a warm but cloudy day, and although every now and again there were some spots of rain it was never enough to bother with an umbrella (rather annoying to see its sunny with 20-25degrees back in Scotland mind you!).still, didn’t really matter as we spent a lot of the day indoors, starting with a tour of the main university building which was fascinating and very beautiful. Founded in 1222 by professors and students escaping Bologna to establish a university with academic freedom at its heart (Universa Universis Patavina Libertas.is the motto). We saw Galileo’s podium from which he lectured - and one of his vertebrae! - and a very knowledgeable tour guide/student told us lots about the self-aggrandising Deans, the power of students and the balancing of freedom with salary levels that all sounded rather familiar! We also squashed into the first ever permanent dissection/anatomy room and heard about how these were done, only in the winter, with the viewing areas narrow and high enough to stop fainting student observers falling onto the corpse.
There were a series of young people adorned with laurel wreaths having photos taken in the quad and then sitting with family in the local cafes and wandering with groups of friends around the city today…presumably graduation related. Lovely to see so many of them having such a great day and celebrating together.
After the tour finished we went down to the Piazza delle Erbe to get a porchetta sandwich from the stall we’d seen on a programme last night. It was stuffed full of meltingly delicious roast pork, although K thought it needed some apple sauce! We ate that as we watched the flower seller pack up her stall and with pigeons rather too close to our feet hoovering up the crumbs. We’d slightly mistimed our wander round the city as of course after lunch lots of things close but we were pleased to use the time to go and do some more visits. We started by going upstairs from the market to the Palazzo della Ragione which was an incredibly huge space that used to be the civic and legal centre of the city. The enormous arched wooden roof was breathtaking and there were frescoes around all the walls depicting local trades and activities at different times of the year, along with saints and with various angels and animals thrown in for good measure! Apparently Giotto originally painted the frescoes here but there was a fire in 1427 which destroyed those and they were later replaced by the ones we see now.
When we visited there was a rather strange exhibition by Yoko Ono there which was made of very many roughly hewn coffins, each with an olive tree growing out of the head end, lined up in formation, with speakers around which were playing birdsong… There was also a very large wooden horse statue, a renaissance made one that was inspired by the Donatello Gattameleta statue outside the Basilica elsewhere in the town. We spent quite a while there, then went on to visit the Baptistry of the cathedral. Once again it started with a video explaining the history and format of what we’d see, then we went into the richly decorated space….once again it was breathtaking! Beautifully detailed frescoes by Menabuoi done around 1375, very similar in style to Giotto who I think he trained under. We had an audio guide and spent a good amount of time there learning about the frescoes but also the family that commissioned them, planning for this to be their mausoleum but whose graves were moved later by the Venetians.
We decided to go for a tea and cake and thought we’d try Cafe Pedrocchi which is the most famous one in the city but it felt a bit disorganised and not quite what we’d expected so instead we walked over to one where we’d seen people eating the famous Pazientina chocolate cake the other day and shared one between us. It’s layered pastry, almond sponge and zabaglione cream covered in sheets of moulded chocolate. Rather lovely, although very rich!
From there we walked down to St Anthony’s Basilica…an enormous domed church with beautifully decorated areas and housing St Anthony’s tomb (surrounded by photos of lost people that their relatives are hoping to find) as well as very many relics of him and other saints, housed in incredibly ornate gold cases.
We wandered around there then headed back to the main central area and stopped in a bar for some aperitivi, watching the world go by with more groups of graduates celebrating and spotting just how many faces look like they’ve just stepped out of the frescoes we’ve been looking at…something about the young men’s curly hair and the women’s eyes and the shape of their noses.
We toyed with going out for dinner, and looked at some menus of places, but in the end bought some pasta, mushrooms and cream and took them home to make our own supper…and very delicious it was too!
The evening was once again spent thinking what we might do tomorrow….not sure! Another great day.