Playing the tourist – Part 2
Friday, June 13th, 2014
I have often gone through or past the Piazza Santo Stefano. It’s one that’s made up mostly of relatively uniformly sized small stones that are hard to walk on and when riding in a bicycle threaten to shake loose tooth fillings. It also the place where they hold the monthly antiquarian market. Those are the kinds of daily details that I like but I have completely side stepped the church located there. In  may be the oldest church in Bologna (the first part dates from the 4th century)  but was unable to locate that fact on the web. In any case it must be at least one of the most interesting. It’s also known as the “seven churches” because there are several interconnected small churches or chapels although apparently reconstructions in the last 100 or so years have changed the look of it. There’s always a special feeling about places like this that are so old and this one is really special because of the sort of “organic” feel about how they are all interconnected. If you want more specifics the best english language description is found by clicking here.
The piazza with the church in the background
The first church entered. This one is from the 8th century
The ceiling of this church
Sculpture in the same church
The next church – or at least religious building. The most “suggestivo” – evocative
And the ceiling of this one
The courtyard connect to the church shown above
Another religious building on the other side of the courtyard
There’s a tower too
A wooden crypt in yet another religious building
Would you believe that in the gift shop you can buy – Santo Stefano grappa and limoncello? Not missing a chance here
It was all pretty interesting and if you’re into churches it’s one that I found pretty interesting. Not great art but a great feeling about the place. I took a bunch of pictures but enough already
