Sala Urbana
Monday, June 1st, 2015
One of the brochures that I did was on a place called Sala Urbana. This was the only brochure for which I did the entire translation; that is, there was no previous english translation. The brochure was new, probably because Sala Urbana was closed for several years for restoration. It was a challenge but I think that I did a pretty good job. There often are a few things that are almost untranslatable or that have some kind of idiomatic meaning that I could not find in the dictionary. Those things were clarified when I met with Monica and Margherita. After finishing the translation I really wanted to see the room so I went there one day when I was early for a different meeting. Sala Urbana is on the 2nd floor (that would be the 3rd in the U.S.) along with the civic museum so I couldn’t enter without a ticket. So I went to the biglietteria (ticket office) and explained that I had just finished a translation of a tourist brochure about Sala Urbana and wanted to see the room. The woman there asked me to wait just a moment and went into an adjacent office and returned with the director of the museum, Carla Bernardini. Carla then gave me a tour of the room and indeed the entire museum. This included taking me into her office to show me a terrific view that few people ever see – from her office window across the city  . It was indeed a very special experience.
I returned did take some photos of the room and others are available by doing a web search for “Sala Urbana Bologna”.
The coat of arms of Pope Urbana VIII to whom the room is dedicated
Memorial painted on the wall and niche with bust of the pope
Some of the 188 costs of arms of very important city rulers over about 400 years
The magnificent ceiling with faux 3 dimensional painting – a Bologna specialty in the 14th century
