Bologna

With Thibault and I having both been to Bologna (separately) fairly recently, while we used the city as a base (its attractive, a good size and excellent food) we didn't "do" its sights. Not in the sense of going to most obvious museums and galleries. Rather we spent an afternoon wandering around and taking in one or two of the less obvious sights (and several churches)

So this is Giamblogna's 16th century Neptune fountain in what is really the main square, Piazza del Nettuno. Its impressive, although the mermaids squirting water out of their breasts looks a bit incongruous to the modern eye.

While not exactly obscure, the old university buildings might not be everyone's first choice for a visit in Bologna. But they are outstanding. Lovely courtyard.

A place absolutely covered in shields

Impressive library - note more shields on the walls, indeed shields with shields

But the real reason to visit is to see the Anatomy Theatre, where, yes, people went to watch corpses being dissected. Its an amazing carved space (recreated after World War II bombing)...

...with the most remarkable carvings being the men holding up the canopy above the master's chair. At a distance they look like standard nudes but on closer examination they are more naked than that - they are skinned too!

The Church of Santa Maria della Vita is not the most imposing of places, but it opens up to both a church and separate gallery most notable for its wooden carvings. Italy is not all marble and bronze.

The most notable of all the carvings is teh Lamentation of the Dead Christ by Niccolo dell'Arca, a work better known as "the Howling Women"

It is certainly a more dramatic, impassioned work than most of the rather passive simpering lamentations one normally sees in art of the period.

Food shops in central Bologna look rather more appetising than your average Lidl

The Basilica of San Petronio is well worth a visit. A gothic cathedral (remember Italian Gothic is very different to English Gothic - its not all pointy arches!)