Bologna and its porches are a key feature of the city identity. In Emilia, there are two recurring aspects in all of its cities, from Piacenza to Ferrara. The bicycle and the arcades. We, Emilians, love cycling. We use it to go to school as kids, to go to work as adults, and to hang out with friends. However, this story is not intended to be a story on cycling in Emilia, but on the presence of His Majesty: the porch.
An architectural element that we can find in the historic centers of the cities. It is such a familiar presence to us and part of the landscape, just like the sun and the moon shining in the sky.
There is a city, in particular, that encompasses an endless variety of porches as well as having the longest one in the world. The city is Bologna, our regional capital, birthplace of the first university of the western world, and where good food is king.
Walking through its streets is like visiting an open-air museum.
The porches are an element that make the city unique, that even the famous French writer Stendhal fell in love with Bologna and its arcades so deeply that he wrote in one of his novels: “Frequently, at two in the morning, while returning to my accommodation in Bologna, walking through these long arcades, while the soul is exalted by those beautiful eyes I had just seen, and passing in front of those buildings of which, with its large shadows, the moon drew the masses, I happened to stop, overwhelmed with happiness, and tell myself: “How beautiful!”.
