Bologna, the place -- from Giuditta

This photo, from the web, is of Piazza Maggiore, the central square in Bologna. The San Petronio church on the right, city hall is where I would be sitting if I were taking the photo. The Comune or city hall houses the public library, city art galleries and a wall dedicated to the women and men who fought in the resistance in WWII -- a wall of 400 photos & names.

Above is Larry in front of the Management bldg (Scienza Aziandale) at the University. It's one of a handful of 60s buildings that locals love to hate, but make us feel nostalgic.

This asterisked material is from something I cribbed from the web. It is about Bologna published in 2000.
* The picture that emerges from the 1996 Census of industry and services shows that the local economy involves a heavily developed service sector, and significant industries in the Bologna hinterland, i.e. in the metropolitan area.This photo I got from the web. It's a medieval building called a palazzo here. We often walk by it in the university area. See the modern windows & awnings.

* The economic fabric is based mainly on small firms, generally organised as sole proprietorships or partnerships. On the whole, the city may be defined “rich”. The pro-capita income was estimated to be around 36.8 million Lire (19005.61€) at the end of 1998, with an average unemployment rate slightly above 3% in the year 2000, one of the lowest among major Italian cities.

This photo on the left I found on the web. It is a protest in Bologna is reminiscent of the protest of about 300 mainly young people we saw when we were downtown last Saturday. There were tons of riot police. The protest we saw was about the criminalisation of people with mental disabilities. However in this photo (left) the photographer reassures us that the protestors are "playing dead".

* A recent annual survey by “Sole 24 ore” - one of the major Italian daily newspapers and the most authoritative and widely read economic and financial national daily - ranked Bologna first among 103 Italian cities in terms of quality of life in the year 2000. The indicators considered were: standard of living, business and employment, environment and services, crime, population density and leisure time.
* The province of Bologna (fourth last year) was ranked first on account of its high standard of living, great number of cultural and leisure opportunities, and its rich entrepreneurial fabric.
* In the context of an economically developed city, Bologna has the typical problems of a mediumlarge urban centre. Next to the wide range of opportunities available in a developed socio-economic reality, old and new forms of poverty emerge, together with social emergencies partly linked to the presence of non-EU citizens - who are still a small, although not negligible proportion of the population - and to the number of permanently or occasionally homeless people. As in many other Italian cities, considerable housing pressure contributes to increasing the risk of social exclusion.

I took this the other day on our way home from the universita, as they say here. It is the Teatro Comunale, 18th century, where the opera is on live this week. On Sunday, we are going there to see a student performance of Lucia di Lammermoor, by Donizetti.

A note on food:
In the IperCoop there is an aisle advertising ethnic food. I went to the aisle and there is not even a bottle of soya sauce. The aisle is yet another row of high quality pasta and sauces.
The supermarket seems very crowded all day and night till closing. Today I raced into the food court for a "cappa" cappuccino and a croissant. It was before 11 am, so I was "safe" in ordering it. Still a delight, served in a china cup and saucer, a cucchiaino (little metal teaspoon), with a 2 oz. chaser of acqua frizzante. No regular tipping here.

Omri is at school today, Saturday form 8 am until 1.40 pm -- tomorrow is the only day off!