Imola, Emilia Romagna

Omri and Giuditta took the

train to Imola, about 32 km

from Bologna

.

Above is the Commune, or City Hall-- it's pink. The square in front of it, three sides with arcades, shops (see above, far left) and beautiful buildings date from 1300, bits of it rebuilt in the 15th and 18th centuries, but still authentic.

By time we got beyond the Commune, this small city -- the size of Sydney NS, but nothing like it --everything was closed for the Saturday afternoon meal or nap. The place looked like a ghost town and we were the only tourists. This building on the right has a nice plaque to the Italian Resistance during WWII. The streets look just like this: orderly, named squares, no garbage and wreaths dedicated to the fallen under the Nazis. Imola was a stronghold of partisans against the Germans.

We visited the Rocca, which was at times a fortress, a jail and the Nazis used it as an execution ground. It was originally built in 1200, "improved" and expanded over the centuries. Rich families at first used it as a fortress against other marauding families. Then somehow the Pope got hold of it. In the early part of the 20th c. it was a jail (the brochure claims "till a better one was built"). In 1943 nearly 300 men and women Nazi-resisters were shot in the main parade grounds inside. There is a wonderful plaque erected to them on the 60th anniversary of the anniversary of the end of the war.

Omri thought the Rocca was a boy's dream to explore, the fortress, the grounds, the moat, and the keep. So we have photos of us on a very cold clear day there

.
Omri on drawbridge** This place is huge, note the arches, brick**

Below, Giuditta with guidebooks in the keep at the top.

Omri in the keep with Imola and its Cathedral in the back

At 5.30 pm Imola came alive. Suddenly there were hundreds in the Commune square and in the streets, and the shops all opened -- till 7.30pm. We stopped by a glamorous cafe and wine bar for a snack en route to the train. We also went into a wine store which had hundreds of bottles of wine from every region in Italy. Omri convinced me to buy a bottle of Nero D'Avola Vendemmia (2006) from Sicily. It was nice, like a Cabernet Sauvignon. Larry just read me one Swedish wine enthusiast's comments; she said after the first glass, she poured it down the sink...

Something unusual happened on the way back to Bologna. The train was late by ONE MINUTE. Since coming here every train runs on time. We can't believe it, because in Canada or Britain taking the train means you'll invariably be late. So as you see, from the last line on the monitor on board, the TrenItalia shows the train was running late. But, fortunately, it picked up its speed and was on time arriving in Bologna. Man, that was close, eh. I just had to take the picture.