Bologna: Archiginnasio, San Petronio Organs

The Basilica di San Petronio was intended to be the largest church ever. But it did not reach it's full length or full width and the facade is only clad from the ground up to a bit above the doors.

Basilica of San Petronio facade

Rome was upset that Bologna might build a church larger than the Vatican's. The pope owned a piece of Bologna land right in the path of construction. He said, let's build a campus so the university classes can be in one building instead of all over the city.

Archiginnasio

So in 1562, he built the Archiginnasio, where for 200 plus years the university thrived. Today, it is a joy to visit. Two stories tall with a central courtyard. The walls are intensely decorated with family crests of the students and ornate reliefs to honor favorite faculty members. In 1830 the municipal library replaced the university. The library has the regions most precious books. We saw some in a lovely book cage from the late 1400's.

Fresh mushroom (250+) exhibit in Archiginnasio

San Petronio, Vatican interference or not, is still massive. (The facade is 165 feet tall. The interior is 430 feet long. The width is 215 feet.) Inside it has two pipe organs. One of them is the third oldest in the world, built in 1476 by Lorenzo di Prato.  The other organ was built by Malamini in 1596. We went to a concert for two organs. The organs are on opposing sides above the carved, old, dark, creaky, wooden choir chairs, more like thrones, where we sat.

San Petronio organ

The program was mostly Italian compositions from the mid-1500's. All the composers' names were unfamiliar to me. They were compositions intended to allow improvisation and embellishment by the player. The players were outstanding. We all loved it.

San Petronio has restoration going on. The backside is covered in scaffolding. When work is slow, they allow civilians to ride the rickety metal cage elevator to the top. We did that. The view was splendid. Bologna consists of narrow stone streets lined with stone buildings with large entry gates. Usually the large, horse-drawn-carriage scaled, wooden doors are closed. We know beyond the doors are gardens. So getting above the roof line was interesting. There was a nominal fee of three euros to go up. The church said it was a fundraiser to pay for restoration; three euros at a time.