Tusker4: It's all about the porticos

Bologna is famed for its porticos - they have 45 km of them all together apparently. As Bologna is also famous for being rainy, then, as a lady said to us in one cafe - no need to carry an "ombrello" in Bologna. No doubt they also provide shade from the hot summer sun - ironically, they also shaded us from the welcome heat of the winter sunshine ...

Aside from the porticos. Bologna has two towers close together, one very high, both leaning - one dramatically so like the one in Pisa. Very difficult to catch in a photograph, but very useful as landmarks for the tourist! Many Italian towns were crowded with such towers in medieval times, from a distance, they must have resembled Manhattan!