The Fountain of Neptune in Bologna
I conquered another city in Italy again! Bologna is often forgotten to explore by many tourists. It is not so famous like the places in Tuscany including Florence, Pisa, Siena, Lucca and other areas in this region. Bologna has its own history and beauty. When I attended the birthday party of my friend’s daughter last February, one of her visitors told me that Bologna is beautiful. I told her that I haven’t visited it yet. Maybe in my trip in March to Italy. Indeed, I decided to choose Bologna to visit during one of our free days during that 8-day holiday to Italy last month.
To make the story short, we went to Bologna by train. It was quite an adventure trip from our hotel in Rivazzurra, a comune in Rimini. From there, we took the bus in going to Rimini train station. We arrived perfect in time in the train station to catch the train that will depart at 10:00 AM. We arrived in Bologna at around 11:15 AM.
There are a lot of sights to experience in Bologna and a half day of visit there is just not enough. One of the sights we experienced was the Fountain of Neptune, known in Italian as Fontana di Nettuno. It is a fountain at Piazza del Nettuno or Neptune’s Square. It was built in 1563 by Tommaso Laureti of Palermo later embellished by Jean de Boulogne (called Giambologna). It is considered to be one of Bologna’s symbols.
The logo of the Maserati car company is based on the trident in this Neptune statue. In 1920 the artist Mario Maserati, used this symbol in the logo at the suggestion of family friend Marquis Diego de Sterlich. It was considered particularly appropriate for the sports car company due to fact that Neptune represents strength and vigor; additionally the statue is a characteristic symbol of the company’s original home city.
I am quite happy and contented during that visit in Bologna. At least, one of my dream-place to visit finally came into reaality. I should be meeting a friend there but since I lost a contact to her because there is no Friendster anymore, I can’T find a way to contact her. One more things, I also tasted Bologna’s famous pasta, the Bolognese pasta!
Things to Know About Bologna:
It is the capital and largest city of Emilia-Romagna (a region in northern Italy). Bologna is famed for the oldest university in the Western world.
