1st day Parma
2nd day Ferrara
Day 3 Bologna – full day dedicated to Bologna, the red city. In the historic center you can still breathe the atmosphere of the past: the terracotta buildings on Piazza Nettuno and Piazza Maggiore recall the golden age of the Middle Ages and offer glimpses of great charm. From the Palazzo Comunale to the famous Palazzo di Re Enzo, to continue along the animated streets of the Mercato di Mezzo still teeming with historic shops, taverns and people. Dante Alighieri called Bologna “the turreted forest” thanks to its numerous noble towers, today reduced in number, but still visible in the urban fabric. Lunch in a restaurant in the historical centre. Afternoon continuation of the guided tour with a focus on the symbolic places of the Renaissance in Bologna: the Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio – the ancient university site – the Church of San Martino and a walk in the ancient elegant district of Bentivoglio (now the heart of the University) and entrance to the oratory of Santa Cecilia.
4th day Ravenna and Dante
A journey full of symbols to discover the historic poet Dante Alighieri. We will start with a visit to Dante’s quarter, to the diocesan sites and to the Dante museum which preserve the history of the great poet and his vicissitudes. After lunch in a typical restaurant in Ravenna we will move to the outer part of Ravenna where we will experience a journey full of symbols to discover the mosaics of the Byzantine basilica of San Apollinare in Classe which describe the ancient forest, praised by Dante in the Divine Comedy. A temporal passage in the “thick and alive forest” of the pine forest of Classe, one of the most extensive examples of extremely varied lowland forest. It was the subject of the description of the Terrestrial Paradise, in the second canto of the Divine Comedy by the poet Dante Alighieri, the scene of amorous encounters praised by Boccaccio and of war events during the Second World War.
