Bologna

Our final destination for our day trip south was Bologna.  It turned out to be a larger city than we anticipated and presented large city challenges.  The larger towns and cities in Italy, especially those with old town areas, have instituted restricted zones in the central areas of the old town areas.  These are called ZTL's are are usually marked, but as we learned, not always very clearly.  We had been warned about the ZTL's but had not really seen them until Bologna. 

Driving into the city we were following the instructions from the map app on my iPhone and I proceeded to cruise right into the restricted area.  We did not know it for sure at the time, but Linda suspected we were in it.  I parked and we walked into the old town.

We found the Tourist Information office and soon learned that we had not only entered the restricted zone but had parked in it as well.  The fine in Bologna is 50 euros, or about $55!  However, we were told that we could purchase a day pass and nullify the fine if we hurried to the traffic control office several blocks away.  We did that and for 6 euros cleared the fine and fixed the problem.

The old town area of Bolgna is currently undergoing a large renovation project, so it was not that interesting nor accessible as it will be when the work is done.  We found a nice piazza as we walked into the city, and some nice architecture in a couple of places.  I took one of my favorite archway photos in Bologna (see below).  Otherwise, the ZTL experience was our most memorable moment in Bologna.