San Luca and the interminable arcade

This morning at 6:00am I woke up, and instead of rolling over to go back to sleep (we eat dinner until midnight here in Bologna), I started thinking maybe the morning would still be cool, and if I left now, maybe I could hike up to San Luca before it got too hot. Well, it was already hot this morning, but the hike to San Luca was worth it anyway.

First, you should know that Bologna is the city of arcades. Somebody built the first arcade during medieval times, and the town council thought it was a great idea, and pretty soon they started requiring it, even specifying the height so that riders on horseback could fit (which doesn't sound like such a great idea what with pedestrians and all, but I guess when it's hot even fancy people on horseback want to be covered). Walking through Bologna today you basically pass from one covered arcade to the next.

So I walk about a mile from our hotel, out through the old City gates, past cafe owners just beginning to set up, and finally get to the arcade of San Luca which snakes its way up the hill to the church on top. You can't see the church, all you see is a long arcade. I huff and puff my way to the end. Phew!

But then I get to the top and turn the corner... another long arcade, this one with stairs. Huff and puff. It's just me and the occassional jogger.

Turn another corner, the arcade stretches ahead. At the top a tiny figure appears, oh my gosh, he's so far away! It continues like this for a really, really, really long time. I had read that this was the world's longest arcade, but thought, "really, how long could that be?" Well, it's long, 4 kilometers (2-1/2 miles) long. It starts feeling like I'm in one of those nightmares where you're running down hallways that never end.

But it does end, at an unremarkable church at the top, and then I turn around and make my way back down, and actually enjoy the experience of the endlessness. It's like when I was a kid and I tried to imagine infinity. It was a great start to the day.