Bologna

On Monday, the class took the train to Bologna for the day. Bologna is known for being a college town, home to the prestigious University of Bologna. From Professor Cooperman and our tour guide, we learned a lot about the Jewish influence during the Renaissance. Since there were a lot of college students frequenting the city during that period, Jewish money lenders were able to play the role of student loans. It must have been as big a cash cow then as it is now. We walked through the area where the Jewish ghetto was located, and it seemed very cramped compared to the Sienese ghetto. One way that they were similar was how the Synagogue in the ghetto blended into the neighborhood. We also stopped at the Museo Ebraica, the fact that it is located there shows that there was a large Jewish community in Bolognese history.

After our tour of the ghetto and the Museo Ebraica, we went to the University of Bologna. The end of our lecture for the day took place in a refurbished classroom for medical students. It was a beautiful room, made out of wood with a table in the middle for bodies to be examined on. It was a complete 180 from the high-tech, modern classrooms that are in Van Munching Hall, but it was good to get some sort of comparison between American and European classes. I think that our time in Bologna gave us that experience.

Most of the class was impressed with Bologna, but I enjoyed Siena a lot more. Bologna was a beautiful city with great shopping and great food, but I did not really get into the scene. It probably had to do with me still being exhausted from my weekend in Rome.