Vacation / Travel Supplement

A priest’s pilgrimage: Bologna and Turin entice tourists to visit northern Italy

People walk across a plaza in Turin, Italy, near the twin churches of Santa Christina, left, and San Carlo. (Submitted photo/Fr. Louis Manna)

By Fr. Louis Manna (Special to The Criterion)

NORTHERN ITALY—Scenic Bologna and Turin are what I think of as “second-tier cities” in Italy.

Unlike Rome, Florence and Venice, where tourists may spend a few days, Bologna and Turin are cities that people come through on a tour bus, stay a few hours and then continue on to other destinations.

A few tourists may stay longer because these charming and historic cities have much to see and do.

In second-tier cities, you tend to find more of the Italy that has not been smoothed over for the tourists. You can experience more of how the Italian people live and work.

When people in Bologna and Turin say they speak very little English, they are not being modest. Often, after a couple of sentences in English, they are out of vocabulary. Unfortunately, that also describes my Italian—but we managed!

Beautiful Bologna

In the center of Bologna, the Cathedral of St. Peter and the Basilica of St. Petronius are located less than a five-minute walk apart.

The Basilica of St. Petronius has an interesting history. It was started with the plan that it would be larger than St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome.

However, the pope decided to block the construction of the basilica with an educational building. Even so, St. Petronius is the world’s fifth largest basilica.

The University of Bologna began in 1088 and is the oldest university in Europe. As I walked down the street, I could see many schools of this and institutes of that, all in addition to the university.

In the history of Western Europe, Bologna was one of the major universities for many years, and it is still significant.

Bologna has many arcaded porticoes, about 23 miles of them. They were started as a way of extending the rooms in the homes above the store and over the sidewalk. It was fine for the stores and the people.

However, this architectural practice created a legal problem. Who owned the porticoes and who was responsible for them—the property owners or the city? The dilemma was solved in a very political fashion. They were owned by the property owners for the benefit of the people of the city!

The Basilica of St. Dominic houses the tomb of St. Dominic. There are carvings on the sarcophagus done by a few artists, but I only recognized one artist’s name—Michelangelo.

St. Dominic wanted his friars to be well educated for the task of preaching so they studied at Paris and Bologna.

I noticed that the same pope who declared St. Francis of Assisi a saint of the Church also declared St. Dominic a saint—Pope Gregory IX, who led the Church from 1227 until his death in 1241.

Turin—or Torino in Italy

When people hear of Turin, most would think of the Holy Shroud of Turin kept at the Cathedral of St John or St. John Bosco, who centered his ministry and religious order there. Unfortunately, the shroud was not on display while I was there, although there were exhibits about it.

More recently, people may think of the 2006 Winter Olympics that were held in Turin, which is known as Torino in Italy.

This city is also the home of Fiat, which is an acronym for Fabbrica Italiana Automobili Torino. In English, that translates as “Italian Automobile Factory of Turin.”

While all this is quite impressive, there is much more to this unique city than sports and automobiles.

When people think of Rome, images of the Caesars come to mind.

With the Vatican, they are reminded of the various popes who succeeded Peter.

In Turin, it is the House of Savoy and the part that it played in Italy’s unification. On Sept. 17, 1861, the Kingdom of Italy was proclaimed with Turin as the capital. A few years later, the capital city was moved to Florence then later changed to Rome.

There is a large church in the hills near Turin called Madonna delle Grazie, which also is known as the Basilica di Superga. It houses tombs of the kings of Italy.

This basilica was built to honor the Blessed Mother because the Italian people were saved from invading French and Spanish armies during the Battle of Turin in the early 1700s after Victor Amadeus II of Savoy prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Construction of the basilica began in 1717 and was completed in 1731. The hill offers a great view of the city of Turin.

However, to Italians, Turin has another meaning connected with soccer, a beloved sport in Italy.

In 1949, Torino had a soccer team that seldom lost a match and earned the nickname “The Invincibles.” Sadly, while returning home from a soccer match on a foggy night, their airplane hit the base of the basilica. Everyone on board was killed in the crash.

There is a small shrine at the site, and there is a procession there every year on the anniversary of the accident.

I took a tramline to get to the Superga, and that was steep enough. So when the people walk the two miles uphill to the Basilica di Superga and the small shrine in memory of the soccer team, it is a pilgrimage of love.

Part of the historic center of Turin is the Piazza San Carlo, where two churches were built next to each other—Santa Cristina and San Carlo.

This is great for tourists on Sunday because the Masses are celebrated a half hour apart. If you miss the 9 a.m. liturgy at one church, just go next door for the 9:30 a.m. Mass there!

Because Turin was the national capital as well as the home of the Savoy family, there are other interesting places to visit there. Tourists will enjoy seeing the National Museum of the Cinema, the Egyptian Museum and a former Fiat factory.

I have found that second-tier cities have a way of helping me to have a better understanding of the country and culture that I am visiting. Touring these less frequently visited places may be a bit of a challenge at times, but the results are memorable and it is well worth the effort to explore them.

(Father Louis Manna is pastor of Church of the American Martyrs Parish in Scottsburg and St. Patrick Parish in Salem.) †