Located in the courtyard is the lapidary exhibits containing Roman tombstones dating between the mid 1st century BC and mid 2nd century AD. A few in particular are those with portraits of the Cornelli, Alennii and Furvi families. Other tombstones display Greek, Christian and Coptic inscriptions. Most of them were discovered in 1894 around Bologna’s so-called Reno Wall which acted as a flood barrier against the Reno River.

This room, still on the ground floor, contains a complete gallery of plaster casts of famous Greek and Roman sculptures.

In terms of documented history perhaps the best collection can be experienced here through Bologna during the Etruscan age. Thousands of catalogued findings date from 9-8th BC, referring to the Villanovan period. Discovered tombs brought to light terracotta and bronze ossuaries which contained figurative decorations on rare vases. Ornaments, pottery and weapons were also found and quite clearly showed evidence of past civilisations having existed within the modern walls of Bologna city.

Most of the items were discovered around the late 19th to early 20th century by chance around excavation sites. This coincided with Bologna’s role in helping to create the study of palaeontology.

In the mid 19th century French and Swiss scientists encouraged their Italian counterparts to explore ancient settlements on the shores of the Lombard Lakes.

Italian naturalists at the time such as Giuseppe Scarabelli, Gaetano Chierici, Luigi Pigorini and Pelligrini Strobel soon discovered vast areas of other historic sites and this in turn created great interest and hence more eager scientists joined this new revolution of digging their way into the past.

Between 1871-81 excavations around Bologna were intensified. Zannoni established the Archaeological Society in 1873 and during this period also many archaeological discoveries were made around Bologna. For example, 991 tombs mostly from the Villanovan period were found although some were also from the Gallic and Roman periods. Etruscan tombs were also discovered in the Marguerite Park during this same huge scale excavation project.

The Villanovan Culture was defined by Giovanni Gozzadini as the most advanced stage of Iron Age demonstrated by many items discovered in Tuscany in a village called Villanova.

Alongside Zannoni and Gozzadini was another influential figure called Edoardo Brizio who was held in high esteem for his studies in liberal arts. He brought with him a new perspective regarding antiquities and soon established a reputation for his work covering prehistoric and proto-historic periods.

External Links

http://www.comune.bologna.it/museoarcheologico/inglese/collezio/collez.htm

The Civic Archaeological Museum of Bologna is located inside Palazzo Galvani, next to Piazza Maggiore and comprises of 18 rooms of which 12 are dedicated to archaeology.

Construction of the building dates back to the XV century. Modifications and renovations continued up to 1881, when it was inaugurated and opened to the public as a museum.

In the beginning the institute was actually part of the university but in 1805 after the Napoleonic invasion it was transferred to Palazzo Poggi. However, a convention many years later held by the Casarini Union in 1871 inaugurated a new museum but it still had no home.

The local council eventually allocated this building for this function passing responsibility of this project to chief engineer Antonio Zannoni.

Down in the basement area is a huge Egyptian collection of approximately 4,000 items,  making it one of the largest and most important outside of Egypt and equally valuable with those in nearby Florence and Turin.

There are exhibits on display which were originally made by Kminek and Szedlo in 1895. The collection was transferred here in 1994.

Some of the items include limestone reliefs dating to 1332BC, vases, funerary stela, painted wooden coffins and bronze sculptures. Particularly beautiful are the heads of various Pharaohs dating as far back as 1500 years BC. Other sections here illustrate important items relating to Egyptian civilisation such as coins, medals and mint marks.

Egyptian antiquities arrived in Bologna between the 1500-1600s and initially constituted part of the Ulisse Aldrovandi (1522 -1605) and Ferdinando Cospi (1606-1686) Collections. A few centuries later Pelagio Pelagi then created an important collection courtesy of the Austrian Consulate in Egypt, Giuseppe Nizzoli. After Palagi’s death more than 3,000 Egyptian antiquities were donated to the city.

Consequently, the institute earned more prestige among naturalists both national and internationally. This led directly to the number of historical items increasing from private donors consisting of objects such as little statues, funerary stela, scarabeus, amulets. Among those who contributed were distinguished people like Benedetto XIV: the Bolognese Pope Lambertini.

External Links

http://www.comune.bologna.it/museoarcheologico/informaz/informa.htm

http://www.comune.bologna.it/museoarcheologico/inglese/collezio/collez.htm

The vault illustrates paintings of four angels and iconography of St Berardino of Siena. Much more significantly in an architectural sense is that this vault is actually the central support for Ardengo’s Tower which rises above here within the grounds of Palazzo del Podestà.

At each corner is a terracotta statue of the city’s protectors, Saints Petronius, Proclus, Dominic and Francis. They were completed by Alfonso Lombardi and placed here in 1525.

There are a few shops, restaurants and offices located in under these arches now so it can still be quite a busy thoroughfare with people milling around.

There’s also an element fun under this vault as most locals and the occasional tourists play with a particular acoustic resonance experienced from the architectural genius here. By whispering in towards one corner it can clearly be heard on the opposite side which usually brings a smile to those who try it.

References

Tiziano Costa – Marco Poli, Conoscere Bologna, Bologna 2005, p58.

Tiziano Costa, Elisa Panzacchi, Welcome to Bologna, Bologna 2007, p8.

Their brand is enhanced under a concept they like to refer to as: ‘The magic of desire’. Hence, through Antonio’s creativity and Corinna’s expertise in communication and marketing, Max Lallini travels far and beyond the borders of Bologna.

Their first step collaborating together began with the designing and making of classic shirts and blouses, always based on the principles and values of Italian craftsmanship but with an added value: home service. Later, they enlarged their exclusive apparel range to skirts, pants, bespoke male and female suits and informal clothing, coats, capes, shawls and accessories.

These following rooms reflect just a small sense of where this magic lies while at the same time lay the foundations for a long journey.

Raw materials made in Italy mix with opulent artisan display settings and cuttings of works-in-progress. Luxury items vie for space with photos and images of the latest fashion styles. Thanks to Corinna’s international education Max Lallini offers hospitality to young Italian artists, too, bringing a synergy to fashion circles. In short, this is a one-stop shop for both men and women who crave the best.

However, quite a lot of time is invested from start to finish of a single garment. Antonio’s artistic sketches are first shown to a customer; materials are selected; the initial stages of cutting, shaping, sewing and stitching it all together. The last stages may involve some minor adjustments while the garment is finally tried on and taken home.

Clients are warmly welcomed here as they set out on this journey – one that will no doubt demonstrate that Max Lallini sets a very high standard in dressmaking.

Beginning of 2012 will see the launch of their first new interior collection.

External Links

http://www.maxlallini.it/

Finally, Bologna city council has launched an initiative to roll out technological advances across the city – at least in theory anyway.

For the local Bolognese business leaders this is a positive step for 21st century commerce, however, a laziness attitude here permeates business circles. People expect others to do the dirty work here while at the same time, sit back and wonder why many other countries forge ahead using technology to promote their own interests.

Simply put, everyone else rolls up their sleeves and gets to work, instead of waiting on a big, bureaucratic system to do the job for them. Governmental bodies enacting new reforms is like watching an oil tanker turn 360 degrees – it takes forever.

Businesses here need to enforce their own set of standards for implementing technological tools rather than always waiting on the Comune di Bologna. The fear of trying is greater here than the fear of failure.

We’ve written a million ideas on the why’s, how’s, when’s, where’s etc to kick start a Bolognese revolution! Here is just one of them and another reason why here.

Case point: The BBC has just published a great story on how Sweden is tackling, or rather, attempting to promote their country.

As part of what the country is calling “the world’s most democratic Twitter experiment”, a different Swede takes sole control of the nation’s official Twitter account each week, sharing their daily experiences and opinions and recommending things to do and see where they live.

BUT, it’s the people who are leading this huge experiment, not the government. It’s the ordinary people who are following, tweeting, re-tweeting, @mentioning and generally influencing where they are going with it all.

Why can’t we have some of that citizen-driven based attitude here?!

Google Goggles is basically a search engine that uses images instead of words and one that Google is pushing with gusto, albeit in a sort of experimental way.

A recent article and video online via the BBC, demonstrates how we will soon be looking up online searches by using images and not typing in a load of words/text. Although, still very much at a baby steps stage, the progress so far is incredible, while, the advantages will be phenomenal.

The basic functions are thus, Goggles scans an image/photo from your mobile and compares it to other images in its database. When it finds the closest match, providing there is one, it will allow the user to then follow all the relevant leads generated from that image. So, for example, a simple photo of Torre Prendiparte, in Bologna like this:

will eventually lead to all sorts of links and even more relevant photos and videos such as our one in iGuidez.com

However, the real success just doesn’t end there. If an internal image is taken of a piece of art that interests the person but there’s no information regarding the artist etc, Goggles will again search for information and publish all relevant links so no more fiddling about texting directly into the search box. And all in a matter of hassle-free seconds.

Of course, it may take some time for this to bear fruit, unless the topic at hand happens to be a well-known subject. In which case, it will already function quite smoothly. If not, a number of man-hours is required to systematically register every image-worthy aspect in the universe!

Bologna is in a unique position – or could be, at least. iGuidez has been geographically tagging hundreds of videos and thousands of photos around the city, which will make it easier for search engines to categorise in future, and hence, for people to locate information simply based on an instant photo from their mobile.

And it gets even better… with the progress made in augmented reality (see our post years ago). Again, a quick snap of the camera and users will be able to interact with videos and images taken while they saunter around the city, browse in a museum, art gallery or just about any shop or public place.

There’s much to do though if we’re to launch Bologna into the digital stratosphere so watch this space.

A video just this weekend on TC, shows UFC’s Dana White confirm that Twitter is the best tool ever invented for creating an awareness of your brand….and it’s free, easy to use and needs the minimum of internet connections to function properly.

Although, in fairness, Facebook, +1 Messenger and all the plethora of other media tools out there do more or less the same thing.

The ‘misuse’ of them by certain groups to cause havoc – for example, during the recent London riots – is easier to understand, the opposite is also true. Using social media is to a certain degree learning how to repeat a message and get out there quickly. Traditional advertising methods demonstrate this repetition cycle every single day on radio and tv.

Therefore, city officials can easily implement the same strategy to encourage visitors to a museum, weekly get-together, concert or just about anything on the event calendar. Obviously, the said event may not receive as much public attention as a good ole riot but the end result should be positively geared towards the same result: PR, in a positive regard.

Users of social media must be ‘logged’ into other methods, as this creates a better cycle of information. Promoting other users materials too, is equally important, since an author, for example, of specific historical books about a city, will feel obliged to pass on to his followers info that come to him. Simply put, it’s virtual networking.

The best of all, is that these services, for the most part are FREE. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.

Considering the Arab Spring made good use of social media, now it appears that the infectious use of Twitter and Facebook et al is heading north into the colder climes of Russia. International – and some national figures – are commenting that this could be the beginnings of a Russian Spring.

Although, hardly on the same level, both have really begun to underline the growing reliance of using social media once again to empower a group or simply to shine light upon important issues.

Governmental bodies and national institutions are always caught on the back foot with these trends possibly because of the speed and agility that these trends often display. The consequences therefore are usually negative for those on the receiving end while the opposite is generally true for those organizing the protests.

However, looking at this from another angle, the reverse must also be true. Why can’t social media, or rather, why isn’t social media being pushed by city officials to encourage and promote their city on a popular front?

During the recent Le Web conference, Sean Parker stated that he believed the next American elections would be decided via social web networks. Evidence again, that this medium is only going to grow in influencing our choices and future directions from the online world to the real one.

Returning to the main question – each city has the capacity to engage its citizens within the daily grind of city life, since, after all, they are using the exact same technological tools that the people are using in the first place. As Parker concludes, it’s the level of engagement that counts and not the fancy side-steps used to entice people to vote Yes or No.

…to be continued.

It was an employee called Amit Sood, who eventually convinced Google to utilize their streetwise camera technology to begin ‘mapping’ inside museums, hence the name Google Art Project.

The results –  considering what Google have done for street maps – are just as outstanding, although why it took them so long to explore this path is anybody’s guess.

Being able to zoom up and into a painting to see the brush strokes is a pretty incredible feat. It’s therefore easy to see why this type of marketing is priceless for museums. The drawbacks though, are as equally daunting since it takes an incredibile amount of money to cover the manpower needed to move the expensive equipment into place, editing hours, logistics required to set up, arrange and eventually execute the whole operation. Plus, as previously stated: the overbearing cost.

Presently, this type of operation  - on an amateur scale – this can only be developed bigger and faster like we are implementing at iGuidez. For a city such as Bologna, it may only take months. The obvious disadvantages are noticeable, however, the longer term advantage means that many people have acces to a city than they would otherwise for many more years to come.

No doubt it will soon become much cheaper to pull off Google’s professional style in many more places in the near future. Perhaps, more volunteers are needed.

One other major area of concern is the importance of publishing the correct information regarding authors, dates, styles etc. For this again, close attention must be heeded as misinformation could do more damage than the value of going online in the first place. Geo-tagged details, such as we use at iGuidez when we produce a video guide of a museum and the relevant artwork inside, is the next step to focus on.

Smart phones are becoming an increasingly powerful tool in our daily movements and web sites, as we traditionally know them, are being super-seeded with apps or mobiles versions. For this reason, location based info on our surroundings will be the next game changer for those who start working on it now.