La Rossa, the red one
Bologna
A city of red brick towers, terracotta roofs and miles of arcades in red, orange and ochre.
Why Bologna is bologna red
Bologna has three nicknames: the learned, for its university; the fat, for its food; and the red. La Rossa describes the look of the city. With little building stone nearby, medieval Bologna was made of brick and terracotta, and its plastered walls are painted in reds, oranges and warm ochres. From the top of the Asinelli tower the view is a field of red roofs. The streets are lined with porticoes, covered arcades that run for dozens of kilometres and were listed by UNESCO in 2021. In the 20th century the nickname gained a second meaning, since the city was long governed by the political left, whose colour is also red.
Values are fair approximations of what the eye sees there, not measurements.
Colours tied to Bologna
Written by the Rang desk with AI assistance. Background: "Bologna" on Wikipedia. If you know Bologna and we have it wrong, tell us.
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The small pictures above come from Wikimedia Commons under free licences. Some are cropped to fit.
- Shekhawati In: Digrajsingh, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Kutch In: Zeel Satyendra Modi, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Burano It: Kasa Fue, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Procida It: Jamiethearcher at English Wikipedia, Public domain, source
- Cinque Terre It: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves . Feel free to use my pho, CC BY-SA 4.0, source
- Siena It: Massimo Catarinella, CC BY-SA 3.0, source