Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/355

Rh families of Bologna. A sister of Napoleon Bonaparte is buried in one of these chapels.

Close to this great church is the Archiginnaseo, the famous old University of Bologna. The lecture room of the great Italian naturalist Galvani is shewn to visitors, while in front of the building, Galvani's marble statue adorns a square. Passing by Square Cavour and Square Galileo I came to church San Dominico, containing the magnificent tomb of San Dominico and the humbler tomb of Guido Rene, the greatest of Bolognese painters. I passed by the house of the famous Bolognese painters Caracci and the new bank, Cassa di Risparinio, all built of marble, and the finest modern building of Bologna. I also saw the group of seven old churches, San Stefano, a curious agglomeration of the oldest churches in Bologna. This ancient place was at first used for pagan worship, and Christian churches were built after, when Christianity was introduced.

The leaning towers of Bologna are the most curious sight here. They are two old brick towers of the twelfth century, 272 ft. and 130 ft. high respectively. The former is 3 feet 5 inches out of the perpendicular, while the latter and the smaller one is no less than $8 1⁄2$ feet out of the perpendicular and looks as if it was about to fall! The obliquity of many towers in Italy has been caused by the settling of the ground.

In the Accademia della Belle Arte I saw a good collection of the works of the three Caracci and of Guido Rene,