Ciao, i miei amici!
Drop into Piazza Maggiore using Google’s Street View and take a look around. There are a lot of important historical structures to see here but I especially want you to notice the church bordering the southern edge of the piazza–yeah, that one with the unfinished façade (apparently due to a squabble with one of the sixteenth century Popes). That is Basilica di San Petronio and arguably the birthplace of the Gregorian calendar we use today. Go ahead and check out the hyperlink. If you’re a sundial geek like me, this is an incredibly fascinating read. Nothing I say could improve on their information anyway.
Churches (in the generic sense here in Europe) can be like that. One minute you’re looking at the same stuffy iconography you’ve seen in thousands of other churches. The next minute, you’ve just stumbled on some amazing marble work by none other than a young Michelangelo, or a glimpse through a transparent floor to on original Roman street area, or as in this case, the creative use of a massive structure to create an incredibly accurate scientific instrument that furthered scientific knowledge in revolutionary ways frequently at odds with traditional doctrine holding sway at the time of their construction.
Btw, the name of this town is pronounced “Bah-lo-nya” and not “baloney”.
Ciao!
A location on the Meridian Line to measure the image of the sun.
Our guide pointing at the “Eye” of the meridian.
