La Pinacoteca Nazionale- Letter to Opal

Read on for a letter from me to Opal about a recent visit I made with friends Lucia & Cinzia to the Pinacoteca Nazionale:

Hi, Opal,

How are you?  I hope school is going well and that you had fun with Jo when you got home.

I'm so glad you and your parents came to visit us in Italy.  I've told lots of friends about what an interested traveler you were and how you used the Pimpa book to explore Bologna and learn a lot.  We're telling our next visitors they should read the Pimpa book, too, and maybe they will have as good of a time as you did here.  Do you have any other suggestions for visitors?

I couldn't help but think of you on Friday when I went to the Pinacoteca Nazionale here in Bologna with some friends.  The Pinacoteca is a museum where there are lots of paintings.  I saw some things there I want to share with you.

Do you remember how we taught you to look for the Due Torri on signs in Bologna?  Well, I discovered lots of them along with other references to Bologna in the drawings and paintings in the Pinacoteca.

My friends told me about the history of painting in the 1500's and 1600's (that's 400-500 years ago!).  They said that the many paintings were used in churches to help people feel a close a connection to the stories in the bible and the stories of the lives of the saints.  They wanted people to feel like the stories weren't just about far away people, but people like them, living where they live.  They painted the stories and put hints in the paintings that the scenes were taking place there, in the walled city, under the portici, or near the two towers.

I learned something else, too.  I always thought the really crooked tower, the shorter one called the Garisenda, started tipping recently.  That's not the case.  My friend said it started tipping while they were building it.  In fact, it was supposed to be much taller, but when it started to lean a little during construction in 1109 AD they decided to leave it short.  

I pasted a few photos below of some of the paintings I saw with signs of Bologna in them.  Can you find the Due Torri in each one?  Are there other signs you notice?  You might even be able to see how crooked the Garisenda tower was hundreds of years ago.

Hugs to you, Opal, I love you!

Granny Bean