If it looks like a duck, but doesn’t quack like a duck… it’s probably somewhere to moor your barge/boat! For #monochromemonday
When I first arrived in Bologna, I saw these in the centre of Bologna (via Castiglione) at street level and presumed they were there to tie up horses and carts (kinda like hitching posts in western films!). When somebody told me they were for barges and boats, I was really confused. Just like the fact that a lot of street names confused me: Via Rialto (where’s the f**kin’ bridge?!), Via del Porto (where’s the port?!), Via Val d’Aposa (the Aposa’s a local river, but no sign of it here…), Via Riva di Reno (“Banks of the Reno” – where’s the damn River Reno?!). A bit of local history and I understood why Bologna’s nicknamed “la città delle acque” – back in Medieval times, 4 or 5 different rivers were diverted through canal systems into the city and the canals used to be open-air. They were used to power water wheels for the textile industry (silk in particular) – in fact, Bologna can (correctly, IMO) claim to have had a sort of industrial revolution centuries before the one we all know, but based on water power. Then slowly, over the last 150 years, the canals were covered and Bologna has an incredible network of underground canals! Now, the local government is opening some of them up again – beautiful!
#photography #amateurphotography #italy #italia #bologna #streetphotography #blackandwhitephotography
