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Forty kilometres of porch
Francesca mentions that the room dà sui portici as though it settled the matter, and in Bologna it rather does. The city has something close to forty kilometres of covered arcade, about nine of them in the historic centre, and they exist for an unglamorous reason: from the twelfth century the university pulled in more students than the walls could hold, so residents were allowed to extend their upper floors out over the street on props, renting the new rooms out. The city then required the overhangs to be high enough for a man on horseback, which is why they are generous rather than cramped. UNESCO listed them in 2021. What that means day to day is that Bologna is a city you can cross in the rain without an umbrella, and that its street life happens under cover — which is also why an apartment giving onto the portici is noisier than one that does not, a detail Francesca leaves out. The other thing to know about arriving is il condominio. An Italian building is a small republic: it holds assemblee, keeps minutes, elects an amministratore, argues about the lift and the citofono, and sends everyone a share of the bill. As a tenant you are not a member of it, but you will hear about its decisions, and the pianerottolo outside your door is common ground governed by its rules.