Review: Hotel Il Guercino in Bologna, Italy
The bathroom had green tile on the floor and the walls. There was a large sink and a tight hard-plastic-paneled shower with shower technology sufficiently complicated that it took some trial and error to discover functionalities we wanted). Operating the electric hair-dryer, on the other hand was a snap. Neither the toile bowl nor the bidet were cramped. (I’d say the shower was).
Toiletries supplied by Il Guercino were bars of hand soap, two gel/shampoo bottles, shower caps, and shoe wipes. The towels were large and fluffy.
On the desk was a water boiler (not a coffee maker). By it were two packets of instant coffee, two of instant espresso (!) and four different kinds of tea (Early Grey,. Darjeeling, Chamomile, Four Red Fruits). There was no power outlet by the desk, and we ended up boiling water in a corner where a second padded desk chair was located.
The flat-panel television was about 30″. It carried CNN and BCC World News along with Italian, French, and German stations. No hotel stationery was provided, nor was there an alarm clock to use. There was, however, an in-room safe.
The bedside lights provided sufficient illumination for reading. There were the usual (to-me-overlong) European pillows and (un-Europeanly) a top sheet.
There were several public spaces inside and out for guests to gather. I enjoyed some time reading on a patio a few steps from our room.
The breakfast buffet was ample, including soft-boiled and hard-boiled eggs, multiple choices of teas or coffee brews, pastries, assorted cheeses and cold cuts.
Bologna claims to be the culinary capital of Italy. The hotel breakfast buffet was better than what we found outside it in Bologna in three days and three nights.
Hotel Guercino is located a few blocks north of the train tacks that cut off the old town from suburban development (though a bit further out than the remnants of city walls and gates). The major street a block away becomes the main street in the old City: Via della’Independenza, running to the Piazza Maggiore with the Piazza Neptune on one side and the vast cathedral on the other. It has frequent busses stopping. It took us less than half an hour to walk to the Piazza Maggiore. By taking a walkway down to the train platforms rather than going around and through the train station, we got there in less than ten minutes (supposedly the distance is 200 meters). (Bologna is a major hub of the Italian railway network, and we went first to Florence, then to Venice, then to Ravenna).
The Hotel Guercino staff seemed efficient and friendly. We did not require much help (other than a map), so did not put “helpfulness” to much of a test.
All in all, we were pleased with our stay at the Hotel Il Guercino. The rooms were very clean and obviously had been remodeled recently. Being off a not-very-busy street, there was no street noise audible.
The address if Via Luigi Serra, 7. Since the airport is to the north of the city, taxi fare to the hotel was a modest 12 Euros.
Bologna is a city in which as lot of business gets transacted, and finding a hotel booking can be difficult. We were charged more for one weeknight than for two weekend ones.
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On the sites to see in Bologna, Stefano Felicori has posted an excellent set of suggestions at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/249738/easy_way_to_a_beautiful_italian_vacation.html with photos of the covered sidewalks, uncompleted cathedral facade of St. Petronio, and one of the leaning towers. To it, I would add that there is an excellent archeology museum (with no admission fee) beside the cathedral (Via dell’Archiginnasio No, 2) and other churches of interest, particularly the complex of Romanesque buildings of Santa Maria del Servi a bit to the east and the church of San Domenico south of the cathedral of St Petronio. For those not into examining old churches, there are lots of chic shops — though I did not think the people I saw in central Bologna were notably chic.
