In 187 B.C., the Roman legions defeated and subdued the indigenous populations of the Tuscan and Emilian Apennines and, after pacifying these territories, built a road to link Bologna with Arezzo. Remnants of this road still exist in the hills surrounding Bologna.

Bologna is an ancient city; this is evident as you follow the winding streets surrounded by porticoed buildings, radiating from the Piazza Maggiore in the center of the city.

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A medieval city, the heart of Bologna resonates with a distinctive darkness. Narrow, dark streets meeting at odd angles, covered walkways, massive wooden doors; this city has weathered countless generations and will see countless more. We are but a shadow on its ancient walls.

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Also (!), with this image I'm going to start something I've been meaning to do for some time. I'm making the Canon camera RAW file available under the license below, hoping that you'll take the image and post process it.

Some photographers used to do a fun thing, where they'd exchange negatives with a group of friends to see how others would make prints from them. I'm always curious to see how others would photoshop the images I make, so I invite you to realize a final image from this RAW file. This is also fun because you'll be able to see how sloppy my exposures are. You'll need Photoshop CS, or something that can convert Canon RAW files (this one is from a 5D).

The image is licensed for non-commercial use, though I'm requesting that you share alike; send me a link to the image you create, or send me the image if you'd rather I host it.

This work and associated RAW file is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.