Bologna's network of porticoes covers an area of about 62km.
The longest uninterrupted one starts just outside Porta Saragozza and leads up to San Luca - this portico is 3.8km long and is the longest in the world! It also contains 666 arches (there are actually 658 because some of them don't get counted as proper arches but I'm not an arch-eologist), which is symbolically important and is often associated with the devil.
Supposedly this number and the serpentine nature of the path as you lead up to San Luca is ment to represent the Virgin Mary conquering the serpent, the devil.
Another interesting thing is you're not supposed to go up with your partner if you're not married because that will mean that you are going to break up.
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