Medicina is a small town of about 16,000 people on the plain near Bologna, some twenty kilometres east of the city. Porticoes, a clock tower, the smell of coffee in the morning. It is also one of the Italian towns that TESUP turbines go to.
First, a curiosity: the name has nothing to do with the Medici, the family from Florence. According to legend, in the 12th century the emperor Frederick Barbarossa fell ill right here and was cured by a potion made with a snake. The town is said to be named after that “medicine”, and the snake is still on its coat of arms today.
Coffee under the porticoes
In a small town in Emilia-Romagna the day starts at the bar: an espresso drunk standing at the counter, a few words with the barista, and off you go. Cappuccino is a morning drink, perhaps with a cornetto, at a little table under the porticoes when the weather allows. Nothing more is needed.
Porticoes, towers and red brick
Like Bologna, Medicina lives under its porticoes. The best known is the Portico Venturoli, the “Porticone”: a long row of brick arches along the street, giving shade from the summer sun and shelter from the winter rain. Not far away, among the brick-coloured houses of the centre, rises the clock tower.
Barbarossa returns to the square
The legend of the name has not been forgotten. Medicina holds a historical re-enactment dedicated to Barbarossa, with medieval costumes, flag-throwers and period dinners: a cheerful way of telling its own story.
A town that listens to the sky
There is another surprise in the countryside around Medicina: the Northern Cross, a large radio telescope built in the 1960s and today part of Italy’s National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF). Its long rows of antennas listen to signals arriving from space.
Wind and sun on the plain
The plain of Emilia is not the windy coast of northern Europe: here the wind is often light. That is exactly why we made the low-wind blade set for the TESUP Atlas vertical wind turbine, which starts turning at just 2 m/s. Together with flexible solar panels, it lets you make your own energy at home even where the wind is never strong, day and night.
Whoever chooses TESUP, in Medicina, in Bologna or anywhere else, receives the turbine at home with the step-by-step installation guide and the MyTesup app to follow production and ask our team questions.
Discover the TESUP Atlas wind turbine
Photographs of Medicina from Wikimedia Commons, resized and cropped: Palazzo Comunale 01 - Medicina (BO).jpg by Matulus, CC BY-SA 4.0; Porticone Venturoli 2.jpg by Mongolo1984, CC BY-SA 4.0; Scorcio della torre orologio 01.jpg by Matulus, CC BY-SA 4.0; Comune di Medicina (BO), Portico del Palazzo Comunale.jpg by Matulus, CC BY-SA 4.0; Historical reenactment Il Barbarossa Medicina Italy 2019 (1).jpg by EvelinaRibarova, CC BY-SA 4.0; Paolo Monti - Servizio fotografico (Medicina, 1974) - BEIC 6348759.jpg by Paolo Monti, CC BY-SA 4.0. Coffee photos: Adobe Stock.