ASSESSORATO AL TURISMO
COMUNE DI BOLOGNA

PIAZZA MAGGIORE

Trial and error, disappointment and enthusiasm, doubts and certainties, and finally a first tangible result: Piazza Maggiore. At its centre a large raised paved area: il "crescentone" [N.d.T.: the big crescente - the "flat" bread you can find in all the city's bakeries]. This is the true heart of the city, the point of reference for the many people who cross it daily, whether by necessity or for pleasure. As pieces gradually fit together, the vision that appears is pure magic. The gaze is gently captured.

We now find ourselves magnetically attracted to the Pavaglione and Via dell'Archiginnasio: an elegant portico that flanks the left side of the Basilica di San Petronio. A harmony of capitals and gothic windows, stylish shops and historical monuments, such as the Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio, the prestigious location of the public library, which greets visitors as they enter with a heraldic gallery of inestimable value: seven thousand coat-of-arms belonging to the Italian and foreign students appointed to various university positions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. This is also the location of the famous Stabat Mater room, which takes its name from the title of an opera by the world-famous composer, Gioacchino Rossini, who spent in Bologna his exuberant private and musical life.

Across the road, the beautiful Piazza Galvani, named for the Bolognese scientist Luigi Galvani, to whom the marble monument is dedicated. And now, back again to Piazza Maggiore, where other pieces of the puzzle define the imposing Palazzo dei Banchi, scenografically dominated by the massive Palazzo del Podestà and by the cupola of Santa Maria della Vita - the church which holds the thrilling sight of a moving work of art: Nicolò dell'Arca's terracotta "Pietà". Another surprise: the portico tiles (how many?: 3000 .... 4000 .... 7000?...), all decorated with different motifs, almost the echo of an ancient and mysterious anthropomorphic, zoomorphic blend of heraldry and floral ornaments on the fifteenth century columns with romanesque traces.

New dazzling fragments come together.
The austere Palazzo d'Accursio; the aristocratic Palazzo dei Notai; the noble San Petronio; the lively, colourful markets of Via Pescherie and Via Clavature; the symbols of craftsmanship in via Orefici, Caprarie and Drapperie, the streets dedicated to the Arts and Crafts Corporations which made Bologna a rich, civilized and important "city of crafts" in the widest sense of the term. An example above all: a plaque in the central via Castiglione, on the corner of the evocative Piazza della Mercanzia, stands witness to an agreement between craftsmen, merchants and students (who had elected the Studio Felsineo to the level of University since the thirteenth century), stipulating that students were entitled to a kind of grant, so that they would not need to pay for books, food and clothes. A promotional initiative ante litteram, combining culture and more practical benefits...




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