Piazza Maggiore
The beating hearth of the city, Piazza Maggiore or Piazza Grande as the people of Bologna call it and Lucio Dalla sang it) is the center of civil and religious life in Bologna.It is famous for the Fontana del Nettunowhich overlooks the most important buildings of the medieval city:
to the West the fourteenth-century Town Hall with the Clock Tower and Sala Borsa, to the East the sixteenth-century Palazzo dei Banchi; to the south the imposing Basilica di San Petronio in front of which lies the elegant Palazzo del Podestà.
Clock Tower
The Clock Tower immediately allows you to identify Palazzo D’Accursio, seat of the Municipality of Bologna. Since 1336 the political power of Bologna has been exercised in the frescoed halls of this beautiful palace. It takes its name from the jurist Accursio who had his native house here, which century after century has become what we see today.
Past the staircase designed by Bramante that allowed entry on horseback of the rulers, there are Sala d’Ercole, Sala del Consiglio Comunale, Sala Farnese, Cappella Farnese, Sala Rossa e Sala Urbana.
Finally open to the public is the Accursi Tower, or Clock Tower: you can get to the top, discover the mechanism that regulates the clock and visit with the same ticket also the Municipal Art Collections on the top floor..
La Torre degli Asinelli
The towers of Bologna are one of the distinctive features of the city. Of the many towers that were built between the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, today there are less than twenty. These structures had a function both militar and noble: they gave prestige to the family that ordered the construction.
The Asinelli Tower was built between 1109 and 1119 by the homonymous family who, in addition to receiving social prestige, used it for military purposes of defense and sighting.
In 1448, in fact, the tower was equipped with a spool to accommodate the guards.Visitors, after having walked the 498 steps of the internal staircase, can reach the top pf Asinelli Tower that, from its height of 97.20 meters, allows you to have the red city at your feet.
La Basilica di Santo Stefano
The Basilica di Santo Stefano is a set of sacred buildings that form the most famous complex of the Seven Churches. The triangular Piazza Santo Stefano, which has recently been restored to its original appearance, houses theChurch of the Crucifix, the Basilica of the Sepulchre, the Church of San Vitale and Sant'Agricola, the Courtyard of Pilate, the Church of the Martyrium, the Medieval Cloister and the Museum of Santo StefanoAll very ancient buildings, even if they date back to different eras, maintain a certain stylistic homogeneity, making the complex the most interesting and best preserved Romanesque monument in Bologna. Over the years the works of modification and restoration have changed the ancient appearance of the complex to reduce to four the number of the initial seven churches.
L'Archiginnasio
The Archiginnasio is the most beautiful palace in Bologna and certainly one of the most beautiful in Italy. It takes just a few steps to be amazed by a long porch with 30 arches decorated with hundreds of coats of arms and two loggias on the upper floors.
On the stairs you will find 10 classrooms (not open to visitors) and the Library, which can be accessed for study but not for sightseeing. The two classrooms that once housed Artists and Legists (Stabat Mater) are beautifully decorated. The vaults, the walls of the halls, the staircases and the loggias are covered with covered with coats of arms, inscriptions and monuments that celebrate the masters and students passed by the classrooms of the Archiginnasio. Do not miss a visit to the Anatomical Theatre, destroyed by the bombings of 1954 but entirely and perfectly rebuilt with the original materials.
