The T Days is a unique chance to rediscover and appreciate for the first time the specificity of an important part of the historical center of Bologna.
A part of town, the heart of the city, which finally can be enjoyed without the anxiety of everyday life which forces to move in a frenetic and careless way.
Bolognawelcome.it invites to look up, to dwell on details so far ignored or not fully captured thanks to the opportunity which a calm and easy walk or a bike ride can offer.
And this is achieved with the exceptional contribution of a historical guide of the Tourism Sector of Bologna Municipality, Giorgia Zabbini, who has developed three specific routes exactly along the streets of T -Area: Via Indipendenza, Via Ugo Bassi, Via Rizzoli.
Every week an itinerary will be published on Bolognawelcome.it. The route can also be downloaded and brought with you.
For the T Days of Saturday 19th and Sunday 20th May, here is the itinerary along Via Indipendenza.
The road was opened in the late nineteenth century to connect the city center with the train station.
Along this porticoed street, there are bars, restaurants, shops, monuments.
Ahead the Piazzola Market, the Arena del Sole Theatre and the Statue of Garibaldi, in the stretch of road which from via Righi arrives at the intesection with Ugo Bassi and Rizzoli streets, we suggest a look at:
Originally, the XVth century building housed the canons of the nearby Cathedral of St. Peter. In the XVIth century, the pawnshop of St. Peter was here established (the Pawnshop was a non-profit financial institution which loaned limited amounts of money in exchange for a pledge). In the XVIIIth century, the palace was restored by the Roman architect Marco Antonio Bianchini in collaboration with Alfonso Torreggiani when other city pawnshops were added. On the front door, there is a baked clay sculpture, representing a Lament on Dead Christ attributed to Gabriele Fiorini.
Curiosity: going round the city and looking up, different portals of Bolognese palaces of the seventeenth and eighteenth century house interesting sculptures.
It is the cathedral of the city as it is the seat of the bishop. The first foundation dates to the Xth century. After a fire in the XIIth century, the building was rebuilt and the bell tower, which still contains the round tower of Xth century, was raised. Further changes occurred between the XVIth and XVIIth centuries by various architects, when the embellishment and enlargement of the building in Baroque style was carried out. The façade of the XVIIIth century was planned by Alfonso Torreggiani. Inside the main chapel, the church is adorned with paintings by Prospero Fontana (XVIth century) and Ludovico Carracci (Annunciation, 1618) and, in the first chapel on the right, with a group of sculptures in baked clay representing a Lament on Dead Christ by Alfonso Lombardi (XVIth century). In the near Via Altabella, there are the remains of the Romanesque portal “of the lions" (the XIIIth century sculptures of two lions in red Verona marble which support the stoups are currently located at the main entrance). This side door has been used, until the Napoleonic age, as entrance for the university students who were going to take their degree, which was celebrated in the cathedral.
In the annexed St. Peter museum, precious objects of sacred and liturgical art are preser, the Byzantine image of the Madonna with Child hosted in the Sanctuary of San Luca on the Guardia hill is still brought to the city to the Cathedral of St. Peter. Here it stays for the week of the Ascension and then returns to the Sanctuary.
Curiosity: until the XIIIth century, when Piazza Maggiore was built, here was the heart of Bologna. Just opposite the Cathedral, on the other side of via Indipendenza, there is a blind alley, today called "degli Ariosti" where tradition has always considered that point the "navel" or center of Bologna.
Charming stretch of street which currently houses the homonymous bar, it derives its name from the presence of some florists’. In the back of one of these, in November 1794, two university students - Luigi Zamboni (from Bologna) and Giovanni Battista De Rolandis (from Asti) – prepared an attempted insurrection against the papal government, soon failed.
The present construction, named Casa Stagni, was renovated by the end of XIXth century by Augusto Sezanne for the homonymous owner who purchased the building, formerly belonged to the Scappi family, which still incorporates the XIIIth century tower. According to the legend, the Scappi family was awarded the noble title and so called because they had failed the attempted escape of King Enzo (in Italian, Scappi means escape). It is said that a woman of the family, seeing King Enzo hidden in a basket, shouted "run run" making him be recaptured by the Bolognese.
The Scappi Tower is 39 meters high and at its base there is la Coroncina, one of the oldest shops in Bologna (1694), which originally sold religious items.
Curiosity: The frescoed ceiling of the portico of Casa Stagni reports the inscription panis vita, canabis protectio, vinum laetitia' (bread is life, hemp is protection, wine is joy), which is a witness of the local agricultural opulence and is traditionally considered one of the mysterious places of the city.
The building was designed by Alfonso Torreggiani (XVIIth century) by will of Pope Benedict XIVth as the seat of the Archbishop's Seminary. In 1912, the building was transformed into a hotel and it is still the most prestigious hotel in the city. A room of the first floor, connected to the nearby Palazzo Fava, retains a frieze representing the “Stories of Europe” painted at the end of XVIth century by Agostino, Annibale and Ludovico Carracci.
Curiosity: in the basement of the Grand Hotel Majestic, near the breakfast room, an original Roman road paving can be seen.
It was created in the art nouveau style by Augusto Sezanne in the beginning of the XIXth century as seat of the café and chocolate shop of the Majani factory. Now it houses a clothes shop of a low cost chain. Note the floral decorations of the capitals of the portico and of the wrought iron balconies.
Curiosity: in the upper part of the building, where the outdoor terrace is, there were a bar, a tearoom, a coffee shop and a ballroom. In the XIXth century, via Indipendenza housed several cafés and dance halls, very fashionable at the time.
