Villas of Bologna: hidden treasures and historic residences amid art and nature

Bologna is not just about appearances. With its rich heritage of palaces, historic residences, villas, and theaters, the city reveals its most evocative glimpses made of courtyards, grand staircases, and frescoed halls. If the historic center is enchanting, the hills and areas just outside the walls safeguard magnificent historic villas, witnesses to centuries of history and architecture, often immersed in splendid parks.

Villas that can be visited in Bologna and surroundings

To admire the elegance of these residences and their treasures up close, you will need to move just outside the city center. Some of these structures host museums or are open to the public, including through guided tours.

• Villa delle Rose  (Via Saragozza, 228-230)
  A splendid exhibition space managed by the MAMbo - Bologna Museum of Modern Art. The villa, with its evocative park, is dedicated to temporary exhibitions and other cultural events. It is a reference point for contemporary art outside the classic museum circuit.
  

• Villa Aldrovandi Mazzacorati (Via Toscana, 19)
  A 17th-century historic building located just outside the center of Bologna. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the residence with a garden passed to the Aldrovandi family who carried out various restoration works. At the end of the eighteenth century, the property became owned by the Mazzacorati marquises. The definitive neoclassical style designed by Francesco Tadolini also dates back to the same period.
  Even today, the villa is known for the theater hosted inside it, inaugurated in 1763 and the only example of a suburban private theater that has survived in the Bologna area; the "Mario Massaccesi" National Toy Soldier Museum and a Regional Health Service Polyclinic.
  

• Palazzina della Viola (Via Filippo da Re, 2)
  Although located inside the walls, this residence is an exception that deserves a mention. The result of an initiative by Annibale Bentivoglio, today it hosts the offices of the International Relations Area of the University of Bologna. It features valuable sixteenth-century decorations, ascribed to artists such as Amico Aspertini and Innocenzo da Imola. Its frescoed halls are sometimes accessible to the public for events or upon request, as it is a university location.
  

• Casa Lyda Borelli (Via Saragozza, 236)
  Inaugurated on October 28, 1931, Casa Lyda Borelli is a historic retirement home for performing artists and a perfect example of Déco architecture. In addition to its social and historical importance, the structure is still visitable with a guided tour, allowing visitors to explore a rich library and archive with testimonies from great Italian artists, including Eleonora Duse and Ermete Zacconi.

Other historic residences to admire

Several other villas, although not open, retain a great architectural charm, testifying to the influence of neoclassicism in Bologna:

• Villa Belpoggio-Baciocchi (via Siepelunga, 44-46): Designed by Filippo Antolini, it boasts beautiful neoclassical lines and an elevated position.
• Villa Hercolani (via Siepelunga, 34): Subject to radical eighteenth-century restorations, with a monumental fastigium and a garden once adorned with sculptures.
• Villa Marescalchi (via dell’Osservanza, 27): On the Colle dell'Osservanza, with an English garden that reflects the pre-Romantic ruinistic taste of the era.
• Villa Monti (via Siepelunga, 59): An example of Palladian neocinquecentismo, with great compositional balance, attributed to Angelo Venturoli.
• Villa Pallavicini (via Emilio Lepido, 196): A large 17th-century structure, known for the important architectural construction site of the late eighteenth century.
• Villa Revedin (Piazzale Giuseppe Bacchelli, 4): The former summer residence of Cardinal Oppizzoni, today it is part of the complex of the Diocesan Seminary. 

These residences, even when not visitable, tell an essential part of Bologna's history and architecture, inviting you to discover the most fascinating and lesser-known glimpses of the city and its splendid hills