Bologna - Southwest around via del Pratello Travel Guides | Bologna | Sub Regions | Bologna - Southwest around via del Pratello

The southwest of the Centro Storico contrasts the elegant via d'Azeglio, catwalk and hunting ground for Bologna's dedicated followers of fashion among wallet-bruising boutiques, with the boozy uproarious osterie of the via del Pratello and via San Felice, famous for the concentration of years-old drinking holes and the concentration of their house distillations. Amid these extremes are the leafy squares of piazza Galvani and piazza Malpighi, the latter providing the setting for the stronghold of the Franciscan order in Bologna in the imposing and unusual form of the Chiesa di San Francesco. The important artery of via Saragozza leads past the Collegio di Spagna, symbol of Bologna's early cosmopolitan outlook. It continues back in time, past many old bars and cafés, full of locals and unchanged for decades, up to the porta Saragozza, gateway to the city's great colonnaded pilgrimage site on the hill, the Santuario di San Luca.

Sights

Collegio di Spagna

via del Collegio di Spagna. Only the courtyard can be visited.

Even in the 14th century the world's famous universities were cosmopolitan and open to overseas students and this building, one of Bologna's more unusual pieces of architecture for the Hispanic references in the colour and style of its charming double loggia courtyard, was built to house students from Spain (known as los Bolonios). The building was a project of the Archbishop of Toledo, briefly a papal minister of the city before being overthrown by the council. In 1364, having paid in advance for a lavish funeral, he bequeathed the rest of his fortune in a will that requested the building of a college to house 24 Spanish students from noble families. It is said that these students and their successors enjoyed impunity from the law as they were subjects of the Spanish crown.

Piazza Malpighi

Formerly a part of piazza San Francesco this is Bologna's most colourful square, flanked down one side by a frescoed arcade that used to form part of the church of San Francesco nearby. The column in the centre supports a bronze statue of the Immaculate Conception designed by Guido Reni. The Bolognese place flowers. at the statue's feet on 8th December every year at the Festa della Concezione Immacolata.

Chiesa di San Francesco

piazza San Francesco, T 051-221762. Mon-Sun 0630-1200, 1500-1900.

Completed between 1236-1263, this church and its convent was established as the HQ of the Franciscan order following their arrival in the city in 1211. It is a fine, even towering example of Gothic architecture with a French influence, a heavy and complex forest of spidery flying buttresses which may or may not appeal. Considering that it was badly damaged in World War II, and also used by Napoleon as a depot and customs house, it has been successfully restored. The interior, supported by octagonal trunk-like columns, conceals a number of important works of art: the beautiful marble altarpiece conceived by the Masegne brothers in Venice in 1392 depicting scenes from the life of St Francis, and the pyramidal mausoleums to i glossari, the university's founding lecturers and legal scholars, in the peaceful cloister of the convent next door. Set behind the altar is an unusual semi-circle of chapels notable for a tryptych completed in 1929 by the sculptress, Teresa Gruber.

Via del Pratello

This road and the working-class area between via Sant'Isaia and via San Felice has always been renowned for its concentration of osterie and still today is a buzzing area thick with door-to- door dodgy dives and drinking joints. A Bolognese version of Barcelona's ramblas, at night it comes to life with street art, theatre and drunks.

Porta Saragozza

With its three crenellated towers this is easily the most magnificent of the 10 gates of the outer city. However, its fine state of repair is the result of a reconstruction built in 1857 which essentially followed the design of the original but could not resist a number of 19th-century embellishments designed to herald the gateway to the famous cloistered path to the Santuario di San Luca on the hill.

Chiesa del Corpus Domini

via Tagliapietre 19, T 051-331277. 1000-1400, 1600-1800.

Also dedicated to Santa Caterina, Bologna's most important female saint, this little church and convent, restored to something like its former glory following considerable damage in the Second World War has a beautiful portal and also a number of frescoes by Ludovico Carracci and friends inside.

Palazzo Albergati

via Saragozza 26-28.

Situated just before the city gate this palatial 16th-century building, distinguishable by the beautiful sandstone figures that embellish its façade, is thought at one stage to have housed Roman public baths during the reign of Augustus. Inside is a beautiful frieze by Lazzarino Casario.

Palazzo Bevilacqua

via Massimo d'Azeglio 31-33.

Seat of meetings of the Council of Trent in the 16th century, this building is a good example of Renaissance Bolognese architecture, with portals finely decorated in bas-relief and an elegant iron-balustraded balcony. Through the courtyard stands an intriguing fountain with a lion spouting water from the top of a column.

Teatro Romano

via de' Carbonesi 7.

An unusual feature for any shop, the partial remains of a Roman theatre, estimated to date back to 80BC, were discovered under what is now the Bolognese branch of the department store, Coin.

Chiesa di San Paolo Maggiore

via de' Carbonesi 18, T 051-331490. 0800-1100, 1700-1900.

This early 17th-century church, with beautiful statuettes in the upper niches of the façade, also contains fresco masterpieces, particularly in the cupola and also Paradise by Ludovico Carracci and Saint Gregory and the Souls of Purgatory by Guercino. The façade has many swords as it was commissioned by Cardinal Bernardino Spada (spada means sword).

Via Barberia

Via Barberia is lined with many fine palazzi from the 16th and 17th centuries: Palazzo Marescotti at number 4 is currently the home of the Italian Communist Party, a cause close to Bologna's heart, and contains a splendid staircase with double banister designed by Giacomo Monti as well as fine paintings; at number 13, Palazzo Salina has decorations from the 18th century; and in the corner of piazza Malpighi, where the second circle of the old city wall used to stand, Palazzo Rusconi has a façade embellished by rococo ornamentations.

Travel Guides | Bologna | Sub Regions | Bologna - Southwest around via del Pratello
		Flights Cheap flights to any destination worldwide click here		Car Rental Compare prices for worldwide car rental click here		Hotels Lowest prices on over 60,000 hotels worldwide click here		Travel Insurance Compare Travel Insurance prices click here