The origins
The Town Hall is the result of a series of acquisitions that began in 1287 with the purchase of a tower house that belonged to Accursio, a master of law. A first nucleus, Palazzo della Biada, as it was then referred to, was erected on the south-west side of the current complex between 1293 and 1295. The portico with pointed arches is supported by polystyle pillars and features a system of alternating ashlars in sandstone and brick that refers to a period before the actual construction dates.
In 1336 the building became the residence of Anziani Consoli, previously hosted in Palazzo Re Enzo. Other extensions took place throughout the century: on the north-west side of the complex, an imposing tower called the Torrone was built in 1352 and another tower called the Torre dei Lapi was erected in the Porta Nuova area, on the south side.
Later on, in 1365, the Cardinal Legate Androino de Grimoard, overseer of an authoritarian shift, fortified the complex by connecting the architectural protrusions with a crenellated wall. During this work, the portico on the façade disappeared and a moat was dug around the building. Just one single entrance to the square remained, served by a drawbridge. In 1376 the city rebelled against the Legation and after a series of vicissitudes regained its autonomy: this came to an end, however, in 1401 when Giovanni Bentivoglio attempted to seize the sovereignty of the city.
The Renaissance period and the ‘Mixed government’ era
A few years later, in 1425, a fire destroyed the building unit to the right of the portal. The resulting works involved Fioravante Fioravanti, designer of the transformations on the west and north sides of the main courtyard and the section towards the square. In 1444, the rebuilt Torre di Accursio was enhanced by a clock with bells and, later on, by a carousel of wooden statues powered by a mechanism striking the hour. At the end of the century, Nicolò dell'Arca created a terracotta bas-relief, originally gilded, with the Virgin and Child taking the place of an earlier painted image on the façade.
After the end of the Bentivoglio period, a government defined by historiographers as ‘mixed’ came into power in Bologna; power was simultaneously in the hands of the Papal Legate and the city Senate representing the Bolognese patriciate oligarchy. Works resumed in the 16th century with the erection of the tower to the north-east. These are also the years in which the staircase attributed to Bramante was built to connect the two large vaulted rooms on the first floor (Sala d’Ercole) and the second floor (Sala Farnese).
Famous names of the Renaissance era continued to make their contribution: In 1547, Jacopo Barozzi da Vignola designed a monumental door with the coat of arms of Bologna and roaring lions; Galeazzo Alessi was responsible for several interventions including the portal on the square, the large window to the right of the entrance and the entrance to the Farnese Chapel on the first floor, which was painted internally by Prospero Fontana in 1562 with a cycle of frescoes.
Other building works were carried out on the complex, with the construction of the winter apartment of the Legate, to the east, whilst in 1568 Ulisse Aldrovandi created the Giardino dei Semplici, a model for similar Italian endeavours. A cistern was created, complete with a roof structure, by Francesco Morandi to water the rare and precious plants. These are also the years in which another important figure in the Bologna architectural world, Domenico Tibaldi, built a tribune on the façade that housed the statue of the Bolognese Pope Gregory XIII Boncompagni. Tommaso Laureti enhanced the façade to the north with an imposing public fountain (1565).
At the end of the century, the Palazzo was used as the residence of the Legate, the representative of the Pope in Bologna, the Gonfaloniere, the offices of the Assunterie (a sort of City Councillor of that time), various magistrates, a court and the prisons (in the north-west tower).
The 17th century saw the works to build the SalaUrbana, in honour of Pope Urbano VIII Barberini. It was decorated with frescoes with the coats of arms of popes and legates, in addition to panels with some of the urban innovations requested by the Legato Spada, such as the opening of Via Urbana and the construction of the Forte Urbano on the border with Modena.
In 1661, the southern front of the courtyard was redesigned by Paolo Canali, while a decade later, a series of interventions were carried out on the fronts overlooking the square.
In more recent times...
The arrival of the French, in 1796, led to a systematic damnatio memoriae operation: many sculptures were destroyed and countless decorated walls were stripped. The only exception was the statue of Gregory XIII on the façade which, thanks to some quick alterations, was passed off as a portrait of the Bolognese bishop Petronio, patron saint of the city, and hence saved.
This led to the post-unity changes brought about by the need to adapt the building to the requirements of the new institutions. A guard house for the Regie Post Office was established, traces of which can still be seen on the circle that constitutes the entrance to Salaborsa. This work, like many others, was designed by the Municipality Technical Office, in particular Engineer Antonio Zannoni, one of the main protagonists of the transformations to the city at the end of the 19th century.
Raffaele Faccioli, on the other hand, carried out an interpretative restoration of the façades of the building between 1885 and 1887, aimed at achieving an important formal renovation. But as a result of these works, several architectural testimonies of past eras were erased. At that time, however, the 13th century portico was reopened.
In 1883 the Salaborsa took over the area of the Aldrovandian Gardens. It was used over time also as a sports hall for basketball games, following the era of the mercantile functions for which it was designed.
In the second courtyard in 1900, Achille Casanova decorated a space referred to then as the Wedding Hall in a mixed eclectic and floral style. For the façade, Alfonso Rubbiani had drawn up plans to build imposing mullioned windows in 1930 in place of the large windows designed by Fioravante Fioravanti.
The Municipal Art Collections is hosted on the second floor, inside the halls that were once used as the residence of the Cardinal Legate. The museum was founded in 1936, bringing to a close the systematic plan for the reorganisation and enhancement of the civic collections.
The damage during the Second World War impacted the tower in the south-west area. It was soon rebuilt, but the entire complex required various forms of restoration.
The Salaborsa Library was inaugurated in 2001, featuring a well-appointed covered square area for exhibitions and conferences. It collects and rationalises books and donations from various collections and has a multimedia library of general information, making it one of the lodestones of Bologna culture.
Sources
Giancarlo Roversi, Franco Bergonzoni, Il Palazzo Comunale, Bologna, Comune di Bologna, s.d.
Bologna. Atlante storico delle città italiane, a cura di Francesca Bocchi, vol. I, Bologna, Grafis Edizioni, 1996, pp. 171 e ss.
Il Palazzo Comunale di Bologna. Storia, architettura e restauri, a cura di Camilla Bottino, Bologna, Editrice Compositori, 1999.
Photo by Giorgio Bianchi