Piazza Maggiore

The heart of Bologna. This is the Platea communis, the town square created in the thirteenth century to house the City Council chambers in the Town Hall, Palazzo del Podestà and Palazzo dei Notai. In 1390, Basilica of San Petronio was built, a civic temple commissioned by the citizens, and the scenic backdrop of the Palazzo dei Banchi, behind which the cluttered area of the Mercato di Mezzo extends.
The centre of the square has a raised area called "Crescentone" which has always hosted the market. In the nineteenth century the statue of King Vittorio Emanuele was erected there and was later moved to the Giardini Margherita park. The area teemed with the jeeps of the allies who liberated Bologna on 21 April 1945 and with dense traffic in the years after, until it was decided to make the zone a pedestrian thoroughfare. For many years now, in the summer the area has abounded with film enthusiasts who, with their eyes fixed on a screen as large as a building, animate the open-air screening organised by the Cineteca di Bologna and which is now of international importance.