Skip to main content Skip to footer content

Palazzo Bolognini Isolani

The portico is the work of Pagno di Lapo Portigiani and Antonio di Simone Fiorentino, master stone masons mentioned in a contract dating back to 1454. From a formal point of view it is one of the stages between the transition from the late Gothic to the Renaissance era, of which Pagno di Lapo was one of the main exponents in Bologna.
The six full arches, marked by terracotta ferrules, are supported by circular brick columns, while the sandstone capitals are a reconstruction carried out in the mid-18th century, unlike the internal corbels which have a more archaic appearance.
The façade is completed by a variety of pointed arch windows with busts placed at the top, as well as densely populated niches under the ledge that hosts the terracotta heads and pots.
fronte del palazzo

In the 1800s the building was taken over by the Counts Isolani who henceforth become the owners of a large built area between Piazza Santo Stefano and Strada Maggiore. Since 1995, the portal of this building has provided access to the adjoining rooms and also to a series of internal courtyards connecting the square to Casa Isolani (see fact sheet), northernmost offshoot of the noble section.

It has always been thought that the heads in the window vaults were coeval with the façade, until it was discovered that one of them is wearing an 18th-century wig. This news cast doubt on the dating, which may refer to the time of the restoration works on the building in 1757 or even those in 1832.

 

Sources

F. Ceccarelli, D. Pascale Guidotti Magnani, Il portico bolognese. Storia, architettura, città, Bologna, Bononia University Press, 2021, p. 84.

A. Vianelli, Le piazze di Bologna, Bologna, Newton Compton, 2003, pp. 75- 83

 

https://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/bolognaonline/bologna-dei-fumetti/citta-fumetti/palazzo_bolognini_isolani

https://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/bolognaonline/cronologia-di-bologna/1842/gli_isolani_acquistano_palazzo_bolognini 

Photo: 1Cinquantesimo