The series of twelve components inscribed on the World Heritage List roughly follows a chronological order, from the oldest porticoes to the most modern ones. The first component focuses on the west side of Via Santa Caterina which cannot equal the decorative excellence of other components but stands out for its uniqueness that takes us back to the origins of porticoed Bologna.
We quote from the Guide to the Porticoes of Bologna, by Daniele Fraccaro:
Formed between the 12th and 13th centuries, [... in the street] there are no columns or decorated capitals. The simple square pillars follow one another without great variations in style, but display the palette [...] between the tones of yellow and Bologna red. Sections of wooden beamed ceilings survive from the ancient medieval porticoes. From the street side, you can still admire the original wooden architraves and, in correspondence with the pillars, the remarkable ancient wooden joists, entrusted with the task of distributing the weight of the architrave, otherwise concentrated solely on the pillar.
This is certainly the perfect stretch of portico to understand how this structure was born and how it is built. Both a shelter for artisans and shopkeepers and an extension of the houses above, built to cope with the increasing population within the second circle of walls, via Santa Caterina is an open-air model of the Bolognese portico system that was bound to develop in the following centuries with an infinite variety of configurations.
In the 1970s the buildings of this area were the subject of an exemplary restoration curated by Pierluigi Cervellati, Luciano Ghedini and Carlo De Angelis. The restoration redeveloped the interiors without altering the exteriors and allowed a fundamental stage in the history of the Bolognese portico to be kept alive to the present day.
To be guided by an agile and complete tool: Daniele Fraccaro, Guida I Portici di Bologna, Bologna, Edizioni In riga, 2021
To learn more about the restorations: https://bbcc.regione.emilia-romagna.it/pater/loadcard.do?id_card=151447
Photo by Giorgio Bianchi