Piazza Santo Stefano

Piazza Santo Stefano does not exist. What everyone refers to as a "square" is, in actual fact, a widening of the road at the end of the façade of the homonymous church, originally composed of an aggregate of liturgical spaces referred to by the Bolognese population as the "Sette Chiese".
This space has a distinct "funnel" shape and connects points at different heights, filling the difference in height between the lower centre, the entrance of the church which is even lower and the porticoed sides which are higher. In 1934 it was decided to overcome these differences in heights: the churchyard was isolated in a lowered area, around which a plinth was built, taking the floor plane to the level of the highest point. The square was then accessible for vehicles and pedestrians all around the church and this is how it remained until the 1980s. In 1989, Dino Gavina, a knowledgeable entrepreneur, convinced the local authorities to involve Luigi Caccia Dominioni. The project by the Milan based architect plans to restore the bowl shape of the square crossed by ‘guidane’ i.e. pedestrian paths indicated by paving that is different from the main one used.