Bologna

Piazza Maggiore is the place of strongest symbolism of the dialogue between civil and religious life which, throughout the centuries, has marked Bologna’s history. For a long time, from the Renaissance to the eighteenth century, the notes of the Concerto Palatino echoed from a balcony overlooking Piazza Maggiore, an extraordinary group of players from various nations, paid by the Community and called upon on the most important occasions to accompany the singers and players of the Cappella di San Petronio. The Basilica which dominates the square is dedicated to Bologna’s patron saint: it is the city’s largest church (the fifth largest in the Catholic world) but it is not Bologna’s Cathedral, which is San Pietro. Opposite San Petronio there is the Palazzo del Podestà, which, during the Renaissance period, contained the Teatro della Sala. On the eastern side of the square there is the remarkable Palazzo dei Banchi, readapted by Vignola in the sixteenth century; on the western side there is the Palazzo Comunale, initially built from the houses of Accursio, one of the earliest professors of the Medieval University; beside San Petronio, on the right, the gothic Palazzo dei Notai, readapted in 1908.