- Palazzo del Podestà
The Palazzo del Podestà is a civic building in
Bologna , northernItaly .The edifice was built around 1200 as the seat of the local "
podestà ", the various functionaries of the commune. It stands on the Piazza Maggiore, near the Palazzo Communale and facing the Basilica of St. Petronio. Proving insufficient for the massive participation of the people in the city's government, it was in1245 flanked by thePalazzo Re Enzo , over which stands the "Torre dell'Arengo", whose bell was used to call the people during emergencies.The Palazzo del Podestà is a long building, with a large hall on the upper floor. The lower floor is a double open arcade, the so-called "Voltone del Podestà", through which pass two lanes of shops.
In
1453 Aristotile Fioravanti replaced the bell and reconstructed the original Gothic façade in the Renaissance style by order ofGiovanni II Bentivoglio . In the "Voltone", in 1525, were placed theterracotta statues of the city's protectors, Sts. Petronius, Proculus, Dominic and Francis, all byAlfonso Lombardi .In the 16th-18th centuries the Palazzo was used as theatre. In the 20th century it was frescoed by
Adolfo de Carolis .
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