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Best Hidden Gems in Bologna

, 8 Options Found

Within the Accursio palace, the seat of the City's Administration, reached via the charming Piazza Maggiore, you can visit the twenty magnificent rooms which currently hold the city's prestigious art collection. These sumptuous rooms, adorned with decoration and frescoes painted between the 16th and 19th Centuries, constituted, until 1859, the main seat of pontifical justice in Bolgna. The collection of works exhibited, which has been on show since 1935, was built up through private purchases and conspicuous donations to the community of Bologna by several wealthy families: the Palagi, Baruzzi, Pepoli, Verzaglia and Pizzardi families. The collection are worth visiting since they include several master works by famous Bolognese artists, such as Simone dei Crocifissi, Jacopo di Paolo, Vitale da Bologna, Francesco Francia, Bartolomeo Passerotti, Jacopo Tintoretto, Ludovico Carracci, Giuseppe Maria Crespi, Gaetano Gandolfi, Angelo Michele Colonna.

This church is on one of the country walks that you can do in the hills around the outskirts of Bologna. It is nearly one thousand years old with the oldest structure dating back to 1062. The church has undergone numerous renovations over the ages. A beautiful cloister was added to it and it was adapted by military engineers. However in 1892, it was reconsecrated and fully restored. Inside, it still has the same old transeptal division between the Canon's choir and the congregation. The cloister is beautiful; it's surrounded by a portico with small columns from the 12th Century. There is an attractive well in the middle of the square which was created in the 16th Century.

Museum for the memory of Ustica is a solemn reminder of the heart wrenching Italian tragedy. The museum gives a peak into the story of Itavia Flight 870 which crashed mysteriously in 1980. The Palermo bound aircraft crash is still a subject of debate and conspiracy, where no one knows why an 81 passenger flight exploded. The museum located inside the Via di Saliceto park houses the debris of the unfortunate flight. Walking through the pitiful remains is a poignant way of paying a tribute to one of the most devastating tragedies of the world.

The very modern Jewish Museum in Bologna is housed in the Palazzo Pannolini in the heart of Bologna's old Jewish Ghetto. A fascinating journey through the narrow streets and alleys of the ghetto will introduce you to an even more interesting itinerary: 500 square meters of exhibitions devoted to the history of the Jewish population. The museum is divided into three sections: the first features historical events and the problem of Jewish identity, the second is dedicated to temporary activities and in the third there is a delightful center for data transmission. There is also a specialized library where meetings, debates, and initiatives involving young people are also held here.

In 1236, the Franciscans began building the beautiful Basilica di San Francesco. The facade overlooking Piazza San Francesco has retained its Romanesque-Gothic features with a single spire. The portal is adorned with 18th-century features. Inside, the visitor will find the best of Italian-Gothic albeit with a modicum of French influence; it was the first to be built with three naves jutting out from six sections at the top of high octagonal pillars. Among the works of art kept in this holy building, there is an extraordinary altar piece from the late 14th Century by Jacobello and Pier Paolo delle Masegne.

The Palazzo della Mercanzia (Palazzo of the Merchants) was once the main trading area for the Bolognese merchants. It was designed by Antonio di Vincenzo in 1382. The building has a beautiful crenelated facade which is made up of red terracotta bricks contrasting with the carved white mullioned windows and the baldachin spire. The color contrast is made more evident by the small statues in their niches and the vaulted loggia with its pointed arches supported by robust pillars. The attractive loggia contains portals which are decorated with an inlaid lunette from 1490. Above the portals, there is a clock which was made by Alfonso Rubbiani and Alfredo Tartarini in 1889.

Bologna's botanical gardens were initiated in 1568 in the Ferrerio college by the naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi. It was initially called the Orto dei Simplici because you will find simple medicines cultivated here. It was enlarged and improved for the last time in the 19th Century by the Botanist Antonio Bortoloni. Today it contains another 5000 species of vegetation distributed over an area of 20,000 meters square. There are tropical plants, gimnosperms, mediterranean plants, medicinal plants etc. and annexed to the gardens is the famous Herbarium, reputedly the largest in Europe because of its hundreds of thousands of dried plants catalogued in a computer database.

The palazzo Merlato was originally known as the Palatium Novum. It was built in 1244 as the assembly building for the city council. They used to keep their weapons on the lower floors, including the famous carroccio, which played a major role in many of the city's field campaigns. The Bolognese captured King Enzo, son of Federico II, in 1242 at the important Battle of Fossalta. They imprisoned him here until his death in 1272. This famous prisoner left a legacy to the city in that from thenceforth the building was known as Palazzo Re Enzo.

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