BED AND BREAKFAST IN BOLOGNA   ACCOMMODATION IN BOLOGNA   ERBORISTERIA   WEBMASTER

The Unification of Italy brought the Haussmann style to Bologna: wide, straight streets, like via dell'lndipendenza, cut through the ancient city in the name of "progress" and of "modernity".
In 1859 the Romagna Assembly announced the unanimity for a Sard Kingdom, which took place on March 11-12th 1860 and sanctioned the dawn of a new Kingdom.

The style which was imposed on town-planning came from France in the Second Empire (Bolognese memories go back to the Bentivoglio period) following the example of the Prefect Haussmann, who created the "boulevards" inside the town.
The streets were designed with the ruler by tracing out straight routes even in the old urban network, to directly link up the places in the town considered important. Speed in communication was, in fact, the new myth of this period, full of constructive (and destructive) enthusiasm, while, at the same time, the theory of the "demolitions" and of the "destroying pick" made important progress, together with the many projects and new works. In 1858, still in the papal period, the new railway installations were built very close to the inhabited area, and, though increasing the importance of the city as a railway junction between the North and the South, prevented any future development to the North of the city, which, from then on, would have to expand beyond the railway (only in 1926 the new Bolognina district was linked to the city by means of a flyover).

So, 23 years later, in 1881, Via dell'lndipendenza was inaugurated which was the direct link between the railway station (the station building was made in 1871) and Piazza Maggiore. In 1863, the railway line Bologna-Pistoia was opened. ln that same period, before the end ofthe 19th Century, Piazza Cavour and Piazza Minghetti were also opened; the plan was drawn up and the work began for the "palazzate constructions" in Via Farini; the wide Margherita gardens (from the name of the queen) were fenced;
the "Scalea della Montagnola" was built and the park adorned with statues; the panoramic route to S. Michele in Bosco was drawn out; the Ponte Lungo (the bridge over the Reno) was built. Between 1868 and 1876 the Palazzo of the Cassa di Risparmio was also built, No. 22, Via Farini, the work of Giuseppe Mengoni, the architect of the Galleria of Milano, who introduced in the city, in a very prominent way, the eclectic style which would mark the following period. For this building in town marble was exceptionally used; in fact the use of marble is only to be found in the 18th Century Montanari Palace of Via Galliera.

In the 80's the city exceeded 90,000 inhabitants, while the illiteracy fell by 33%. It was during this period that, especially in this area, the socialist movement which here gathered more people than in the rest of the country began to get stronger.

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General - Environment - Iron and Etruscan Age - Roman Age - Patron Saint- The Commune - Alma mater studiorum - Re Enzo - Porticoes - St Peter - Gothic - 14th Century - Piazza Maggiore - Aristocratic palaces - Brick and other stones - Early 15th Century - Archiginnasio - Counter Reformation Renaissance - 16th Century - Great portico ribbons - Frescoes in palaces - The "scenographic" city -  Napoleon's republics - Fall of Church power - The Restoration - Haussmann style - The new Century - Floreal style - Rationalism - World War - Active preservation - Around 2000