Piazza Maggiore - 4 Things to Know Before Visiting

The fountain of Neptune, nicknamed al Żigànt in dialect by the Bolognese because of the size of the statue of Neptune, is located in Bologna in Piazza del Nettuno. The over-life-size bronze figure of the god Neptune was completed and fixed in place around 1567. The statue was an early design by Giambologna, who had submitted a model for the Fountain of Neptune in Florence but had lost the commission to Baccio Bandinelli.

The Palazzo del Podestà in Bologna overlooks Piazza Maggiore, in the heart of the city, together with the Palazzo Comunale and the Basilica of San Petronio. It was built around 1200, together with Piazza Maggiore as a building to carry out public functions and therefore the seat of the podestà and his officials. The current layout is very different from the original one also because the Palazzo Re Enzo was built later, between 1244 and 1246.

The Re Enzo Palace is a historic building in Bologna dating from the thirteenth century. It was built between 1244 and 1246 at the behest of the podestà Filippo Ugoni as an extension of the municipal buildings of the Palazzo del Podestà and for this reason, called Palatium Novum, but its historical events have made it always linked to the figure of King Enzo of Sardinia.

The Palazzo d'Accursio , also called Town Hall [1] (in Bolognese dialect PALAZ without the article) is a building that overlooks the Piazza Maggiore and is currently home to the City Hall of Bologna. Today's palace is a collection of buildings that have been united over the centuries. The original nucleus, purchased by the Municipality at the end of the 13th century, included the home of Accursio , a jurist and teacher of law in the Bologna studio.

The Salaborsa Library was inaugurated in 2001 inside Palazzo d'Accursio, the historic seat of the Municipality of Bologna. It overlooks Piazza Nettuno and via Ugo Bassi. Visitors to the library are able to see an archaeological site through the crystal floor in the center of the library. The ancient ruins are also accessible from the basement floor, where there is information about them.

The Basilica di San Petronio is one of the largest churches in the world and Bologna’s Gothic masterpiece. Although construction began in the late 14th century, the building, which was to be larger than St. Peter's Basilica, is largely unfinished since the 17th century. It has been the seat of the relics of Bologna's patron saint only since 2000; until then they were preserved in the Santo Stefano church of Bologna.