Piazza Maggiore and Palazzo d’Accursio
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Transcript
Start in Piazza Maggiore, where Bologna makes government look theatrical because, in the Middle Ages, government was theatre. The communal buildings around the square grew with institutions that were neither feudal court nor modern democracy. Bologna’s commune asserted civic authority while the Studium drew students and masters from across Europe.
The University of Bologna dates its conventional foundation to 1088, but there was no ribbon-cutting ceremony and no founder posing for a plaque. The institution emerged gradually from teaching, especially law, and from associations of students and scholars. That is more interesting than a birthday: Bologna helped normalise the idea that a community of learning could possess its own corporate life.
Look at the square as a negotiation between powers. Church, commune, guilds, merchants and crowds all needed the centre. Bologna did not invent disagreement. It merely gave disagreement excellent architecture and enough covered walkways to continue during rain.