One of Bologna’s distinctive attributes is the abundance of
porticos (“portici”). While many
European cities have occasional buildings in their historic centers where
porticos are still present, it is much more common for the “public space” that
lies under the portico to have been filled in over time by expansion of a
building outwards towards the street.
The portico posts provided the support necessary to enable a building
owner to have a second (and eventually third or more) story that projected into
the street. So the practice of using
porticos was common throughout Europe from the 14th to 18th
centuries. In addition to providing
support for upper floors, porticos provided shelter from sun, rain and
snow.
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| Marlow stands at the door to our apartment beneath "our" portico. |
As time passed many building owners sought to expand the
ground floor by eliminating the public space of the portico. The practice of taking over what was a public
area for private use was common throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th
centuries. However, Bologna prohibited
this activity and in fact required all wooden porticos to be replaced over time
with stone. And the City further required
all new construction to include a portico at the front of the building. While it was possible to be exempted from the
portico requirement by paying a fee, fortunately most building owners
maintained the practice.
As a result of its unique focus on maintaining the public
portico space, Bologna has miles and miles of porticos. They are not only handy to make walking about
the City easier when it is raining, etc, they provide a clear separation from
bicycle and vehicle traffic in the road.
And they make the otherwise narrow streets seem wider for the
pedestrian.
Here are a few photos of the many miles of porticos we've enjoyed walking on during our time in Bologna.
Marlow mentioned our 5 mile walk under the porticos to visit the Sanctuary of San Luca, here are a few photos of that unusual stretch. Notice particularly the incline!
Finally, here is a daytime and night time view of "our" piazza Santo Stefano and someone peaking out from a portico!
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