Bologna - Piazza di Porta Ravegnana

In Piazza Malpighi, to the west of the town center, is the Gothic church of San Francesco, built 1236-63 on the model of French churches, with a tower erected 1397-1402. It contains a large Gothic marble altar (1388).

Casa Isolani is a 13th century aristocrat's mansion with a projecting upper story supported on oak beams. Opposite (No. 24) is the Palazzo Sampieri, with admirable frescoes from the story of Hercules by Carracci and Guercino. Next door (No. 26) is the house of the composer Gioacchino Rossini, who lived mostly in Bologna between 1825 and 1848 (commemorative tablet).

From the Piazza del Nettuno Via Rizzoli runs east to the Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, on the south side of which is the beautiful Gothic Palazzo della Mercanzia (1384), home of the Chamber of Commerce.

Some 500m/550yd southeast of Santa Maria dei Servi, in Piazza Carducci, is the house which belonged to Giosuè Carducci (1835-1907), the most popular Italian poet of the 19th century; to the right, on the town walls, is a momument to the poet (1928).

The Palazzo Davia-Bargellini (1638-1658) contains the Picture Gallery and Museum of Industrial Art.

At the west end of the Via delle Belle Arti in Bologna stands the Carmelite church of San Martino (Gothic, 13th-16th century); in the first chapel on the left can be seen a "Madonna with Saints" by Francesco Francia.

Almost opposite the Picture Gallery is the church of Santa Maria dei Servi (begun 1346), with a beautiful portico; inside is a "Madonna Enthroned" by Cimabue.

In Strada Maggiore is the church of San Bartolomeo (1530; interior 17th century).

500m/550yd southeast of San Francesco, in the Palazzo Salina (Via Barberia 13), we find the Textile Museum.

Opposite the Teatro Comunale is the former Palazzo Poggi, with a façade and ceiling paintings by Pellegrino Tibaldi (1569), which has been occupied since 1803 by the University (with some 40,000 students). Farther northeast is the finely planned "University City".