Palazzo Hercolani

The last of the senatorial palaces, the porticoed building was built in 1793 based on the design by Angelo Venturoli.
Its location, in a particularly narrow part of Strada Maggiore, led the clients and the architects to choose a façade with a classical architectural style. The interiors are of great scale and grandeur: a loggia with three naves leads on to a large main courtyard, connecting to the service areas towards the other end via another loggia with three naves. On the right side of the courtyard is the monumental staircase, lined with statues, both free and niched. The work of Giacomo De Maria, it starts as a single stair that becomes double after the intermediate level. An attic dotted with rectangular windows and a vault frescoed by Francesco Pedrini crown the magnificent space. Today the building and its appurtenances are occupied by various departments of the University of Bologna. But hidden on the ground floor is a little treasure, a remainder of the sumptuous era of the building: the ‘Boschereccia room' by Rodolfo Fantuzzi (1810), a space painted to simulate the landscape of a lush garden, made lifelike also by the presence of an Italian garden and English woodland.