Ricerc@Sapienza

The so-called Palazzina della Viola was built by Giovanni or his son Annibale Bentivoglio in a suburban area of Bologna, near the walls, probably during the last decennio of Quattrocento. In 1507, after Bentivoglios’ flight from Bologna, the Viola was expropriated and passed to the Camera Apostolica. In 1540 Cardinal Bonifacio Ferrero bought and transformed the small building to make of it a Collegio for foreign students. Today the Palazzina della Viola is part of the University of Bologna. Thanks to a survey made for this occasion, the present paper reconstructs the building’s history, identifying its various phases and highlighting the fact that it was not conceived in a single work campaign. This reconstruction is finally compared with the well-known letter of Sabadino degli Arienti, confirming its importance as a historical source.