BOLOGNA, “THE RED ONE”
October 01 2024
CURIOSITIES BOLOGNA 
Strolling through the city centre and admiring the view from any window, balcony or terrace, one detail cannot help but jump out at you: from the roof tiles to the walls of the buildings, everything is tinged with warm colours, especially shades of red. It is precisely this distinctive feature that has earned Bologna the nickname "La Rossa" (literally “The red one”.)
HISTORY
The origin of Bologna's colours is to be found in its hills and the building materials they have been able to provide. Being alluvial in nature, they are rich in excellent quality clay and chalk, while the stone that can be quarried is friable sandstone. Thus, in the area, constructions were built with bricks with their characteristic reddish colour. The predominant use of bricks was not lost over time, in fact, between the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous kilns were established that employed modern techniques to produce the bricks used in construction.
Brick red colour in Bologna not only did not disappear with the advent of industrial plants but saw a period of great development between the post-war period and the 1970s in conjunction with the building boom. There are more than 350 shades, between red and yellow, of the plaster used on the houses and various buildings in the city. Red are the kilometres of Bologna's porticoes and red is its centre, from Piazza Maggiore to its prominent buildings, including Palazzo Podestà, Palazzo D'Accursio and Palazzo Re Enzo.
THE "RED" ONE
Even sculptures, starting in the 16th century, were often made with red terracotta. In this regard, let us recall an absolute masterpiece of Italian sculpture: "The Lamentation over the Dead Christ", a terracotta work by Niccolò dell';Arca (1470). It is the most shocking sculpture of the entire 15th century in Italy and is preserved here in Bologna in the church of Santa Maria della Vita. The reddish colour of the terracotta also characterises many of the ancient artefacts found in our city, from Etruscan and medieval statuettes to the shards of Roman pignatte, special pots used in the preparation of food.
From the burgundy and scarlet of the roofs to the brick of the buildings and the terracotta of the artefacts, red remains Bologna's defining colour, the one that has accompanied it throughout its long history and still represents its identity: a welcoming and dynamic city with a rich, warm and lively soul.
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HISTORY
The origin of Bologna's colours is to be found in its hills and the building materials they have been able to provide. Being alluvial in nature, they are rich in excellent quality clay and chalk, while the stone that can be quarried is friable sandstone. Thus, in the area, constructions were built with bricks with their characteristic reddish colour. The predominant use of bricks was not lost over time, in fact, between the 19th and 20th centuries, numerous kilns were established that employed modern techniques to produce the bricks used in construction.
Brick red colour in Bologna not only did not disappear with the advent of industrial plants but saw a period of great development between the post-war period and the 1970s in conjunction with the building boom. There are more than 350 shades, between red and yellow, of the plaster used on the houses and various buildings in the city. Red are the kilometres of Bologna's porticoes and red is its centre, from Piazza Maggiore to its prominent buildings, including Palazzo Podestà, Palazzo D'Accursio and Palazzo Re Enzo.
THE "RED" ONE
Even sculptures, starting in the 16th century, were often made with red terracotta. In this regard, let us recall an absolute masterpiece of Italian sculpture: "The Lamentation over the Dead Christ", a terracotta work by Niccolò dell';Arca (1470). It is the most shocking sculpture of the entire 15th century in Italy and is preserved here in Bologna in the church of Santa Maria della Vita. The reddish colour of the terracotta also characterises many of the ancient artefacts found in our city, from Etruscan and medieval statuettes to the shards of Roman pignatte, special pots used in the preparation of food.
From the burgundy and scarlet of the roofs to the brick of the buildings and the terracotta of the artefacts, red remains Bologna's defining colour, the one that has accompanied it throughout its long history and still represents its identity: a welcoming and dynamic city with a rich, warm and lively soul.