PALACES AND HISTORIC BUILDINGS
PALAZZO ALBERGATI
Commissioned in the late 17th century by Girolamo Albergati Capacelli and partially designed by Gian Giacomo Monti, this palace is so large and imposing as to be a visible landmark for miles around. Its austere exterior is in stark contrast with the surprising baroque elegance inside. The vaulted ceilings displaying frescoes with mythologicaI themes represent an important chapter in the history of local art between 1600 and 1700, with works by Alboresi, Colonna, Burrini, Pesci, Valliani, Bigari and Orlandi. Hosting a great many important European political and cultural figures, in the 1700s its great halls were used as theatres and concert halls by Francesco Albergati, playwright and actor. The structure has arrived to the present day intact, one of the prime examples of Baroque architecture in Italy today, and is currently being used to host conferences, exhibitions and musical and theatrical performances. The surrounding garden is laid out as an extension of the geometrically delininated spaces which existed before the building was constructed, in the form of country roads, ditches, and debris which tell of the palace's double role: as a country holiday residence and as an adminstrative office for the surrounding lands. The wide, linden-tree lined avenue framing the garden to the north is a modern addition. The Municipal Administration has promoted a contest of ideas about how to best revive the historical testimony offered by the garden and countryside.
VILLA EDVIGE GARAGNANI
Villa Edvige Garagnani is one of the most significant architectural and environmental elements to be found in Zola Predosa. Most likely constructed in the late 1700s, with its ground floor loggia, it is a fine example of a bourgeois holiday residence. Inside, remains of frescoes depicting woodland scenes attributed to the artist Basoli can be admired. Few elements of the original garden remain today, other than some huge, old trees, like the cedrus deodara (Himalayan cedar) in front of the villa, and a man-made grotto behind it. Owned by the Municipality since 1971, the Villa has undergone a long process of rennovation, by means of a project chosen and promoted by the Town Council which opened bidding from external sources to participate in a national contest of ideas for how to best recover and utilize this historic villa. Villa Edwige Garagnani hosts all kinds of events: cultural, touristic and gastronomical, while spearheading a project to consolidate its role as a showroom for local business and products. The loggia on the ground floor is an ideal venue for civil-ceremony weddings. Also on the ground floor are the headquarters of the Tourist Information Office (IAT).
PALAZZO BENTIVOGLIO PEPOLI
Commissioned at the beginning of the 16th century by Alessandro Bentivoglio, this palace was later owned by the Marescotti family and then by the Pepolis. A few years ago, after having been abandoned for many years, the villa was completely restored with respect for its complex mix of renaissance architecture, as evidenced by its double loggia on the north side of the building, and neoclassical, as seen in the layout assigned to its south side by Angelo Venturoli between the 18th and 19th century. The tympanum is decorated with two angels holding up the family crest, surmounted by an eagle. The interior is graced by painted wooden ceilings, decorations and friezes. Outdoors, the garden still presents pools and fountains that characterized it in its heyday. The two-story stables, divided into three, cross-vaulted naves are also found on the grounds.
PALAZZO STELLA
This 18th century palace belonged to the Stella family, and from the early 1900s it served for a century as the seat of municipal government. An exterior bas-relief celebrates the renaissance goldsmith and painter Francesco Raibolini known as “il Francia” (1450-1517) whose family originally came from Zola Predosa. To the right of the façade is a monument to the fallen soldiers of the First World War.
TOWER OF GRAVES
Of Medieval origin, this structure was later used as a dovecote. It is a rare example of defensive architecture set up to safeguard the \"tumba\", a typical Medieval settlement with a manor house and other farm buildings built on a slightly higher level of ground compared to the surrounding countryside.
VILLA MAGNANI GUIDOTTI
In the early 1600s, Enea Magnani began to transform the little, rustic cottage on his family's property into a residential manor. Recently rennovated after centuries of modifications, the building features an interior central loggia. The interiors are embellished with pictorial friezes on the mezzanine, and mosaic ceilings. The layout of the garden is also remarkable, designed in the late 19th century by Ernesto Sambuy, the same landscape architect responsible for the plan of the Giardini Margherita Public Gardens in Bologna. The great space along the banks of the Lavino River was unfortunately severely damaged during the Germans' occupation of the villa.
VILLA ZANCHINI GARAGNANI
Built in 1679 by Edoardo Zanchini, this building's originality lies in the covered pathway that links and protects the ramps leading to the loggia at the entranceway, creating a magnificently dramatic effect and increasing the usable space. The garden is laid out so that the prospective of the two avenues leading up to the villa end at an asymmetrical building, creating an optical illusion which corrects visual line up between the garden and the main entrance to the villa, which in actuality are not centrally aligned.The spherical, underground cistern/ice house located in front of the villa was probably built in the 1500s.
VILLA QUATTRO TORRI
Situated on via Risorgimento, the main entrance and front stairway of this villa face the old road known as via dell'Osteriola. Seventeenth century documents depict the villa as having a tower on each of the four corners, a typical formation for rural settlements of the era, although two of them were lost during the century that followed. The barrel-vaulted ceilings of the interior double loggia, are delicately decorated.
VILLA BALZANI
This sober 19th century villa, a converted former farm house, owes its current appearence to the transformation plans drawn up by Andrea Balzani in 1860 and to careful recent rennovations. The central loggia is repeated on each of the three floors. In 1797 an oratory was annexed to the house, which is opened once every three years to celebrate The Feast of the Holy Trinity. The park surrounding the villa is home to several centuries-old trees, notably the lovely European Yew tree (Taxus baccata) and a unique grove of oaks from all over the world. The Balzani family still dedicates great care to the garden, which has been further embellished over the last few decades to include one of the most extensive rosebush collections anywhere in Italy. The first floor of Villa Balzani has been set up as a bed & breakfast, open from April to September, with all of the rooms opening out to the loggia. In May, the garden is also open and visitors can admire hundreds of species, hybrids and varieties of roses. One part of the park hosts an interesting collection of oak trees of world-wide origins.
VILLA MACCAFERRI
This Villa was built at the beginning of the 20th century on the road called via Masini, and is owned by the family that founded the nearby machine shop, among the first and most important industries in the area. Next to the Villa, near the railroad tracks, a new housing complex has been built on the old industrial grounds, leaving the old, brick smokestack as a reminder of the past.
VILLA BERTOLONI MARCOVIGI
This bourgeois, 19th century residence was home to the the renowned botanist from Sarzana, Antonio Bertoloni, author of \"Flora Italica\". The hillside park boasts a number of centuries-old trees growing among the vineyards.
VILLA RICCI SIGNORINI
Built in the 17th century, at the beginning of the the 1800s, it became the property and residence of the Dal Bello family, who provided it with its neo-classical façade, developing the large gardens that flank via Gesso and maintaining a private oratory.
VILLA SOCINI
Originally built in the the 16th century, but definitively established in the 1800s, the villa, located between via Rigosa and via Roma, is approached through two imposing, red-brick archways leading to a long avenue. These archways, known as “Portoni Rossi” (Red Doorways) marked the boundary between the villa's grounds and the main road linking it with Bologna, via Sant'Isaia. The interior loggia is repeated on the two upper floors, which are reached by a grand, oval stairway. The oval-shaped hall was decorated by Ravegnani in 1870. The huge park is home to a great variety of trees including a monumentally huge sequoia.
NUOVO MUNICIPIO
Designed by Ivo Tagliaventi as part of a vaster urbanistic and architectural plan and inaugurated in 1991, today the building is home to the offices of the Municipal Administration, previously housed in Palazzo Stella. A railway station for the Bologna-Vignola suburban railway line has been created on the ground floor, according to plans by architect Claudio Zanirato, winner of the local idea competition for urban re-qualification projects in 1998.