PALACES AND HISTORIC BUILDINGS
VILLA TURRINI ROSSI NICCOLAJ
This villa was constructed towards the end of the 1700s to serve three separate functions: a place where intellectuals could relax, a seat of government representation (it belonged to a member of the Bologna senate) and the managing offices of its agricultural activities. In the late 16th century, the plantation, known at the time as \"Serraglio\" (Fortress), belonged to the Turrini family who, after moving to Bologna, made a fortune in banking. The rise of the Turrinis culminated in 1722 when they inherited the estate of Count Ottavio Rossi, who belonged to one of the oldest noble families of Bologna. Later on, in 1761, Francesco Turrini Rossi was nominated senator and his family was considered to be members of the Bolognese aristocracy. On the night between May 6th and 7th, 1799, Ugo Foscolo, the poet and revolutionary, was the guest of the Turrini Rossi counts. Having been wounded while fighting alongside the French against the Austro-Russian coalition in the town of Cento, he sought refuge with his friends, the Counts of Calcara. The layout of the villa's interior is based on a central double loggia, both of which were painted by as yet unknown artists, depicting, among other sites, the Calcara landscape with the Samoggia River. The building is reached by a linden-tree lined driveway immersed in a verdant park which still houses the servants' quarters, the ice house and a very well preserved “romantic garden.”
PALAZZO STELLA
The name of this villa derives from Count Giuseppe Stella, who purchased it in the mid 1700s, but the building itself is certainly far older, most likely from the 1500s. Its transformation was probably carried out in the late 1700s, as evidenced by the elegance of its simple lines and the spatial balance typical of Venturoli and Bianconi. Palazzo Stella can be attributed to this pair of architects in particular because of its unique north-side loggia characterized by lateral round archways and central lintel. The villa's interior is laid out along an internal double loggia from which the lateral rooms are accessed. Both of the loggias and many of the rooms present vaulted ceilings decorated with 19th century paintings with floral, lacy or cameo designs interspersed with bucolic scenes, allegorical representations and still lifes. The ceiling of one of the rooms displays work with a “Pompeian” motif, very much in vogue in the late 1700s, when art was greatly influenced by the then recent discoveries of Herculeum, Pompei and Stabiae. The building is found in the midst of its surrounding lands and a romantic park, which boasts many rare species of trees, many of which are particularly ancient. In addition to the 18th century chapel dedicated to St. Anne, the garden also hosts service buildings, including the stables, still displaying its original furnishings, an old-fashioned laundry room, a lovely, vaulted ice house and a pheasant coop.
VILLA SAPORI LAZZARI
The history of this site begins in the early 1800s, when the official maps of the area documented it with the registered name of \"Casino di Ponte Samoggia\". During the Napoleonic Age, the area in which it is situated was became part of the Duchy of Galliera, created by Antonio Aldini, government minister for Napoleon, who then assigned it to Eugéne de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy and the son of Josephine . When Napoleon fell, the duchy was first puchsed by the Marquis De Ferrari di Genova and subsequently sold to the French princes of Orléans, dukes of Montpensier. The structure known as the \"casino\" was built, most likely intended as a country home or hunting lodge for the princes, whose heraldic crest can still be seen on a number of nearby buildings. The structure was definitively transformed at the beginning of the 1900s, when the property was purchased by the Lazzari family, who did not only alter the building's appearance, but its function as well, making it the administrative center for the farming business it carried out in the surrounding plantations, mainly focused on wheat cultivation. This lovely villa follows a horizontal layout, on three floors. The grand, stairway in the front of the building, placed centrally, leads to the piano nobile and to a rooftop tower, where a magnificent, perfectly preseved wheat storage room is found, in which the scent of its original contents seems to permeate the air. The villa is still property of the Lazzari family.
PALAZZO MARESCOTTI E LA COLOMBAIA DEL FORTINO
Once again, as is often the case in this area, local history is intertwined with tales of the Bolognese aristocracy, in this case with members of the Marescotti family. They were among the first people to receive the dignitary status of senator from Pope Paul II in 1466 and Galeazzo Marescotti was the first person to be named lifetime senator. It was Galeazzo who ordered construction of the palace, which got underway in 1458. Before the Marescottis, the property belonged to the Bentivoglio family, to whom it had been succeded by the Ghisilieris. This change of hands was “summarized” in the heraldic crests displayed in the loggia, which represent both the Bentivoglio and Marescotti families. There is a lovely tower-shaped dovecote behind the palace, topped with its own open double loggia. Dated to the mid 17th century, but probably older than that, it served to provide pigeon excrement as the most specifically appropriate fertilizer for the hemp crops, one of Bologna's primary economic resources at the time. Although the two buildings are located in an area traditionally known as \"Confortino,\" named after Confortino Conforti, who was the landholder of a number of other local properties, this area was actually owned by the Ghisilieris.The history of these buildings has nothing to do with that of the Confortino church and oratory. Antique cars and farm machinery are on display inside the palace, which is open to visitors the second Sunday in July during the Aia Festival.
VILLA BANZI BECCADELLI
There isn't a great deal of information documenting the history of this villa. Most likely constructed in the 16th century, it was owned by the Banzi family, part of the Bolognese aristocracy. The exterior is particularly lovely, with a triple-arched portico which opens out onto the garden, giving the main prospective of the building a feeling of lightness and exalting the elegance of its lines. It has been traditionally supposed that the surprising stairway in the interior leading to the upstairs loggia was designed by a member of great family of Bolognese architects, the Bibienas, in the mid-1700s. In effect, this hypothesis is confirmed by the quality of the structure's design: even in the limited space of a rectangular room, far removed from the grandiose, Baroque stairways, the architect managed to create an extraordinarily monumental, dramatic effect, lightened by elegant festoons representing flowers and fruit and other floral motifs scattered here and there to underline the architectural moldings and frames around the archways, some blind, some open, interpersed between the false columns. The building is in the middle of beautiful park, where the service buildings and its rural location indicate the villa's agricultural role through the course of the centuries. The wine cellar has recently been restored, and turned into a restaurant and cultural center, featuring local wines.
CATTANEI TOWER AND VILLA STAGNI
This villa, the work of Eliseo Cattanei, with its magnificent view, can be traced to 1474, making it one of the oldest residences within the confines of the Municipality of Crespellano. The way the palace actually looked a few centuries later is documented by a pair of drawings and two descriptions (Oretti in 1770 and Calindri in 1781) depicting an ancient fortress, complete with battlements, towers and moats. Pantasilea Cattani bequeathed the villa-fortress and the surrounding lands to his nephew, Count Calderini who in turn left it to the Priests of San Giovanni in Monte. In the Napoleonic era, subsequent to the suppression of religious orders and confiscation of their assets, the entire property was purchased by the Stagni family, who still own it. Over the course of the 19th century, work was underway to convert the building to a residence, central to the agricultural activity being carried out on the property. The moats were filled in, evidently no longer in tune with the times, and the central body of the ancient structure, seen in Oretti's 18th century drawings, was demolished and replaced by a courtyard with a well and a new neo-gothic building. The nearby oratory dedicated to the Archangel Michael has recently been restored.
VILLA BIANCONI RUSCONI
Also known as \"Casino dell'Olmo\" (House of the Elm Tree) after the Oratory of the Madonna dell'Olmo located just opposite, this villa is one two in Crespellano which up until recently was not attributed to Angelo Venturoli. In fact, as has been ascertained, the project was designed by Carlo Bianconi, brother of Giuseppe, who owned the villa. Having trained in the Veneto region, where the influence of Palladio's architecture was palpable, Venturoli, together with Carlo Bianconi, was responsible for adapting local architecture with respect to the canons of the Neoclassisim in vogue at the time, as evidenced by certain elements in this villa, such as the four columned atrium at the front of the building, the pediment and the well-calibrated proportions of the structure as a whole. The exterior elegance is matched by the functional rationality of the interior layout: the front staircase leads to the piano nobile and a great hall, and hides the ground floor, which houses the kitchen, various utility rooms and a carriage porch. The rest of the building is divided into a number of rooms originally designated as living quarters for the families of the Bianconi brothers and their guests. During the 19th century, ownership of the villa passd first to the Brunettis and subsequently to the Rusconis. Today it is home to a public health service-subsidized rehabilitation center and hosts many recreational and entertainment activities open to the public.
PALAZZO GARAGNANI
Located in the heart of Crespellano, Palazzo Garagnani, originally the property of the Bentivoglio family and subsequently belonging to the family of Senator Grassi, was known as “the castle,” since it was thought to have been built on the site where the Crespellano castle once stood. This belief has been called into question because of a drawing of the palace dated 1578, showing it in late 16th century style, not much different from its present appearance: the tower had already been converted to a dovecote, with three storeys of semi-circular arches on the left side of its two-storey frame. The palace, subject to frequent modifications over the centuries and severely damaged in World War II bombing raids, was purchased by the Garagnani family in 1813. The rooms of the palace are laid out along both sides of a central loggia on the ground floor, where a grand, double staircase with allegorical statues decorating its bannister leads to the upper floor. The interior walls display a number of 19th century frescoes, mostly depicting woodland scenes or other landscapes populated by mythological or allegorical characters, one of which has been attributed to Scorzoni. Although the Garagnani family still partly own the palace, the portion of it purchased by the local administration has been turned into a cultural center.