• PALAZZO DE’ ROSSI

• Via Palazzo Rossi, 40037 Pontecchio Marconi

• CALL

• Open only for guided tours and upon request; the external garden and village are always open

• http://www.palazzoderossi.it
• info@palazzoderossi.it

• Palazzo de’ Rossi is “one of those extremely rare places in our local villages where people meet to enjoy pleasant pastimes.” So said Leandro Alberti, author of Historia di Bologna, describing this impressive complex, comprised of both the noblemen’s palace and the farmers' cottages and craftsmen's workshops. The Palace, in late Bolognese Gothic style (recognizable by its crown of terracotta turrets and ornamentation) was begun in 1482 by Bartolomeo Rossi, a cultured humanist, descended from a famous Bolognese family of bankers, and completed by his sons. The residence became one of the most sumptuous homes of the Bolognese County and provided hospitality to such illustrious guests as John II Bentivoglio, Torquato Tasso and the Popes Jules II, Paolo III and Leone X, by whom the Rossis were granted feudal jurisdiction over the village of Pontecchio. Of particular interest is the “Italian Garden,” a simple rectangle enclosed between a bluff and a man-made canal which brings in water from the Reno River and feeds a unique underground irrigation system. The great archway is still standing through which we glimpse the still-inhabited village, and a drawbridge still leads over the original moat, flanked by the antique dove-cote. The lawn in front of the western face of the complex hosts an important livestock fair whose existence has been documented since 1673, known as Fira di Sdaz, held around the 8th of September each year.