Palazzo Marchesini was built in the 15th century in the Via di Mezzo di San Martino, a street that crossed the property of the convent of San Martino. This ancient road was a Roman decumanus—that is to say, one of the thoroughfares of the ancient city.
As all aristocratic residences, the palace had stables occupying the ground floor, while the family’s apartment was on the first floor. Rooms for children and servants were on the floor above that. A portico, held up by wooden columns once existed on the facade. The most important feature in the noble apartment (1st floor), other than its timber ceiling, is a band of frescoes depicting the visit of Pope Clement VII to Bologna on occasion of the coronation of Charles V as emperor. The historian Giuseppe Guidicini, who lived between 1763 and 1837, described the images in his chronicle:“There is a fresco in the salon, representing the arrival in Bologna in 1530 for the coronation of Emperor Charles V, which is quite different from the scene depicted in the prints produced by either Bruciasorci or Hogenberg.”” (https://www.originebologna.com/strade/via-di-mezzo-di-san-martino/n-2750/)
The palace belonged over the centuries to a number of families, each time changing its name accordingly. Initially belonging to the prominent Salicetti family, it was acquired by the Bettini in 1532 and was inherited by various branches of the latter family—the Fabbri, Fabretti and Bonavolta. After the death of its last owner, Giovanni Antonio Bonavolta, the building was inherited by his three daughters, two of whom were nuns in a convent. As nuns took a vote of poverty, the convent claimed the building as its property in 1661 and, the following year, ceded it with a long-term lease to the Budrioli family. Alberto Budrioli, head of the family, eventually passed the lease on to Senator Carlo Grassi. When the lease ended, the building returned to the convent. In 1772, the convent sold the building to Giacomo Bonazzi who in turn sold it to Giacomo Panzarasa. The latter renovated the façade, eliminating the outdated wooden portico and transforming it into what we see today.
Eventually, the Marchesini family acquired it and then the Guidicini bought it in 1933. The Guidicini did not change the building’s name, which remained known as the Palazzo Marchesini. It is the descendants of the Guidicini who now own and manage the B & B.
Along the monumental wooden staircase are precious high-reliefs; inside the apartment itself a coat of arms and a ceramic high-relief depicting eleven youths with garlands of fruits and flowers.
Fonte: Archivio di Stato di Bologna, tratto dal sito Source: Archivio di Stato di Bologna https://www.originebologna.com/strade/via-di-mezzo-di-san-martino/
