That is the name of this short but suggestive route made up of small courtyards, which connects Palazzo Isolani with Casa Isolani, therefore with two entrances: one from Via Santo Stefano through Palazzo Isolani practically opposite the Basilica and one from Strada Maggiore through Casa Isolani.
Palazzo Isolani: built in the mid-15th century by Pagno di Lapo Portigiani, a Florentine from Fiesole, in an almost transitional style between Gothic and Tuscan Renaissance influences.
The façade is divided into two distinct horizontal orders, with the round arches of the portico supported by the Corinthian capitals of the columns and the single-light ogive windows above.
On the other side of the courtyard, at the entrance on Strada Maggiore, there are the very tall oak beams of Casa Isolani’s portico (9 metres) that support the third floor of the building, also giving a strong visual impetus to the façade. A magnificent example of 13th-century porticoed Bolognese construction.
Curiosity: porticoes in Bologna became compulsory with a municipal statute of 1288, with the characteristic that they had to be built on private land but be for public use, a rule that had already existed for a long time, as some documents from the early 13th century testify.
