A guided tour of Palazzo Vassé Pietramellara with Touring Club

Palazzo Vassé Pietramellara, a historical appendix to Galleria Cavour, is once again a protagonist of the city’s cultural scene thanks to the Bologna’s Italian Touring Club, which, on the afternoon of Saturday 17 February, is organising a special guided tour inside its marvellous rooms for a limited number of members and guests.

Originally belonging to one of Bologna’s most important senatorial families and guardian, through its precious Renaissance frescoes, of a glorious and central past in the cultural panorama of Bologna, this architectural jewel still represents one of the most fascinating noble palaces of the time thanks to its splendid rooms.

Standing out among these is the grand Galleria della Meridiana, so called because it houses a sun dial for measuring time from which it was even possible to observe the night sky. Usually open to the public on rare occasions or for exclusive private events, Palazzo Vassé Pietramellara will therefore be the venue for this special initiative that sees Galleria Cavour collaborating with the Touring Club Italiano. The latter represents an important national non-profit organisation that has been protecting and promoting the country’s artistic and cultural heritage since 1894.

The appointment on the calendar is an opportunity to learn more about the history of costume and fashion of the Italian Renaissance. The dialogue between visitors and art is entrusted to the skilful hands of Dr. Federico Marangoni, teacher at Primo Levi University and national manager of the Historical Fencing and Historical Reenactment sectors for AICS (Italian Culture and Sport Association). He will lead the visit, assisted by faithful reconstructions of clothes and fashion accessories set up around the perimeter of the route inside the rooms. This is a didactic meeting that aims to reveal the history of costumes and society of the time together with many curiosities about Renaissance Bologna through narrations, iconographies and archive documents. The meeting sanctions the indissoluble bond between fashion and art, but also between Bologna and our Galleria, now as then, a favourite place of society, social and even cultural encounters.