UNESCO Porticoes

The porticoes of Bologna are one of the city’s main symbols and an important architectural and cultural heritage. Declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in July 2021, for ten centuries Bologna’s porticoes have embodied hospitality and quality of life. No other city in the world has as many porticoes as Bologna: they cover almost 40 kilometres in the historic centre alone, and reach 62 km including those outside the old city gates. The longest, at 3,796 metres, is the San Luca portico, which runs from Porta Saragozza to the Sanctuary on the Colle della Guardia. Some are built of wood, others of stone or brick, and they cover streets, squares and pedestrian passages, sometimes on one side only, sometimes on both sides of the street. Among the most striking are the wooden porticoes of the 13th-century Casa degli Isolani on Strada Maggiore. The widest portico in the city is the four-sided portico of the Basilica of Santa Maria dei Servi, also on Strada Maggiore, designed at the end of the 14th century, while the highest is on Via Altabella, where the Archbishop’s Palace has a loggia almost 10 metres high. The narrowest portico, on the other hand, is on Via Senzanome, at just 95 cm wide.