Bologna Collegio di Spagna
Collegio di Spagna Photos
About Collegio di Spagna
This magnificent portal on Via Collegio di Spagna boasts decorative work attributed to Formigine in 1525 and it leads into an even more impressive fortress-like complex.
This was home to Cardinal Gil De Albornoz, archbishop of Toledo, whose forces defeated the Visconti from Milan in 1361. After the Cardinal retired he had this place built as his home. Upon his death he instructed that the palazzo was to become a residence for Spanish students, hence, in 1369 it was officially recognized as the Alma Colegio Mayor de San Clemente de España.1
This first large work of art reflects an urban scene by Luigi Cini from 1834.
Work began on the designs by the architect Matteo Gattaponi da Gubbio under the supervision of Puccio da Norsa and Andrea da Montechiaro. The architectural forms found here are said to be midway between Gothic and Renaissance.
Other extensions built over the centuries were removed during restoration work in 1911 by Alfonso Rubbiani. He preferred to roll back those earlier additions and highlight its strong characteristics, one example, such as the castellated perimeter walls.
The model created here was later copied over to other XIV century Spanish universities particularly evident in the University of Salamanca. For this reason it’s also considered to be the oldest Spanish Institution that still exists.2
This first room is called the Sala d’Attesa, meaning simply as the waiting room. At the far end is this painting of the Madonna and Child by Bartolomeo Passarotti probably dating to the late 1500s. Other pieces of art work including little sculptures to be found around the room carry the coat of arms of Cardinal Albornoz.
Students that come here, or rather those bononios 3 as they are referred to, are still hosted in the residency quarters here. Quite significant too, is that the collegio has the status equivalent to a consulate ever since 1530 when King Carlos I, shortly before his coronation, bestowed this honour on the collegio and as such this act continues to the present day. The name was subsequently changed to Real Colegio de España in that same year.
Typical Italian features are obviously illustrated in the court yard here that boasts a beautiful and serene loggia. The central rectangular court also resonates similar layout designs with other medieval college buildings in England and France.
Two wells in one corner are equally authentic and even still have water in them.
The upper loggia is embellished with frescoes by Biagio Pupini dale Lame in 1542 but this one showing the Virgin and Child, St. Elizabeth, St. John, and St. Joseph, with an angel above scattering flowers, and Cardinal Albornoz kneeling in veneration is attributed to Bartolommeo Bagnacavallo.
Just under it is a narrow doorway into a little chapel dedicated to San Clemente. There are some frescoes by Camillo Procaccini and one representing Santa Marguerite by Francia, while along the walls are fragments of frescoes attributed to Andrea de’Bartoli in 1386 and others from the school of Vitale da Bologna. Unfortunately other frescoes dating to 1583 also by Procaccini in the apse were destroyed in 1914. One of the most precious exhibits here is this polytych by Marco Zoppo over the high altar.
Next to the entrance is this faded but still wonderful depiction of the Madonna by Lippo di Dalmasio which originally decorated an external wall but probably moved to here to save it from further damage.
In 1923, a correspondent for The Times, who calls the college a “picturesque Spanish oasis in the centre of old Bologna”, reports of the visit of the King and Queen of Spain to the college. King Alfonso participated in the unveiling of a tablet recording the visit of the royal couple and another one noting the name of two famous former students of the College, Ignatius of Loyola and Miguel Cervantes.4 Other noted scholars of this institute included: San Pedro de Arbués, Elio Antonio de Nebrija, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Antonio Agustín.
Finally, one last impressive work of art is this sepulchre of Cardinal Albornoz although he was in fact never interred here.
References
2 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collegio_di_Spagna
3 Tiziano Costa, Elisa Panzacchi, Welcome to Bologna, Bologna 2007, pp24-25.
4 Giuseppe Sassatelli, Cristiana Morigi Govi, Jacopo Ortalli, Francesca Bocchi, Atlante Storico Delle Città Italiane Emilia Romagna Bologna, Bologna I, Bologna 1996, p180.