Il Giardino della Montagnola is more of public park than gardens. It was started by Paolo Canali in 1662 as a place for social interaction. The project was then expanded under Giovanni Battista Martinetti with marvelous sculptures decorating the park by Pascuale Rizzoli and Diego Sarti. Costing 200,000 lire it was considered then a huge success.

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Montagnola Gardens Photos

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About Montagnola Gardens

Montagnola Gardens

Although strictly called Il Giardino della Montagnola, this is more of a park than gardens.

Leading up to it is this grand statue referred to as Monumento Al Populano, meaning the People’s Monument, and dedicated to all those who died on the 8th August 1848. This was according to local history, the most glorious day in Bologna’s Risorgimento.

The work of art here illustrates a fallen Austrian soldier at the feet of a man of the people holding a tricolour in triumphant. The actual model was indeed a builder from a local firm who posed for the sculpture at the time. It was created by Bolognese artist Pascuale Rizzoli and inaugurated on 20th September 1903 having been chosen among a number of other artists to submit designs.

Began in 1662, Montagnola public gardens is the oldest in Bologna but was initially started by Paolo Canali to promote social interaction through, theatre, public demonstrations, games and general leisure activities. Once a mulberry wood with overgrown, uncut pastures, this was transformed with a passageway for horses and carriages to drive up and around it. It was reputedly where cavaliers would go to court ladies.

In 1757 seven large stone benches were installed here to highlight that this was indeed for public use.

During the late 1800s a Napoleonic decree entrusted the engineer Giovanni Battista Martinetti to redesign the park according to similar French designs. Large mounds of soil and rock were excavated to make way for the gardens with a small part of it occupied by an orchard and flowers.

Diego Sarti is attributed with creating these huge sculptures around the small pond. He originally produced them for an exhibition in 1888 in Giardini Margherita. The local commune spent a sum of 200,00 Italian lire on the whole project.

In 1896, Attilio Muggia constructed an ornate stairway for access from Via Indipendenza. As a consequence, the successful completion of Montagnola was to inspire engineers and other cities to replicate Bologna’s aim in transforming urban areas into public zones for enjoyment.

References

Giuseppe Sassatelli, Cristiana Morigi Govi, Jacopo Ortalli, Francesca Bocchi, Atlante Storico Delle Città Italiane Emilia Romagna Bologna I, Bologna 1996.

Tiziano Costa – Marco Poli, Conoscere Bologna, Bologna 2005.

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