Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio

Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio is the result of Pope Pius IV's project to curtail the Basilica di San Petronio. Seat of the city university from 1563 to 1805 (notice the professors' coats of arms on the walls), it today houses Bologna's 700,000-volume Biblioteca Comunale (Municipal Library) and the fascinating 17th-century Teatro Anatomico where public body dissections were held under the sinister gaze of an Inquisition priest, ready to intervene if proceedings became too spiritually compromising. Cedar-wood tiered seats surround a central marble-topped table while a sculptured Apollo looks down from the ceiling. The canopy above the lecturer’s chair is supported by two skinless figures carved into the wood. The theatre, and many of the building’s frescoes, was destroyed during WWII and subsequently rebuilt.