Biblioteca Salaborsa

The magnificent Salaborsa Library is located inside the historic Palazzo d'Accursio, an area that, as told by the archaeological excavations undertaken during the renovation, saw the sedimentation of numerous civilizations. Centuries of history, from the first settlements of the VII century BC, to the Roman "Bononia" founded in 189 a.C. Between the II and the I century a.C. The construction of the civil basilica dates back to the town administration and meeting place, next to which the remains of a paved road from the Augustan era can be seen.
After the successive transformations of the Roman age, between the fifth and the seventh century AD the area is subject to degradation phenomena that only in the thirteenth century saw a stop with the construction of civil buildings over the Roman ruins. Under the Lordship of the Visconti the palace became a veritable fortified citadel, headquarters of the troops. The Visconti succeed the pontifical Vicars and huge sums are invested in the construction of the palace garden (or viridarium) with the stables and the lodgings for the papal guard next to it. In the 16th century, Ulisse Aldrovandi transformed the viridarium into a botanical garden, modeled on the Garden of the Simple of Padua, enriching it over the years with exotic species from Asia, Africa and the Americas. In 1765 the botanical garden was transferred and later the area became a grassy courtyard, being used for more than 1000 years as a training camp for the city militias.
In the nineteenth century, the building is increasingly used as a center of social and economic life of the city and it is so that under the pressure of entrepreneurs from Bologna, the ancient viridarium is eliminated to make way for the iron structures of Sala Borsa. With the arrival of the new century, the decline in commercial bargaining, however, led to a progressive and inexorable abandonment of the Sala Borsa, which definitively closed the operational offices in 1903.
In the '20s, Sala Borsa welcomes the Cassa di Risparmo branches, while starting from the post-war period, the covered piazza turns into a sports hall hosting basketball games and even boxing matches. Arriving in more recent times, Salaborsa became the administrative offices of the Municipality of Bologna, with a significant intervention in 1989 aimed at allocating the covered square to a place dedicated to culture.
Since 2001 it has hosted a public library devoted to general information through all the available formats, from newspapers and magazines to DVDs and CD-ROMs, alongside the classic lending and distribution activities including initiatives such as exhibitions and meetings.