Voltone del Podesta'

The Voltone del Podestà is a large cross vault separating Palazzo del Podestà from Palazzo Re Enzo, which together with Palazzo d'Accursio and the imposing Basilica di San Petronio represent the buildings facing Piazza Maggiore in Bologna.

The voltone originates from the intersection of two roads that connect Piazza Re Enzo, Piazza del Nettuno and Piazza Maggiore. At the vault rises the Torre dell'Arengo, built in the 13th century for the purpose of gathering the people in case of exceptional events.

This space was first used as the site of the city market and notaries' stalls, and was later transformed into the place where the hangings and sentencing of blasphemers took place. Thanks to its strategic position, in fact, anyone passing through Piazza Maggiore could easily observe the executions under the vault and draw a warning for their future actions. The beams from which the condemned were hung can still be seen today under the vault.

The statues of the four patron saints of the city, St Petronius, St Proculus, St Dominic and St Francis stand on the pillars supporting the vault, sculpted by Alfonso Lombardi in 1525.

Bologna's wireless telephone

The Voltone del Podestà is famous in Bologna for a feature that has always amused tourists and residents alike. It is the so-called wireless telephone, i.e. that peculiar acoustic effect whereby if you whisper with your face turned towards one of the four corners, those in the opposite corner will be able to hear you despite the distance. This happens thanks to the phenomenon of sound reflection on the surface of the vault.

It also seems that this special effect was exploited in the Middle Ages to allow plague and leprosy patients to go to confession without transmitting the disease to their confessors.

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