Via del Pratello
Via del Pratello is one of the city's most characteristic streets and one of the places that still remind us of what the centre of Bologna must have looked like until the beginning of the last century. Not far from the Basilica of San Francesco, Pratello owes its name to its position once outside the second circle of the city walls, known as the Torresotti, and therefore outside the built-up area. Pratello (coming from prato, lawn, meadow) would therefore derive from the meadows that surrounded the city or, according to another theory, from the pear trees that abounded in this area.
At the end of the street there was once a gate, at the place where the Oratory of San Rocco stands today. However, for fear of an incursion by the Visconti army from Milan, it was decided to wall it up permanently, and it was never reopened.
Today, Pratello is one of the heart of Bologna's nightlife. The numerous bars, pubs, restaurants and beer gardens under its arcades are very popular with university students and young people in general, who flock to the street especially at weekends. But Pratello also hosts other activities, such as barbershops, newsstands, craft and clothing workshops, and even a club that organises courses and other activities.
Perhaps Pratello's best known event is 'Il Pratello R'esiste', organised every year on 25 April (Italy’s Liberation Day), when the street fills with people and stalls united by the common thread of anti-fascism.
The origins of the Pratello
The Pratello has gone through alternating phases from Roman times onwards. Initially, it was a rather flourishing area of Bologna, only to fall into neglect once it was excluded from the historical centre in the early Middle Ages. Yet, in the 11th century it made a comeback, thanks to the flow of students attending the University of Bologna who chose this part of the city to live in, perhaps driven by lower costs.
Pratello has preserved its
student vocation over the centuries, which made it one of the hubs of student protest movements between the 1960s and 1970s. It is no coincidence then that it was here that
Radio Alice was founded, one of the first free radio stations in Bologna that students used to talk politics, organise protests and exchange opinions. The most famous example of Radio Alice's function was when the student Francesco Lorusso was killed on 11 March 1977. On that occasion, the radio never stopped informing the protesters about what was happening in those hours, even breaking the news of Lorusso's death. The next day, the police raided the radio station's premises, thus decreeing its end.
What to see at Pratello
Near Pratello stands one of Bologna's best-known churches, the
Basilica di San Francesco, in whose garden you can admire the famous Tombs of the Glossatori, prominent figures of the ancient Bolognese university. The square in front of San Francesco is another popular
meeting point for young people, and is also the scene of shows and concerts in the summer evenings.
Not far away is via della Grada, which like via del Pratello was once crossed by the Reno Canal, now covered. Before the course of the Reno was directed solely towards via della Grada, the houses of the Pratello thus overlooked the water and no less than four mills worked along the street.
At numbers 34 and 36, the street houses the prison and the juvenile court.
