Palazzo Re Enzo

A 13th-century civic palace on Bologna's central square, named for King Enzo of Sardinia, who was held prisoner here for 23 years until his death — a captivity comfortable in title but absolute in fact. The great vaulted hall that once held a medieval court now hosts book fairs, exhibitions, and events beneath its soaring brick arches. It sits at the heart of the city's civic ensemble, steps from Piazza Maggiore. For visitors, it's a chance to step inside genuine medieval Bologna, where the weight of the architecture carries the long, strange story of its most famous captive.