Just as there are furnished and empty rooms, you can also talk about furnished and unfurnished squares, historian Camillo Sitte knows. The main condition for both the square and the room is the coherence of the space1. If you stand in Piazza Maggiore, the main square of Bologna, this place immediately feels like the impressive salon of the city. Surrounded by important monumental buildings such as the Town Hall in the Palazzo Communale and the Basilica of San Petronio (in fact the largest brick church in the world), what is special about this square can be found on the ground, however. The centre of the town square is formed by a platform that is raised by 15 centimetres throughout, further emphasised by an artistic paving that stands out from the surroundings with its own pattern. And so not only every child in Bologna, but also every tourist knows immediately: Piazza Maggiore is not just any old market square, but the heart of Bologna. Especially in summer, this public square symbolises the living room of the city. Under the arcades a saxophone plays well-known melodies, several girls chase the doves across the square and a basketball team gathers in the shadow of the town hall.
