Palazzo d'Accurcio (or Palazzo Communale) stands on Piazza Maggiore and until 2008 was used as the City Hall. Today on the top floor of the palace there is a municipal collection of art objects, in which paintings are collected from the Middle Ages to the 19th century. Also, the Morandi Museum was opened in the palace, whose works were transferred to the city by the artist's family (in 2012, the exhibits temporarily moved to the Bologna Museum of Contemporary Art).

The former Town Hall building consists of several that have been attached to the oldest one, appeared at the end of 13 century . Here were Anciani (elders), the main masters of the commune, and later the government . In the first half of the 15th century the architect Fioravante Fioravanti worked on the renovation of the building and he added to the construction a clock tower with a carousel on a wooden car mate, which was typical for Central Europe . Carousel with Madonna and the judges were removed in 1796 ., although some of her fragments can still be seen in the municipal art collection .

In front of the building you can still see the colored lacquered sculpture of Madonna and Child by Nicolo delle Arc (1478). A fine portal of the middle of the 16th century by Galeazzo Alesi is adorned by a large bronze statue of Pope Gregory XIII, born in Bologna, created in 1580. The bronze statue of Pope Boniface VIII is now moved to the Museum of the Middle Ages

Inside the Palazzo

There are several significant rooms in the palace: (Hall of the City Council), the Royal Hall (Farnese Hall) and the Legato Chapel (or Farnese)

The Hall of the City Council on the first floor where the senators of Bologna were meeting decorates the ceiling of the gallery painted with the frescoes of the Colonna and Pizzoli ( 1677). The square ceiling is divided into 4 parts according to the themes of the paintings: Minerva and Mars, Cybele (mother goddess), indicating the greatness of Olympus, Bacchus, Pomona and Ceres, symbolizing the wealth and productivity of the surrounding city of the earth.

Farnese Hall on the second floor was restored in 1655 by Cardinal Girolamo Farnese, and before that was called the "royal hall": in it Charles V was crowned an iron crown for the reign of Italy (the coronation for the reign of the Holy Roman Empire was held in the Basilica of San Petronio). The hall is also decorated with frescoes by students Francesco Albani, and in the chapel you can see the frescoes of Prospero Fontana (1562). This is a scene from the history of the city from the Middle Ages to the 17th century

The municipal art collection is located on the second floor, in the former winter apartments of the Cardinal Legates. On the walls you can see the gallery of the emblems of the legates and governors who ruled Bologna from 1327 to 1744. You can view the hall only on the preliminary request.

The entrance to the Borsa Hall is directly behind the fountain of Neptune. Here in 1568, near the former summer apartments of the legates, a herb garden was laid out. In 1886 it became a city market, a pavilion of cast iron and glass appeared, and in the next century a second floor was added to it. Since 2001, the municipal multimedia library has been placed here.

Address: Piazza Maggore, 6.