L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 10 THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021 L'Italo-Americano B o l o g n a l a D o t t a , l a R o s s a e l a G r a s s a , because of her university, the color of her architecture and her incredi- ble culinary tradition. But Bologna is also its portici, where life flows regardless of the weather, beautiful and lively thanks to the many stu- dents that populates the city, ancient and legendary, as one would expect in a place so rich in history. While we stroll in the city centre, just between Piazza Santo Stefano and Strada Maggiore, we come across Corte Isolani, a 13th archi- tectural complex restructu- red in 1993 by the heirs of the Isolani family, one of the oldest in Bologna, who spent , back then, some 6 billions of our old liras on bringing the building back to its old glory. Beside the architectu- ral and historical relevance of t h e p l a c e , t h e r e i s a l s o another reason behind Corte Isolani's popularity among tourists and locals: a legend, the results of which can in fact be still seen in the walls and ceiling of its portico. But before delving into the tale of Palazzo Isolani's t h r e e a r r o w s , a b i t o f history. The Isolani family set- tled in Bologna in the very early 13th century. They were traders specialized in luxury fabrics. Originally, they came f r o m C y p r u s , h e n c e t h e i r n a m e , " i s o l a n i , " t h a t i s , coming from an island. In First of all, the arrows are actually there, stuck into the wooden ceiling of the porti- co, so it doesn't really take any special skill or alchemic connection to find them, just a good pair of peepers. Their presence has been well atte- sted for a long time, as local toponymy tells us, along with a restaurant called Le Tre Frecce, or "the three arrows, " there located up to a bunch of years ago. If you look care- fully you can see them, 30 feet above your nose, with their medieval-like head pro- truding from the wood, but how did they end up there? As you would expect from something this legendary, there are many versions of the story. The first says that, once upon a time, Palazzo Isolani was home to a beauti- ful woman and her jealous h u s b a n d . W h e n t h e m a n learned his wife had been cheating on him, he paid for a group of archers to kill her. Easier said than done, espe- cially when your target is not o n l y a k n o c k o u t b u t a l s o pretty smart: when she saw her executioners approa - ching, she stood by the win- dow and — oops! — let her medieval negligé fall to the ground and showed herself f u l l y n a k e d t o t h e m . Apparently, that was enough to make professional killers lose their ability to shoot towards a designated target, so much so all their arrows ended up stuck in the ceiling of the portico. Thus our phi- landering beauty was spared — and a bunch of archers lost their face in the process. A s e c o n d v e r s i o n a l s o involves archers and a fight that apparently took place under Palazzo Isolani's porti- co, between two local noble- men and their faithful figh- ters. The three arrows of our legend bear witness, appa- rently, to the event. A question rises naturally, though: why would anyone duel under a portico, in the middle of a town? Who were these archers and where did they learn to shoot, because t h e a v e r a g e h e i g h t o f a m e d i e v a l m a n w a s w e l l below 6ft and they aimed about five times higher. I don't know what you think about it but, as incredible as it is, the first version with the naked lady at the window seems more realistic than this one. There is, finally, a third, more recent version. A much less picturesque one, perha- ps, but certainly more belie- vable, especially in the con- 1210, they had their palace at 19 Strada Maggiore built, a n d t h a t ' s w h e r e i t s t i l l stands today, virtually unal- tered since the days of its c o n s t r u c t i o n . T h e p a l a c e comprises a ground floor, occupied today by stores and a restaurant, characterized by a large, ogival arch door; a first floor and second floor with mullioned, all sixth arch windows, and a third floor, laid upon a 9 meter high oak structure. Thanks to it, an incredible, large wooden por- tico protects the ground floor businesses and the entrance to the palace: it's here we have to look for the three arrows of the legend. text of a place like Bologna, whose culture and lifestyle is so intertwined with that of students. So, the story goes t h a t , i n 1 8 7 7 , R a f f a e l e Faccioli had just finished restoring Palazzo Isolani. A bunch of students, exuberant and bohemian as you would expect from some young kids possibly living alone for the first time in their life — we've all been there, right? — deci- ded to play a trick on him glueing three fake arrows onto the ceiling of the pala- ce's portico. The idea was t h a t o f g o o d - n a t u r e d l y mocking the architect, even t o u g h t h e a c t u a l r e a s o n behind it remains unknown: what did he do to them? How did they know him? How did they stick those arrows up there without anyone seeing them? And what type of glue did they use: it's been more than 100 years, gravity pulls and still, they haven't come down. Whichever version of the legend you prefer, the best part is that the arrows are still there and, if you are in B o l o g n a , y o u c a n g o a n d check them our for yourself. There are plenty of photos online, too, but apparently n o t a l l t h r e e a r e e a s y t o spot… ALL AROUND ITALY TRAVEL TIPS DESTINATIONS ACTIVITIES Bologna and the legend of the three arrows CHIARA D'ALESSIO Palazzo Isolani and it's famous portico (Photo: Antanovich1985/Dreamstime) A view of Bologna's famous towers (Photo: Sergey Dzyuba/Dreamstime)

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