The Bonissima, Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, Europe
The Bonissima is a statuette placed at the corner of the Modena Town Hall. The statue, 137 cm high, is composed of two parts: a head in Greek marble and a body in crystalline limestone. It is difficult to establish the author of the work, but according to some, the style and the clothing would have it attributed to the Maestro delle Metope of the Duomo of Modena. The dating is simpler, ascribable to the 12th century also thanks to some written evidence, such as the following in the chronicle of Bonifazio da Morano: At that time (1268) the Buonissima was placed on the last day of April as a statue of marble in the square of the city of Modena, in front of the bill office (or of the Bona Stima). The Bonissima was moved to its current position, although initially on different bases, in 1468, as the Lancellotti Chronicle tells.
Probably the statuette was supposed to represent honesty in commerce (Bonissima from Bona Esma (Estimate/Measure) from the name of the building of the bona misura), thesis supported by the fact that in ancient times it held a scale and rested on a base with incise the different units of measurement. The statue therefore took its name from its position and, over time,
has assumed its current name of Bonissima (Bunéssma in the local dialect). In the city, the word is still today synonymous with a curious, gossipy and well-known person, just like the statuette which on the other of its position in the square can see and control all that what happens. The most widespread legend is that it was a rich lady who, in a period of famine, he had fed the people, asking for help from the other notables of the city; famine ceased
he would have celebrated with all the people in his palace, driving out only those who did not helped in the good work. This legend was reinforced by the identification, according to the people,
of a bag in what is a fold of the dress. According to scholars, the identifications of Bonissima with real characters are different.
For Andrea Bertoni (Modenese historian) it is Bonixima, daughter of such a Sigecio, who had donated vast estates to the monastery of San Pietro. According to others it would be of Matilde of Canossa. Finally, a last hypothesis identifies her in Gundeberga, “noble woman and generous died in 570 whose tombstone in the crypt has been moved to all the various churches that occurred before the present cathedral, a sign of a strong memory of the character in the centuries.
Palazzo Comunale e Piazza Grande - Tradizioni Civiche, Storia e Governo della Città (EN-IT sub)
Il Palazzo comunale, frutto dell’aggregazione di singoli edifici, sorti in epoche diverse è la più antica costruzione ad uso pubblico di cui si ha testimonianza a Modena. In questo video ne ricostruiamo la storia e ne mostriamo in modo esclusivo le parti che lo compongono: le Sale Storiche, lo Scalone Rinascimentale e l'Acetaia Comunale. In parallelo il video tratta la storia di Piazza Grande, oggi Patrimonio dell'umanità Unesco, da sempre simbolo della vocazione civica modenese insieme alla Pietra Ringadora, alla statua della Bonissima e alle antiche misure presenti sul Duomo di Modena.
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Places to see in ( Modena - Italy )
Places to see in ( Modena - Italy )
( Modena - Italy ) is a city and comune (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy.
An ancient town, and seat of an archbishop, it is known for its automotive industry since the factories of the famous Italian sports car makers Ferrari, De Tomaso, Lamborghini, Pagani and Maserati are, or were, located here and all, except Lamborghini, have headquarters in the city or nearby. One of Ferrari's cars, the 360 Modena, was named after the town itself.
The University of Modena, founded in 1175 and expanded by Francesco II d'Este in 1686, has traditional strengths in economics, medicine and law and is the second oldest athenaeum in Italy. Italian military officers are trained at the Military Academy of Modena, and partly housed in the Baroque Ducal Palace. The Biblioteca Estense houses historical volumes and 3,000 manuscripts. The Cathedral of Modena, the Torre della Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.
Modena is also known in culinary circles for its production of balsamic vinegar.
Famous Modenesi include Mary of Modena, the Queen consort of England and Scotland; operatic tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Mirella Freni, born in Modena itself; Enzo Ferrari, eponymous founder of the Ferrari motor company; Catholic priest Gabriele Amorth; chef Massimo Bottura; comics artist Franco Bonvicini and singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini, who lived here for several decades.
Main attractions :
The Ducal Palace, begun by Francesco I d'Este in 1634 and finished by Francis V, was the seat of the Este court from the 17th to 19th centuries. The palace occupies the site of the former Este Castle, once located in the periphery of the city.
Facing the Piazza Grande (a UNESCO World Heritage Site), the Town Hall of Modena was put together in the 17th and 18th centuries from several pre-existing edifices built from 1046 as municipal offices.
It is characterized by a Clock Tower (Torre dell'Orologio, late 15th century), once paired with another tower (Torre Civica) demolished after an earthquake in 1671. In the interior, noteworthy is the Sala del Fuoco (Fire Hall), with a painted frieze by Niccolò dell'Abbate (1546) portraying famous characters from Ancient Rome against a typical Emilia background. The Camerino dei Confirmati (Chamber of the Confirmed) houses one of the symbols of the city, the Secchia Rapita, a bucket kept in memory of the victorious Battle of Zappolino (1325) against Bologna. This relic inspired the poem of the same title by Alessandro Tassoni. Another relic from the Middle Ages in Modena is the Preda Ringadora, a rectangular marble stone next to the palace porch, used as a speakers' platform, and the statue called La Bonissima.
The Cathedral of Modena and the annexed campanile are a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Begun under the direction of the Countess Matilda of Tuscany with its first stone laid June 6, 1099 and its crypt ready for the city's patron, Saint Geminianus, and consecrated only six years later, the Duomo of Modena was finished in 1184. The building of a great cathedral in this flood-prone ravaged former center of Arianism was an act of urban renewal in itself, and an expression of the flood of piety that motivated the contemporary First Crusade. Unusually, the master builder's name, Lanfranco, was celebrated in his own day: the city's chronicler expressed the popular confidence in the master-mason from Como, Lanfranco: by God's mercy the man was found (inventus est vir). The sculptor Wiligelmus who directed the mason's yard was praised in the plaque that commemorated the founding. The program of the sculpture is not lost in a welter of detail: the wild dangerous universe of the exterior is mediated by the Biblical figures of the portals leading to the Christian world of the interior. In Wiligelmus' sculpture at Modena, the human body takes on a renewed physicality it had lost in the schematic symbolic figures of previous centuries. At the east end, three apses reflect the division of the body of the cathedral into nave and wide aisles with their bold, solid masses. Modena's Duomo inspired campaigns of cathedral and abbey building in emulation through the valley of the Po.
The Gothic campanile (1224–1319) is called Torre della Ghirlandina from the bronze garland surrounding the weathercock.
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Places to see in ( Modena - Italy ) Piazza Grande
Places to see in ( Modena - Italy ) Piazza Grande
Piazza Grande is the main square of Modena , located in the historic center of the city. Piazza Grande, with its cathedral and city's civic tower , has been included since 1997 in the list of Italian heritage sites by UNESCO. The square is located on the south side of the Duomo , which with the bell tower Ghirlandina forms a monumental ensemble declared heritage of humanity .
On the eastern side of the square stands the Palazzo Comunale , a seventeenth - century arcade building that has combined the ancient medieval buildings of the Municipality and of the Ragione. The Palace, which had several towers in the Middle Ages , one of which is a tower cut off due to an earthquake that had beheaded, is now porticoed with an L- shaped plan. On the western side of the square is the back of the Archbishop 's palace., while on the southern side there is the modern building of a bank, also a portico.
This building, designed by the architect Gio Ponti , has replaced a former court of justice built in the late nineteenth century in the style of Roman ministries. Sold by the municipality to the local Cassa di Risparmio, the building was demolished and replaced by that of Gio Ponti, who faced the problem trying to resume in a modern key motifs of the Palazzo Comunale and the Archbishopric.
In the north-eastern corner of Piazza Grande, very close to the Palazzo Comunale , is the Preda Ringadora (which in Modenese dialect means stone of the harbinger ), a large rectangular marble boulder over 3 meters long which was probably originally , belonged to a Roman building.
During the Middle Agesthe Preda was used as a stage for speakers, but also as a place to execute death sentences and display corpses (so that someone could identify them) and to be used as a stone of disgrace: according to the Municipal Historical Archives every insolvent debtor in the day of the market after having gone around the square with a shaved head and a special headgear, preceded by the sound of a trumpet had to be declared such then he was forced to give up naked ass the prey rengadora, which is well greasy de trementina, three sometimes saying three times cedo bonis, cedo bonis, cedo bonis ,that is, promising to pay off the debt with his assets and this was to happen for three consecutive Saturdays at the request of the creditor who could so well evaluate the possibility of getting back their money by referring to the debtor's assets.
Every year, on the occasion of Fat Thursday , the square is filled to witness the ranting of the Family Pavironica, composed by Sandrone , his son Sgorghìguelo and his wife Pulonia; these are the three typical masks of the Modena carnival , and give an idea of how important the city is for the city (full of witty comments on city life and good criticism of the administration) just remember that it is pronounced from the balcony of the Palazzo Comunale . In a niche of the Palazzo Comunale is a small statue of the twelfth century called La Bonissima which probably represents the representation of honesty in commerce (it was placed in front of the office of Good Estimate), but that the legend wants to represent as a generous noblewoman who helped the poor during frequent famines.
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Modena, la Bonissima al carabiniere che comprò i sandali al clochard dopo l'arresto
Per la prima volta la città di Modena consegna 'La Bonissima', un riconoscimento che viene dato a chi si distingue in particolari gesti di onestà (e che costituto in una piccola statua che raffigura quella presente in piazza Grande), a un carabiniere. Si tratta di Cesare Pesaro, in servizio nella stazione di viale Tassoni, che il 7 agosto scorso intervenendo in un esercizio commerciale a Modena dopo un furto, aveva donato un paio di sandali all'autore, un 55enne italiano, clochard, che versava in evidente stato di indigenza. L'uomo aveva rubato prodotti per venti euro, venendo, ovviamente, denunciato per l'accaduto. Pesaro aveva acquistato i sandali donati all'uomo di tasca propria.
Places to see in ( Modena - Italy ) Palazzo Comunale di Modena
Places to see in ( Modena - Italy ) Palazzo Comunale di Modena
The municipal building of Modena , which closes with its portico the eastern and northern side of Piazza Grande , is still the seat of the Municipality of Modena. This is not actually a single building, but the result of the restructuring six - eighteenth century numerous buildings come to life since 1046 , all with the same function as administrative buildings and representation. The ancient Civic Tower (today Torre Mozza ) collapsed in 1671 following an earthquake. Interesting in the north wing is the Sala delle Bifore , an environment in which part of the previous medieval façade has returned to light, a few meters behind the previous one.
Inside it is worthy of note the frieze of the Sala del Fuoco , a series of paintings executed by Nicolò dell'Abate in 1546 , depicting the episodes of the siege of Modena in 44 BC : an opportunity to portray the characters of Roman history ( Marco Antonio , Bruto , Augusto ) in a typically ' Emilian ' background, in which there are also some views of the city. In the fire room there was always a brazier from which people could take the embers to activate their own fire. It was a public service obviously much appreciated by all the people of Modena.
In the Camerino dei Confirmati one of the city's symbols is kept: the Secchia rapita , a normal wooden bucket that reminds the Modenaese the glorious victory obtained against the Bolognese in 1325 at the battle of Zappolino . According to an ancient chronicle, found in the seventeenth century , the Modenese took the bucket from a well in Bologna and brought it back to the city as a trophy. It is the object and the title of the famous heroicomic poem by Alessandro Tassoni The kidnapped bucket .
The bucket is a direct testimony of medieval life in the city: we can approach it to the Preda Ringadora , a large rectangular marble boulder placed a few meters from the portico of the Palace, which probably originally belonged to an ancient Roman building. In medieval times, the Preda was used as a stage for the speakers, but also as a place where to execute death sentences and display corpses (so that someone could identify them).
In the Middle Ages there is also the statue of the Bonissima , a mysterious female figure erected in Piazza Grande in 1268 and then subsequently placed on the portico of the Palazzo Comunale, on the corner with Via Castellaro. Tradition tells us about a generous Modenese noblewoman, Bona , who distinguished herself in generosity towards the poor. More likely the female figure (who perhaps held a scale in her hand, now lost) is the symbol of Good esteem (from which in bona ésma dialect and then bonésma), that is to say the precision in measures and sales: at the foot of the statue there were in fact engraved the ancient mercantile measures of Modena, documented, starting from 1547, on the apse of the Cathedral .
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Videoguide di Modena - Piazza Grande
Videoguida descrittiva di Piazza Grande, curata dalla Rete Civica in collaborazione con Pongo Films. Regia di Davide Fonda. Animazione e grafica: Giampiero Puricella. Guida Turistica: Chiara Reverberi. Testi: Servizio Comunicazione del Comune di Modena. Coordinamento editoriale: Corrado Nuccini. Materiale fotografico: Fotomuseo Panini, Beppe Zagaglia, Bruno Marchetti.
MONUMENTI DI MODENA
Monumenti di Modena
1 Gli DEI all'ACCADEMIA
2 L'ARA della Liberta'
3 L'ARA dei piloti
4 Saturno
5 Bonissima
6 Caduti sul Lavoro
7 Ai Carabinieri
8 Ciro Menotti
9 In vino veritas
10 Omaggio al Duca
11 Omaggio al Duca 1
12 Fanciulla con cesto di frutta
13 Enzo Ferrari
14 Telesforo Fini
15 Fontana dei due fiumi
16 Fontana San Francesco
17 Fontana della Ninfa
18 Fonte Moreali
19 Fonte d'Abisso
20 Il Frullino
21 I Garibaldini
22 Goldoni
23 Grappolo d'uva
24 Il Cavallo
25 Il putto e l'oca
26 Kimera
27 La rovesciata
28 Poletti
29 Martiri Foibe
30 Mazzini
31 Migranti
32 Ai caduti
33 Muratori
34 Nicola Fabrizi
35 Alla Resistenza
36 Pavarotti
37 Pentetorri
38 Perseus
39 Preda ringadora
40 A Setti e all'Aviazione
41 San Barnaba
42 San Geminiano
43 Tassoni
44 Vittorio Emanuela II
Piazza Grande
Videoguida descrittiva di Piazza Grande, curata dalla Rete Civica in collaborazione con Pongo Films. Regia di Davide Fonda. Animazione e grafica: Giampiero Puricella. Guida Turistica: Chiara Reverberi. Testi: Servizio Comunicazione del Comune di Modena. Coordinamento editoriale: Corrado Nuccini. Materiale fotografico: Fotomuseo Panini, Beppe Zagaglia, Bruno Marchetti.