OUTSIDE

Palazzo Rosso is an incredible residence, to be observed calmly and discovered little by little. On its external walls, made of vermilion-coloured bricks, the gaze runs and rests, to linger on fine decorative details and to sense new elements, in a game of discovery and amazement.

The privileged point for contemplating the building is on the left bank of the Navile canal, immersed in nature and surrounded by beauty. From there the building appears at the centre of an evocative and unreal postcard-like composition, which, thanks to the perspective view, includes the mill building and the castle walls. In front of the observer, an evergreen magnolia rises majestically, only partially revealing the volume of the palace, a three-storey, longitudinal building. Behind the magnolia, one can see the south elevation of the building, in which a window adorned with terracotta tiles opens onto an elegant double loggia that extends towards the canal.

Approaching the palazzo allows one to become aware of the power and plasticity of the terracotta ornaments that enliven it, replicated in the same pattern on all the elevations. From above, in the eaves of the roof, runs a double row of dentils creating interesting chiaroscuro effects. A little further down, in the frieze, modular circles formed by crumpled acanthus leaves can be distinguished, highlighted at the base by a double frame of minute denticles. Descending, the arches of the windows on the second floor are emphasised by frames with small stylised flowers, the arches of the doors and windows on the first floor are decorated with partially crumpled leaves, the windows and doors on the ground floor bear friezes with corncob motifs.

To the south, the double loggia consists of a portico and a belvedere. On the ground floor, the portico is enclosed by three cross vaults, has three arches decorated with small stylised terracotta flowers, and is supported by brick columns with sandstone plinths and capitals, on which are wrought iron serpentines. On the first floor, the belvedere has a wooden roof and is supported by brick columns with terracotta capitals featuring crumpled leaves and a mauve flower. This stately balcony was once painted on the outside.
We can still recognise, engraved in the plaster, drawings of ducks, water lilies, tife and cartouches with Latin inscriptions, which read together seem to be a tender declaration of the owner’s love for the Bentivoglio valleys. To the west we read AVTVNNO . MOLLIS, to the east PALUDIS. The colours, however, have almost completely vanished. What remains almost everywhere is the blue of the background and a palette of beautiful earthy colours in a small precious pictorial piece to the east, where white renders the petals of the water lilies muffled, military green restores a marshy tone to the leaves of the marsh plants, and red ochre brings out the so-called ‘mattarelli’ of the rushes.

Today the palace can be reached from the west, walking along a ramp that hides the navigable branch of the Navile canal. The outline of a boat is traced in the self-locking blocks, evoking the festive country outings of Bolognese schoolchildren in the early 20th century. The west façade of the building features a central forepart, two access doors and the overhang of a chimney liner belonging to chimneys located on the first and second floors. Of particular interest are the wooden shutters on the first floor windows, which here, as on the east elevation, run sideways and disappear into the wall.

To the east is the original access to the palace, once reached by carriage along the narrow and dusty Via Saliceto. On the street is a portal, which opens onto a walkway suspended over the Navile canal leading to the building. The portal is made of terracotta and has a refined plastic decoration: a cornice with dentils, a frieze with circles formed by foliage and an arch with crumpled leaves. The gate is made of wrought iron and ends at the top with five-petalled flowers. The gate to the palace stands out for its decoration. The wrought iron gate that protects it is quite similar to the gate on the portal. The terracotta decoration that surrounds it consists of flowers inserted inside square tiles, the same ones that we will find inside the palace, on the stairs and around the doors of the Zodiac room. Above the tiles is a frieze of leaves forming circles and a frame of denticles alternating with capital letters recalling the year the building was built: MDCCCLXXXX. The inscription painted in red on a white background, placed under the canopy protecting those who cross the threshold, shows the initials CPA, referring to the owner Carlo Alberto Pizzardi, among white ribbons and flowers.

The east elevation of the building is linear, with only the flue linings of three chimneys on the second and first floors protruding from the wall. The decorative motifs in terracotta and iron almost faithfully replicate those on the opposite façade. Only a few elements at the base of the building vary: a frame of small terracotta lozenges divides the first floor from the ground floor, the projecting window grilles are decorated with floral elements instead of diagonal grid grilles, in the scarp wall that descends into the canal one can recognise traces of arches and a plugged door, the former landing for boats.

INTERIOR

Ground floor atrium

The atrium of the palace is a small, barrel-vaulted room with five doors. One door leads to the interior, one door is walled up, another door leads to the rooms under the staircase, and two doors lead to the room that was part of the caretaker’s house, currently used as a library lending station from the library located on the ground floor of the palace. The atrium is embellished by a 19th-century plaque detached from the clock building which preserves the memory of the reclamations carried out by Marquis Luigi Pizzardi in Bentivoglio. The inscription reads: IN HONOR OF THE MARQUISE COMMENDATOR LUIGI PIZZARDI WHO IN 1868 MADE GREAT AND USEFUL RECLAMATIONS FOR THE HEALTH OF THIS COUNTRY. THE INHABITANTS WERE VERY GRATEFUL FOR THE BENEFICE THEY PLACED HIM HERE.

Underground rooms

Passing through a door, one reaches the palace’s sub-basement, where one is enveloped and enchanted by the mural paintings that narrate life in the Bentivoglio valley. Two small rooms are covered with ribbed vaults. In the larger room there is a corner masonry seat, a window opens onto the canal – closed by a grille decorated with plant motifs resembling little flames – and a staircase leads to the main floor. In the two rooms, the chromatic aspect of the paintings takes on considerable importance. On the architectural scores, the colours play on brick, silver and pewter tones, contrasting with the vaults and lower bands of the walls where the colours draw from the palette of greens. Between these elements, within arches like frames, the yellows of the flowers explode, barely muted by the dim light filtering in.

The decorative motifs also deserve attention. Replicated using stencil and dusting techniques, they give these spaces and the entire building a fully Art Nouveau effect. In the architectural members, the painted facing bricks are softened with simple geometric decorations and small stylised carnations. In the arches lush yellow ireos form an intricate carpet in the marsh, where beautiful flocks of mallards find refuge and nourishment. Beneath an illusionistic moulding painted in monochrome, in the lower bands of the walls, soft water lilies emerge floating on the water. Set to the left of this compartment, the staircase appears to us as a jewel of architecture. The cement mortar, imitating terracotta, is moulded with remarkable imagination. From above we can see a frame of denticles, a band with phytomorphic elements winding in a spiral, lozenges with floral elements, barely revealed with touches of black and gold paint and, only on the outside of the staircase, a row of stylised flowers. It is nice to imagine that the snow-white bust of Marquis Carlo Alberto Pizzardi, which today stands on the first floor, is still in place at the head of the staircase.

Former offices of the Pizzardi Estate

Before going up to the first floor, it is worth visiting the rooms that were once occupied by the Tenuta Pizzardi’s administrative offices and now house Bentivoglio’s municipal library. Eleven rooms arranged on the sides of a barrel-vaulted corridor. In the third room on the right, some elements reminiscent of an ancient entrance are still recognisable: a wooden compass and an arch in the inner wall concealing a larger doorway At the end of the corridor, a door opens under the outside porch, creating a very pleasant and surprising effect.

Anterooms on the first floor

Returning inside, and walking down the stairs, one reaches the main floor, accompanied by the flight of ducks and intoxicated by the scent of ireos. The original access to the palace remains precluded, but a huge open window in an antechamber of the first floor flat nevertheless offers a stunning view of the jetty suspended over the canal. As in the basement, the space on the first floor is divided into two small rooms with vaulted ceilings.

The pictorial and plastic decorations replicate the themes developed on the ground floor. The exception is the decoration of the wall dividing the staircase ramps, in which two arches and a lunette open up. The lunette is closed by a glazing of white rollers, plumbed on a straw-coloured background. Beneath the lunette, the cement mortar takes the form of dentils, flowers within square tiles, twisted ropes, and again stylised flowers in the arches. Here the painting has been admirably preserved and it is possible to see that the space between each denticle, the bottom of each square tile and the surface of each stylised flower were originally painted black. While gold is more sparkling than ever on the flowers inside the square modules. Beautiful white carnations bloom between the arches, raised on stems of marshy green. The bust of Carlo Alberto Pizzardi is here, resting on a wooden cabinet. It gives us the image of a distinguished, middle-aged man, dressed in a high-collared shirt, fastened with a wide tie, a waistcoat and a jacket. His face is hollowed out by wrinkles, his eyebrows are thick and furrowed, his mouth is tight, his chin has a dimple and his hair is parted almost down the middle by a parting. Under one sleeve the sculptor Pasquale Rizzoli has traced his signature: PR 1931 IX.

Flat of Marquis Carlo Alberto Pizzardi

Passing through an archway surmounted by a glazed lunette with rollers, embellished with a cement mortar decoration that took the form of dentils, flowers within square tiles and twisted ropes, one enters what was once the flat of Marquis Carlo Alberto Pizzardi.

The use of the rooms has changed and the furnishings have mostly disappeared. Thecorridor is barrel-vaulted, while the lower sections of the walls are painted with mouldings and monochrome water lilies floating on water. The paintings extend to the doors and frame the entrances with monochrome ireos motifs on a brick-coloured background.

In the corridor are doors to five rooms, plus access to the Zodiac room. The rooms feature doors and friezes painted with admirable taste. Naturalistic elements are multi-coloured in the friezes and monochromes around the doors. To the left of the corridor one room is painted with blue ireos, another with blue valves and dolphins, another with white dog roses on a blue background. To the right of the corridor one room is decorated with multicoloured flowers and curled leaves, another with mouldings and pearls, another with yellow lemons.

Dining room

The council chamber is adorned with a large early 20th-century mirror, which an oral tradition has it was donated by the king on a visit in 1925. This large, pavilion-vaulted room was probably Pizzardi’s dining room.

Text content by Marianna Biondi