Shopping mall
Corte Isolani
Covered gothic timber passage of arrow-pierced beams linking two medieval courtyards lined with shops and galleries.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Corte Isolani in Bologna starts beneath the portico's ancient wooden beams, where three iron-tipped arrows are still wedged overhead, tied to a Bolognese legend of a jealous husband, hired killers and a wife who appeared at her window. It follows the portico's real history too, raised in the 1450s by Florentine builder Pagno di Lapo Portigiani for the Bolognini family before the Cyprus-born Isolani family took the palace over. Look up as you pass through, and see if you can spot where those arrows landed.
This audio guide was created using AI.