L’uso di simboli del potere imperiale romano a Bologna da Giovanni II Bentivoglio a Carlo V

Between the last decades of the Fifteenth and the beginning of the Sixteenth century, Bologna offers interesting examples of employment of iconographies and symbols derived from Roman antiquity. Firstly this figurative repertoire was used by the authorities having political control over the town, i.e. Giovanni II Bentivoglio, in the time of his rule, and the pope, when Bologna returned under papal government. But it was used as well to honour the “guest” authorities who, following the historical events of the period, visited Bologna in those years: king Francis I of France and Charles V, who was crowned Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in this town. As symbolic equipments derived from the iconographic fund of ancient Rome were each time used, we can observe more similarities than differences, as if it was a visual code substantially shared. Monuments and public ceremonies show the most significant examples of this attitude.