By Ines Keane
Ask three sources how long Bologna’s porticoes are and you get three numbers. That is not a failure of research. It is a sign that nobody has agreed what to count, and it is a good way into a city that has been covering its pavements for something like nine hundred years.
What the sources say the porticoes are
Wikipedia’s article on the porticoes describes them as extensions of private buildings onto public land, with upper floors and wooden projections that were later held up by columns. It says the first historical evidence dates from 1041 and that they were probably built in the early Middle Ages. Medieval porticoes were wooden, and a few survive, in via Marsala and Corte Isolani.
The article says a municipal notice of 1288 required new houses to have a portico, and that existing houses without one had to add it. A decree of 26 March 1568 then required porticoes to be rebuilt in brick or stone. The UNESCO page links the tradition to a 1288 statute, so the two sources agree on the year and differ on the wording: Wikipedia says notice, UNESCO says statute.
Three lengths
- Wikipedia: more than 38 km in the historic centre, and up to 53 km counting porticoes outside the medieval walls.
- UNESCO’s World Heritage listing: 62 km in total across the city’s network, of which 12 component parts were inscribed as a representative selection.
- Italia.it, the national tourism site: no total at all.
We do not reconcile these. Our reading: the totals differ because the sources draw the boundary in different places, but neither says so.
The long one
Wikipedia says the Portico of San Luca is the world’s longest, running from Porta Saragozza to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. It gives 666 vault arcades and a length of 3,796 metres, which it rounds to almost 4 km. The article adds that since 1433 a Byzantine icon of the Madonna and Child has been carried along it to the cathedral during the Feast of the Ascension. We mention the procession as a dated fact and say nothing about its meaning.
The listing
UNESCO inscribed the porticoes in 2021 under criterion (iv), with a property area of 52.18 ha. The buffer zone is given as 1,125.62 ha by UNESCO and 1,225.62 ha by Wikipedia. One of them has a typing slip, and we do not know which. UNESCO describes the system as “the largest porticoe system in the world” and calls the porticoes shared public space on privately owned property.
The rest of the city
Wikipedia puts Bologna at the foot of the Apennines on the edge of the Po Plain, with a population of 391,473 in 2026. It says the University of Bologna was founded, conventionally, in 1088 and is the oldest university in continuous operation, though elsewhere the same article softens the claim to “one of the oldest in the western world”. The city’s nicknames are La Dotta, the learned, for the university; La Grassa, the fat, for the cuisine; and La Rossa, the red, first for the colour of the buildings. Up to 180 medieval towers were built in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The article says both “no more than twenty” remain and that 24 are still standing.
Italia.it gives the Garisenda Tower as 48 metres, shortened from about 60 after structural failures, and says the Asinelli Tower has 498 steps. It also names Mortadella Bologna as an IGP product, and says the university’s botanical garden, founded in 1568, covers 20,000 square metres, holds about 1,800 species and has four greenhouses.
Dates in order
- 1041: first historical evidence of porticoes, according to Wikipedia.
- 1088: conventional founding date of the university, according to Wikipedia.
- 1288: notice or statute on porticoes, according to Wikipedia and UNESCO.
- 1388 to 1479: San Petronio built and left unfinished, according to Wikipedia.
- 1433: the icon first carried along the San Luca portico, according to Wikipedia.
- 1568: decree on brick or stone porticoes, and the botanical garden’s founding, according to Wikipedia and Italia.it.
- 2021: UNESCO inscription.
What kind of sources these are
Two Wikipedia articles, which anyone can edit; UNESCO’s own World Heritage page; and the national tourism site. UNESCO is the strongest on the listing itself. Wikipedia is the only source for the history of the arcades and the procession.
What we left out
We left out prices, opening hours, event dates and which towers can be climbed this season. We left out the population of the wider province, where the article gives two figures. We left out any claim about food beyond the IGP name, since the tourism page does not mention tortellini and we will not borrow a claim we could not source.
Quick answers
How long are Bologna’s porticoes? UNESCO says 62 km in total. Wikipedia says more than 38 km in the centre and up to 53 km including those outside the medieval walls.
When did UNESCO list the porticoes? In 2021, as 12 component parts under criterion (iv), according to UNESCO’s World Heritage page.
How long is the San Luca portico? Wikipedia gives 666 arcades and 3,796 metres, running from Porta Saragozza to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca.
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