TheFiera di Bologna is thebusiness district of the city ofBologna, in central Italy. The area includes a trade exhibition centre and several office towers occupied by the regional government ofEmilia-Romagna and various private companies.
The history of the Fiera begins in the 19th century. The first large trade fair was held in the city on May 7, 1888 in theGiardini Margherita, inaugurated byKing Umberto I, QueenMargherita of Savoy and the then Prime Minister,Francesco Crispi.[1][2]
Trade fairs of national significance were held more constantly starting from 1927, the year in which the "Littoriale"football stadium, nowRenato Dall'Ara Memorial Stadium, was built by theFascist regime, with expositions taking place inside the stadium on a regular basis.[3][4]
AfterWW2, in 1947, the local chamber of commerce set up the Ente Autonomo delle Fiere di Bologna; however, it didn't have a fixed location yet, but trade fairs were held betweenMontagnola park andPalazzo del Podestà.[5]
In 1961 EAF launched a contest in order to select a project for a first block of permanent pavillons.[6] The winning project was that of architectsLeonardo Benevolo, Tommaso Giuralongo and Carlo Melogran;[7] works began in 1964 and the following year the 29th Fair of Bologna, inaugurated by the then Prime MinisterAldo Moro, was the first to be held in a permanent venue.[8]
At the end of the 1960s the city authorities, worried by massivegentrification andsuburbanisation, asked JapanesestarchitectKenzo Tange to sketch a master plan for anew town north of Bologna; however, the project that came out in 1970 was evaluated as way too much ambitious and expensive.[9] Eventually the city council, in spite of vetoing Tange's master plan, decided to keep his project for a new exhibition centre and business district.[10] At the end of 1978 the construction of a tower block and several diverse buildings and structures started.[11] In 1985 the headquarters of the regional government ofEmilia-Romagna moved in the new district.[12]
In 2002 EAF turned into "BolognaFiere Spa", ajoint-stock company that is the fulcrum of a regional fair system that includes alsoModena andFerrara, with a combined total of 200,000 square meters of gross hall capacity,[13] of which 105,000 in Bologna alone.[14]
In 2010 a new 22 story, 90 meters high tower has been completed.[15]
At the end of 2016 BolognaFiere Spa successfully carried out a €20mseasoned equity offering with the aim to expand its exhibition grounds to 140,000 square meters.[16] On October 30, 2017 (after the approval of a new €100m restyling project) demolition works of the old pavillons officially started.[17]
44°30′39″N11°21′58″E / 44.5109°N 11.3661°E /44.5109; 11.3661
