[...] if the decorations of the candlesticks and the capitals and moldings are due to Tuscan stonecutters, the architectural ensemble of the [del Pod… - Guido Zucchini

The formation of the Italian kingdom favored the development of an eclectic architecture and the renewed consciousness of our people soon led to grandiose building renovations and the applications of recent hygienic and sanitary conquests: but perhaps one day the regret will be great in thinking about which the master plans of Italian cities were entrusted to inexperienced hands. The sudden desire for demolitions and the sudden love for large spaces and large streets mathematically straight and intersecting at right angles prevented the coordination of the needs of traffic and hygiene with those of history and art and of preserving together with the fruits of new arts, the witnesses of the past and the picturesque aspects and the reasons for these aspects. (p. 164)

Bologna is not as well known as it deserves: its severe beauties, the gloomy appearance of the streets and houses, the escapes of endless porticoes, the play of shadows and lights of its winding streets and its bright squares , the solemn atriums and the sumptuous staircases, the decorative details of its terracottas, the calmness of the C.E.17th-century decorations do not allow the hasty traveler immediate enjoyment and do not elicit cries of admiration. The city, which first of all had an ancient civilization, which radiated so much light through the Studio allied to the flourishing of the highly democratic and humanitarian Municipality, which produced painters to support Baroque art with a magnificent brush, must be loved patiently, must be discovered step by step, corner by corner, act by act, intention by intention. (pp. 170-171)

The freedom conquered [by the Bolognese] against the Viscontis, the desire to seal the new republican regime with a grandiose construction, dedicated to a local saint, perhaps emulation, which pushed them to surpass the cathedral of Milan and that of Florence, were the causes of the erection of San Petronio. (p. 54)