The history

The birth of the arcades of Bologna can be traced back to the early Middle Ages and has something curious, it is not in fact a work born for military or urban purposes but as self-management of the inhabitants of the city for the need to "enlarge" their living spaces. They used to increase the size of their houses in height as the family grew and it was necessary at some point to build columns to support the houses. This solution had innumerable advantages: the porticoes allowed the citizens to defend themselves from the rain or from the hot summer sun and above all to let the goods pass under any weather conditions, far from the dirt that was usual to find on the streets. Moreover, local craftsmen could benefit from a well ventilated, bright and sheltered place, better than the first floors they were used to and which often hosted their stores.

In the 14th century, Bologna's wealthy bourgeoisie had developed a deep political awareness and unity, and was also in strong economic and commercial competition with Milan and Florence, two very powerful poles at the time. For Bologna it was not possible to impose its power with weapons and swords, its supremacy had to be shown through architectural works of great difficulty. Thanks to this strong "competition" we owe the construction of the Basilica of San Petronio: Bologna did not want to remain impassive towards the two cities that had already begun the construction of their cathedral (Florence had already been building for more than a century, Milan a few years earlier) and decided, through its administrative council, to start work as soon as possible.

As we can see, the Basilica of San Petronio would have been built by civic and not ecclesiastical will like the cathedrals of Milan and Florence. It has been a brave decision, especially in a century when papal influence dominated not only political decisions, but also the daily lives of all citizens.
According to the logic of the Church, this decision was a insidious attack from the city to bypass ecclesiastical power. The city administrators justified themselves by saying that this monument would also be a symbol of religious faith, which would benefit the papacy too in terms of political influence.

What began as an attempt to compete with Florence and Milan became an ideal of freedom, autonomy and independence and the Church tried to interrupt the construction work several times. 
The climax reached its peek in 1562, when Pope Pio IV decided to purchase most of the land around the Basilica. Thanks to this astute move, the local administrators' ambitious project to create a cathedral in the shape of a Latin cross (and thus a religious symbol) was made impossible and was never completed. The Pope therefore considered his exclusive right to erect religious monuments to be unaffected, and the civic community remained in possession of the largest civic cathedral in Italy. From that day Basilica of San Petronio became a symbol of Bologna's independence from everyone, even the Pope.

In Bologna, there is no dispute as to whether panettone or pandoro is better, because the Bolognese people have simply created their own cake!

The traditional dessert with which Christmas lunch ends is called “Certosino” and has even medieval origins! Pharmacists (at that time called "speziali") had access to a multitude of ingredients and, in addition to medical recipes, they also dabbled in the preparation of sweets, hence the first name of the Certosino dessert: "PANSPZIÈL", which takes its inspiration from "Pane degli speziali". The recipe was perfected over time by the monks of the Carthusian (Certosino in italian) monastery, who took charge of the subsequent production of this cake, so much so that it ended up being identified with the monks even in its name: "Certosino". The traditional recipe calls for it to be made with: flour, pine nuts, chocolate, almonds, sultanas, candied fruit and honey.