Palazzo dei Notai

Palazzo dei Notai on Bologna's Piazza Maggiore was the headquarters of the city's medieval notaries' guild, recognizable by its Ghibelline battlements and quill-and-inkwell crest.

Why it matters

Bologna's university and legal culture made notarial practice influential across Europe. Founded in 1246, the notaries' guild acquired property on the city's principal square and made the palace a public emblem of the profession. Its three inkwells and quills distinguish it from the heraldic coats of arms on nearby buildings.

What to notice

Swallow-tailed battlements run along the facade, and tall arched windows mark the upper floor. The building incorporates traces of medieval shops and offices at street level. A change in brickwork shows where earlier houses were combined; a loggia added in the fifteenth century marks a later building phase. The guild's quill-and-inkwell emblem appears above the entrances.

Context and history

Documents refer to a great battlemented house on this site by 1335. From 1287 the notaries acquired houses along Piazza Maggiore, combining them as a single palace. In 1384 the guild undertook a major rebuilding led by Antonio di Vincenzo and Lorenzo di Bagnomarino; work continued to 1421, with a loggia and additional doorway added in 1422. Later alterations included Giuseppe Tubertini's eighteenth-century work. Alfonso Rubbiani's restoration of 1906–1908 sought to recover the building's medieval appearance.