Piazza Galvani 1, 40124 Bologna
The Palazzo dell'Archiginnasio was built in 1562-1563 to give the University of Bologna a single home, and it stands beside San Petronio, 284 metres from Piazza Maggiore, about a four-minute walk. The palace is free to enter. The Anatomical Theatre needs a booked ticket: €10 with an audio guide or €12 guided.
The University of Bologna dates itself to 1088 and calls itself the oldest university in the Western world. For nearly five centuries it had no building of its own, and teaching was spread across several sites in the city.
The Archiginnasio fixed that. The papal legate, Cardinal Carlo Borromeo, and his vice-legate Pier Donato Cesi had it built in 1562-1563 to give university teaching a single seat, to a design by the Bolognese architect Antonio Morandi, known as Terribilia. It runs along the flank of San Petronio, under the long Portico del Pavaglione.
It stayed the university’s seat until 1803. After a few years as a primary school, it became the city library in 1838, and it still is. The library itself is for study, not sightseeing. Visitors come for the courtyard, the stairs and two rooms upstairs.
A popular story says Pope Pius IV had the Archiginnasio built against San Petronio’s flank in 1562 on purpose, to stop the basilica being enlarged until it outgrew St Peter’s in Rome. Recent historical research disputes that and points to money and planning problems as the real reasons the basilica was never finished. Guides still tell the legend, so now you know both versions. The San Petronio page has the rest of the story.
Walk in from the portico and look up. Every wall of the courtyard, the loggias and the staircases is covered with painted and carved coats of arms. The official site counts about 6,000 of them, placed between the building’s construction and the end of the eighteenth century, and calls it the largest heraldic wall decoration anywhere.
This part costs nothing. The palace is free to enter Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 19:00.
Upstairs is the room most people come for. The Teatro Anatomico was designed in 1637 by Antonio Paolucci, called il Levanti, for anatomy lessons. It is built of fir wood, with tiers of wooden benches around a white table in the middle, under a coffered ceiling added in 1645 with Apollo at its center.
Statues of famous physicians and Bologna anatomists line the walls. Beside the lecturer’s chair stand two flayed figures, the spellati, carved in 1734 to a design by Ercole Lelli.
The bombing of 29 January 1944 wrecked the theatre. It was rebuilt soon after the war, using the original wooden sculptures pulled out of the rubble, so the statues you see are the originals.
Your ticket also covers the Sala dello Stabat Mater, the old lecture hall of the law students, named after the performance there on 18 March 1842 of Rossini’s Stabat Mater, conducted by Donizetti.
Booking is mandatory for the Anatomical Theatre and the Sala dello Stabat Mater. Bologna Welcome sells two kinds of visit, with these prices as of October 2026:
| Visit | Full | Reduced | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audio guide | €10 | €8 | Entry every 10 minutes, Monday to Saturday 10:00-17:30. Bring your own phone. |
| Guided | €12 | €10 | English tours Monday to Saturday at 10:20, 14:20, 16:00 and 17:10. €7 with a Card Cultura or Bologna Welcome Card. Free for children up to 12. |
Reduced tickets cover ages 13 to 18, university students with ID and over-65s. The guided visit may also include the Cappella di Santa Maria dei Bulgari and the Cubiculum Artistarum when they are not in use.
Older guides quote a €3 entry. That price is out of date.
The palace has step-free access from Via de’ Foscherari 2, with a lift.
It is 284 metres, about four minutes on foot. From the square, walk past the left side of San Petronio as you face its facade and continue under the Portico del Pavaglione, the long arcade along the basilica’s flank. The Archiginnasio’s entrance is on this portico, facing Piazza Galvani.
Piazza Galvani is also where the San Luca Express tourist train leaves for the Sanctuary of San Luca, so the two pair well on one day.
2.5 hours
Starts on Piazza Maggiore, goes inside the Archiginnasio and its wooden anatomy theatre, and finishes with your own climb up the Clock Tower above the square.
from$55
Check availability1 hour
One focused hour inside the old university palace next to San Petronio, with entry to the anatomical theatre included.
from$28
Check availability3 hours
A private three-hour walk for up to five people that sets off from the tourist office on Piazza Maggiore and takes in the anatomy theatre, the leaning towers and Santo Stefano's porticoes.
from$118 per group
Check availabilityPrices and ratings checked on GetYourGuide in October 2026 and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
The university calls itself the oldest in the Western world, not the world, and conventionally dates its founding to 1088. For nearly five centuries it had no single building, and teaching was spread across several sites in the city. The Archiginnasio, finished in 1563, was the first purpose-built home for all its schools.
The Archiginnasio is the oldest building built to house the whole university. Cardinal Carlo Borromeo had it put up in 1562-1563 to bring teaching that was scattered across the city under one roof, and it stayed the university's seat until 1803. Since 1838 it has held the city library.
As of October 2026, an audio-guide visit is €10 full and €8 reduced, and a guided visit is €12 full, €10 reduced and €7 with a Card Cultura or Bologna Welcome Card. Both include the Sala dello Stabat Mater. Walking into the palace courtyard costs nothing.
For the Anatomical Theatre, yes. Bologna Welcome sells the visits online and says booking is mandatory; you can also book by phone on 051 6583166. The palace itself, with its courtyard and painted loggias, is free to walk into from Monday to Saturday without a ticket.
No. The palace opens Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 19:00 and is closed on Sundays, and booked visits to the Anatomical Theatre run Monday to Saturday only. On Sunday, the Basilica di San Petronio next door and the square in front of it are your nearest alternatives.
The Basilica di San Petronio fills the south side of Piazza Maggiore.
The Quadrilatero is Bologna's old market district, a tight grid of lanes such as Via Pescherie Vecchie and Via Drapperie directly behind Palazzo dei Banchi on Piazza Maggiore.
The Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca is a hilltop basilica southwest of Bologna, joined to the city by a 3.8 km covered portico.