GATTAPONE
(b. ca. 1300, Gubbio, d. 1383, Gubbio)

Interior view

1365-70
Photo
Collegio di Spagna, Bologna

The Collegio di Spagna is a college for Spanish students at the University of Bologna, which has been functioning since the 14th century. The college was founded in 1364 by the Cardinal Gil Alvarez De Albornoz (1310-1367) and built in 1365-70. It was the model for the colleges founded at the University of Salamanca, starting in the late 14th century and at other Spanish universities in the following centuries.

Both severity and sophistication are characteristic of Matteo Gattapone's work for Cardinal Albornoz in the Collegio di Spagna. The building was begun and substantially completed between 1365 and 1370, while Gattapone was also working on the Rocca at Spoleto. The octagonal columns and two-tiered arches of the loggia at Bologna repeat the Umbrian forms, but with a difference. There is added weight and gravity in the lower arcades. More striking still, the height of the upper story is drastically reduced. The individual forms are only minimally altered, and the reduction is mainly achieved by halving the height of the supporting columns. The unbroken horizontality of the roof-line is given positive architectural force by the abrupt emergence of the façade and bell screen of the aisleless, vaulted Chapel of San Clemente. The forms of the cortile give no warning of the building that erupts above and behind them.

The photo shows the courtyard in front of the Chapel of San Clemente.