Art Hotel Commercianti Bologna

If you are looking for an accommodation in the centre of Bologna the Art Hotel Commercianti is the ideal solution: a boutique hotel located in the heart of the medieval centre, in the historical building that housed the Bologna Municipality of the XII century.

The Art Hotel Commercianti has recently gone through a refurbishing process which has kept all the distinctive features of the original building: its vaulted ceilings, its wooden beams, the elegant balconies looking out over the Gothic stained glass-windows of the impressive Basilica di San Petronio.

This 4-star hotel located in a quiet pedestrian area, provides a private parking in the center of Bologna next to the Basilica of San Petronio in Piazza Maggiore. The parking is easily accessible and reserved to the hotel clients.

The hotel boasts an insuperable location lying within walking distance to the main tourist attractions of the city: Archiginnasio, Palazzo del Podestà, Fontana del Nettuno, the Two Towers and also to the most renowned shopping streets of Bologna and the best restaurants.

Our charme hotel, adjoining Piazza Maggiore, offers a personalised attention, hospitality and high quality service which have gained it the prestigious certificate “Stanze Italiane”. Make a reservation on the official website of the Art Hotel Commercianti and enjoy a unique and luxury experience at the heart of our wonderful city.

ROOMS & SUITES
The rooms and suites of the Art Hotel Commercianti are elegant and luxury accommodations which keep the distinctive elements of the original medieval building of the XII century, in an elegant ambiance enhanced by the timbered wooden structures and the stunning views to the Gothic stained glass-windows of the Basilica di San Petronio. Select your luxury room in the centre of Bologna and make a reservation on the official website of the Art Hotel Commercianti.

The Suites of the Art Commercianti Hotel are the most exclusive accommodation of our hotel where the harmony of shapes and spaces, a sophisticated elegance and functional design objects offer a unique hospitality: everything is refinement and comfort. In the spacious and elegant bathrooms dark marble and elegant finishing have been used.

TOWER SUITE
enclosed in the oldest building, the medieval tower is now truncated in its final part, it is composed of two separate rooms: a living room and a bedroom. Furnished with a comfortable sofa, a desk, a walk-in closet, a flat screen TV, and a kettle with a wide selection of teas and coffees. This suite boasts a unique view on the Gothic windows of the Basilica of San Petronio and the Romanesque bell tower.

Inside the suite you can admire beautiful frescos of the XVIII century created using an ancient “nail engraving” technique as the shield, on which you can still read the sentence “Armi e di ballare” (“Weapons and dance”), part of a motto which celebrated the glories of rich families now long forgotten.

GLOSSATORS SUITE
Also this suite consists of two separate rooms of which one living room, richly painted and furnished. The name of the room is a tribute to its history because in addition to be the seat of the Municipality of Bologna, the building was also the seat of the prestigious University when the Roman law professors (glossators) used to teach lessons in their own homes.

Furnished with a comfortable sofa, a desk, a flat screen TV, and a kettle with a wide selection of teas and coffees. This suite can accommodate up to four people.

JUNIOR SUITE NEPTUNE
Romantic bedroom with sitting area and a pretty iron bed canopy: it takes its name after the god of the sea whose statue dominates the main square of Bologna. A blue wall with shell lamps incorporates the theme of the sea creating enchanting atmosphere.

JUNIOR SUITE PETRONIO
Elegant room with walls manually decorated. It takes its name from the Basilica of San Petronio because from the windows of the room seems almost to be able to touch the beautiful Gothic windows of the church.

DELUXE DOUBLE ROOM WITH TERRACE
Double Deluxe Rooms with Terrace of the Art Commercianti Hotel are elegant, comfortable and well furnished with a comfortable double bed or two single beds, a desk, a wardrobe, a flat-screen TV, a kettle and a wide selection of teas and coffees.

These rooms have a terrace with table and chairs and a lovely view: you can admire from your private terrace the splendid Gothic windows of the Basilica of San Petronio, the Church overlooking Piazza Maggiore, and you can also listen to the organ concerts that periodically are held into the Church.

Each room is special and different from the others, but all are furnished with attention to details, style and refinement. These elegant accommodations are furnished with all the comforts in order to ensure you a perfect stay.

APARTMENTS 
The Art Studio Apartments of the Commercianti Hotel offer you the opportunity to stay in an elegant building in Via D’Azeglio, where we find the most exclusive shopping centres of the city, and still enjoy all the services and the personalised attention of the Commercianti Art Hotel, located just a few metres away from the apartments.

These apartments feature a refined, elegant and modern decoration and are equipped with all the necessary commodities for a long-term business stay at the heart of Bologna: spacious work table and comfortable chairs, sofa, views to the city centre and fully equipped kitchen.

LUXURY APARTMENTS BATTIBECCO
The Luxury Apartments Battibecco are two magnificent luxury apartments with a modern design that offer the opportunity to stay a few steps from Piazza Maggiore and the main monuments of the city and at the same time to enjoy freedom and comfort of an annex together with all the four-star services of the Hotel Commercianti, located just 200 meters away.

The apartments can accommodate up to four people and are located on the third floor with lift in Via Battibecco, a small, very quiet pedestrian street near the hotel and within walking distance.

These elegant solutions are characterized by larger spaces than the other rooms and by a more modern design. In both apartments have been chosen the typical colors of Bologna’s homes, blue and green, which are enhanced by the white stuccoes and the large and bright windows.

The choice of furniture plays on the contrast between rigorous architecture and alluring and playful elements where the ancient and the modern are mixed: tables and bedside tables in glass and steel find a perfect balance with collections of old books and antiques.

The luxuriously furnished bathrooms are equipped with a Turkish bath and chromotherapy. The kitchens have induction hobs and the latest generation oven.

SERVICES
The services of the Art Hotel Commercianti are the hallmark of this business and leisure hotel on Piazza Maggiore. The services of our charme hotel in the centre of Bologna guarantee you the success of your business events and the calmness and relax you need during your holidays: exclusive boardrooms, left-luggage office, private parking, free bike rental.

BREAKFAST
Every morning you can find a wide variety of tasty bakery products and fresh handcrafted pastries: you can enjoy cakes, croissants and delicious pastries prepared daily, as well as puddings, cream, chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio filled croissants and chocolate, pineapple, walnut and apple cakes.

There will be an assortment of local products associated with the cooking traditions of our city, such as raviole and rice cakes. Even savoury lovers will be satisfied, thanks to the abundant selection of cheese, toast, several types of bread, breadsticks, quiches, omelettes, crackers and our platters of cold cuts, with the unmissable traditional Bolognese mortadella.

For us, the seasonality of the products is of the utmost importance, so you will always find new, freshly prepared, seasonal dishes. Fresh seasonal fruit, both dried and canned, are always present on our banquet tables, as well as fruit salads and assorted yoghurts (flavours: fruit, natural).

Taste our different types of jam and honey, and make your breakfast richer with our wide choice of cereals! Relax and enjoy our rich variety of fine teas and fresh fruit and vegetable juices; you will find orange, pineapple, ACE and tomato juice.

Let yourself be pampered by our staff, who will serve you excellent drinks at the table, from cappuccino to the typical Italian espresso, without forgetting freshly squeezed orange or grapefruit and hot dishes: omelettes, scrambled, fried, boiled or soft-boiled eggs, in accordance with your personal tastes.

If you want to have a more flavourful breakfast, you can add to your plate a sprinkling of spices, such as curry, oregano, paprika, mustard and ginger powder. Discover also our corner dedicated to biological and gluten-free products, where you will find jams, rice wafers, biological apple juices, biscuits, muesli, all gluten free.

If you prefer the intimate and discreet atmosphere of your room, you can ask for room service and enjoy your breakfast in the comfort of your room.

MEETING ROOMS
The Art Hotel Commercianti is one of the best business hotels in the centre of Bologna, as it features an elegant boardroom with a classic decoration and an exclusive ambiance that will guarantee the success of all your events and business meetings.

Organise your congresses, press conferences, presentations of products or intimate celebrations in a salon with the original features of the old medieval building: vaulted ceiling, ancient Roman remains, wooden beams.

SALA DEL POZZO
The Sala del Pozzo of the Commercianti Hotel is a 77-square-metre boardroom divided into three different areas. The first one is a welcoming space ideal for coffee breaks, welcoming cocktails, light lunches and buffet dinners.

The second and third areas are divided by columns and have a maximum capacity for 40 people. The salon has all the necessary equipment to guarantee the success of your professional events: large screen, free Wi-Fi access, projector, radio microphone, audio system and computer.

HISTORY HOTEL IN BOLOGNA
In 2015 Art Hotel Commercianti entry to the exclusive 53 Attività Storiche di Bologna (Historic Bologna Businesses) club. Research by the Chamber of Commerce has certified that hospitality has been the building’s business for over one hundred years.

The Orsi family was not involved in this early phase of the business but the three generations which have succeeded one another in the art of hospitality have made it what it is today. Come and get to know us. Experience a piece of history in our wonderful city!

Hotel Commercianti is on Via De’ Pignattari, a quiet street flanking the Basilica di San Petronio, in the heart of the city and a fully pedestrian only area. It’s difficult to imagine now but our narrow street was once one of the city’s most important.

Built on the route of the Roman decumanus (some of which is still visible) it was a bustling and wealthy street whose primary activities included salt trading, customs and lastly terracotta making – pignattari. The building became a hotel only at the turn of the twentieth century but its origins are as an early 11th century tower house when it was made town hall.

While S. Petronio was being built, Via de’ Pignattari’s importance diminished and, as a result of the non completion of work on the church, all that remains of the former quarter is now our building.

Many traces of the great many activities, which have succeeded one another over the centuries in this historic corner of Bologna, have been uncovered over the course of the hotel’s frequent renovation work.

Pot fragments tell of the modest lifestyle of Etruscan Felsina, the geometric friezes and a high relief of a mythological animal are echoes of the riches of Roman Bononia, the nails and iron together with terracotta statuettes and pot fragments are traces of the medieval craftsmanship of a farrier and a terracotta artisan.

The building’s structure also tells much of its past. The remains of the historic well which supplied its inhabitants with water is in the breakfast room, frescoes in the Torre suite made with the original ‘segno del chiodo’ technique have survived to testify to the luxuries of wealthy but long forgotten families. Wooden structures blackened by a historic fire tell of the dangers of fire, ever present in the Middle Ages.

All this is confirmed by two plaques situated to one side of the hotel’s entrance. Our building has, in fact, been declared a ‘historic building’, former ‘town hall’ (1116-1202 AD) and was later seat of the Brentatori (1250 AD) but other illustrious people stayed in the building including Roman law scholars studying at Bologna University who had their studies here and to whom we have dedicated one of our suites, the Glossatori room.

The Brentatore merits separate mention as a historic Bologna figure who performed many and important roles in the medieval city: wine bearer and valuer, papal duty collector, fireman. A brenta was a container used for transporting wine but brentatori were not mere wine carriers.

They were authorised by the town council to taste wines to assess their value and collect the relevant duties on the basis of quality. To take part in this group of ‘good and healthy drinking professionals’ brentatori had to pass a difficult technical and practical exam and be physically strong as a brenta filled with wine and grapes weighed more than 50 kg.

In their travels between country and city it was not only wine and grapes that they brought with them but also news and this gave them an important social function. Brentatori were also firemen, transporting the water needed to put out the many fires which broke out in homes which were generally, at the time, made of wood.

THE HISTORY OF BOLOGNA’S ALMA MATER
Did you know that the history of our hotel is partially connected to the one of the University of Bologna? The Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, is the oldest western university.

Founded in 1088 as a free association between students, the university did not have a fixed seat until the 16 th century, and for this reason, the professors used to have classes in their own homes, or they would lease a few rooms in the city hall.

Bologna’s School of the Glossators was the school of the jurists and scholars which reconstructed the Corpus Iuris Civilis of emperor Justinian I; the term ‘Glossator’ comes from the term ‘Glossa’, the footnote that they used to comment on the text.

An important piece of history about our building was that it hosted two of the most famous glossators: Alberico di Porta Ravennate, who turned it into the headquarters of the Art Society, and Odofredo, who used it as his own private residence; both held their lectures and received payment directly from their students. All of this took place where room 230 is located, which we named “The Glossators’ Suite” in their honor.

Rooms: 33

Price: from 151 EUR per night

Source: www.art-hotel-commercianti.com