Bologna, 4 June 2024 – A new academic complex dedicated to scientific research inaugurated this morning at the former Venetian station in via Zanolini.
Starting from 2021, the municipal administration has invested almost two million euros in the redevelopment of this area, currently subject to protection by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and transferred under a twenty-year concession to theUniversity of Bologna.
The intervention involved an area of 800 square meters which, starting this morning, will host researchers from the Department of Informatics, Science And Engineering.
The outcome of the recovery of the area resulted in the inauguration of a new academic complex dedicated to scientific research, together with the European funding provided for by the project PNRR. In addition to the study rooms, the structure hosts the headquarters of the administrative staff and temporarily hosts the Department of Computer Engineering, awaiting the definitive transfer to the faculty headquarters. This initiative puts an end to the functional adaptation of what was the “Bologna San Vitale station and appurtenances”, which began in 2014 with the establishment of the university canteen “The Venetian”managed by ERGO.
What the classrooms will be like
The facility includes a 50-seat classroom, built on the plan of the central atrium, and a large open space room for doctoral students on the first floor. The works also involved the renovation of the energy systems in order to reduce their environmental impact.
During the ceremony, the rector Giovanni Molari he said he was satisfied with the functionality of the new centre: “We have renovated this place within the framework of the building plan we are carrying out”. The relaunch of the structure responds to the urgent need space request that the registration of “many young researchers and doctoral students” it involves.
The rector continues his speech by photographing the reality of an expanding university, in fact the new environments “were designed specifically to be used by new entries. The activities of the Pnrr and the projects we have underway required a space close to the department. And ‘a use that was particularly urgent given the recruitment that has been done on the PNRR projects.”
Lepore: “Production that will change the life of the neighborhood”
There was also a comment from the mayor Matteo Leporepresent at the ribbon cutting: “I am very happy with the closing of this investment, this is a realization that will change the life of the neighborhood. The former station had become a place of decay“.
For the mayor, the closure of the project “demonstrates that many abandoned areas in the city can come back to life. We really need spaces and we have many realities that deserve to repopulate abandoned areas”. The San Vitale neighborhood will also benefit from the upcoming burial of the line Bologna-Portomaggiore.
The ancient building, designed by the engineer Ulysses Minarelli and created between 1885 and 1887, begins its new life today.
