History

The first Bologna Centrale station was constructed in 1864, however there are sketchy and unclear testimonies regarding its life. A new station was to be built ten years after on the same grounds.

The station as we know it today was designed and built by architect Gaetano Ratti of the Clementina architectural academy. Inspired by a neoclassic style, its distinctive fifteenth century facade opens in nine entrance doors, towered by the trademark clock tower with its marble pillars. The traveller building reminds of renaissance forms typical of Florentine architecture.

The original project foresaw a rectangular shaped two-faced building, with a marble covering on the external facade and steel on the internal one. Following extension works, like the 1926 building of the West-bound platforms, have determined Bologna Centrale to take up the “L” shape typical of expanded transit stations, while externally, the introduction of new platforms on the eastern front as well (1934) has caused the station to change its conformation.

Terrorism

On August 2, 1980 at 10.25 am, a suitecase IED made with 20 kilos of a TNT mixture detonated inside Bologna's main train station. The IED was placed near the wall inside a waiting lobby killing 85 people and injuring more than 200. The wing of the station in which the bomb detonated has been reconstructed but, as a testimony to the victims of the attack, the original pavement was maintained as well as a deep crack in the main wall. Moreover, the station main clock is forever stopped at the exact time of the explosion. The attack is also known in Italy as the Strage di Bologna , the Bologna massacre.

Soon afterwards, the goverment immediately accused the italian based militant group Red Brigades for the attack, however no one has ever claimed responability. Over the years, the investigation has determined that the attack was probably carried out by a Neo-Fascist group. Many conspiracy thories regarding this event have been entertained, including a link between this act of terrorism and the Itavia Flight 870 disaster.

See Also

• Bologna
• 11 March 2004 Madrid attacks
• List of terrorist incidents