When you arrive in Bologna, the first thing everyone tells you is to go to Piazza Maggiore. It is the main square, the one with the Basilica of San Petronio, the one that appears in all the postcards. And when you mention “Piazza Grande” by Lucio Dalla, everyone automatically thinks of that. But there is a little secret that the people of Bologna know well and that we discovered by sitting right next to the statue of the great singer-songwriter.
The real Piazza Grande in the song is Piazza Cavour, not Piazza Maggiore. And it is not an urban legend, this was confirmed by Gianfranco Baldazzi, one of the authors of the text, during an episode of the program “La storia sia noi” dedicated to Lucio Dalla.
Because Piazza Grande is not Piazza Maggiore
When we sat on the bench next to the bronze statue created by the sculptor Antonello Paladino, we immediately understood why. The lyrics of the song talk about “benches and grass”, details that simply aren’t there in Piazza Maggiore. Piazza Cavour, on the other hand, is the only square in the historic center of Bologna with a small garden, a fountain in the middle and numerous benches.
Because the statue looks towards number 2
But there’s more, on 4 March 1943, right at number 2 of this square, Lucio Dalla was born. And this is why the statue looks exactly in that direction, towards the building where the singer-songwriter spent the very first years of his life. When you sit there, you feel that it is not just an artistic coincidence: it is a silent dialogue between Lucio and his childhood.
The square also had another peculiarity, it only changed its name in 1892, becoming Piazza Cavour, but for Lucio Dalla, who looked at it with the eyes of a child, it would always remain “Piazza Grande”. It was his playground, the place where it all began, where life had enormous dimensions as only childhood can offer.
Sitting next to him, we noticed other details that make this place special. Lucio holds a clarinet in his hands, the instrument with which he began his career, and to his left are the lyrics of “Caruso”, one of his most famous songs, engraved on the bench.
The statue was donated to the Municipality of Bologna by his cousin Lino Zaccanti in 2021 and was inaugurated in this square, despite initially thinking of another location. But in the end, as the Councilor for Culture Matteo Lepore said, this is his real Piazza Grande, the one he experienced as a child.
When you leave the bench and walk away, you turn one last time and see Lucio continuing to look towards his house. And you understand that “Piazza Grande” is not about just any square, but about that place that for each of us, as children, seemed like the center of the world. For Lucio Dalla it was Piazza Cavour, and now it is there forever, to remind us of it.
