Bologna Central Station
History
The first Bologna Centrale station was constructed in 1864, however there are sketchy and unclear testimonies regarding its history. A new station was built ten years later on the same grounds.
The station as we know it today was designed and built by architect Gaetano Ratti, who had trained in the local Clementine Academy. Inspired by the neoclassical style, its distinctive fifteenth century façade opens in nine entrance doors, and is towered by the trademark clock tower with its marble pillars. The traveller building is reminiscent of renaissance Florentine architecture.
The original design called for a rectangular shaped two-faced building, with a marble external façade and steel internal one. Subsequent extension works, such as the 1926 building of the West-bound platforms, shaped the station into the “L” form typical of expanded transit stations. Later, the introduction of new platforms on the eastern half (1934) caused the station to again change its conformation.
Today, Bologna Central Station has about 70.000.000 passengers per year, the third largest traffic volume in Italy (after Milan Central Station and Rome Termini Station) ). It is, however, tied with first with Rome Termini Station for train traffic (about 650 trains/day) because it is the principal railway junction of Italy.
Terrorism
On August 2, 1980 at 10.25 am, an improvised explosive device (IED) made with 20 kilograms of a TNT mixture, detonated inside Bologna's main train station. The IED was contained in a suitcase, which was placed near the wall inside a waiting lobby. The explosion killed 85 people and injured 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 government immediately accused the Italian based militant group Red Brigades for the attack, however no one has ever claimed responsibility. Over the years, the investigation has determined that the attack was probably carried out by a Neo-Fascist group. Many conspiracy theories regarding this event have been entertained, including a link between this act of terrorism and the Itavia Flight 870 disaster.