THE PLACE"Palazzo Re Enzo is a palace in Bologna, northern Italy. It takes its name from Enzo of Sardinia, Frederick II's son, who was prisoner here from 1249 until his death in 1272.
The palace was built in 1245 as an extension of the nearby Palazzo del Podestà, which had proven insufficient for the exigences of the Commune of Bologna. It was therefore initially known as Palatium Novum ("New Palace").
Three years after the palace completion, Enzio was captured by the Guelphs at the Battle of Fossalta, and after a short stay in Anzola he was moved here, where he remained until his death. In 1386 Antonio di Vincenzo finished the Sala dei Trecento ("Hall of the Three-Hundred"), which was to become the city's archive. The last floor was largely renovated in 1771 by Giovanni Giacomo Dotti. The current Gothic appearance dates from the restoration of 1905 due to Alfonso Rubbiani. On the right of the palace is the access to the chapel of Santa Maria dei Carcerati, where the condemned to death went to. In the first floor was held the Carroccio and the war machines, while in the middle floor were the offices of the praetor and the chapel."
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"Also called 'new palace' to differentiate it from the Podestà palace, King Enzo Palace was built between 1244-46 (at the same time than the palace of Podestà, or people's captain) as an extension of Municipal buildings. Just three years later it became the 'residence' of the King taken prisoner in the battle of Fossalta: King Enzo of Sardinia, son of Frederick II. In the upper of the three original stories the King was assigned a large room, where he spent his remaining twenty three years of life, until his death in1279. Several legends were born and reported in popular literature around the mythical figure of the prisoner King: as a ransom for his son, the father had seemingly offered the people of Bologna enough gold to encircle their town walls; also a story is told that the King had made an escape hidden inside a 'brenta' or cask, foiled by a woman who had cried out 'scappa, scappa!' - he 's running away - thus being rewarded by the town with the honour of using the surname of Scappi. On the ground floor the war equipment of the Commune were kept and stored, alongside the Carroccio. A covered staircase leads to the open gallery on the first storey, where the meetings of the people's councils were once held. The Sala del Trecento, made by Antonio di Vincenzo in 1386, was subsequently used as municipal archives, while the upper storey underwent a thorough renovation in 1771 with G. G. Dotti. The restoration carried out 1905 by Alfonso Rubbiani was also quite relevant in the case of Re Enzo Palace as his purpose consisted in highlighting the Gothic outlook of the building to the detriment of later additions, as for instances the ones made by Dotti. According to retrieved traces and contemporary sources, he renovated the façade, had the crenellation rebuilt, together with the ground-floor arches and the 15th-century staircase. The passageway to the Chapel of S. Maria dei Carcerati where the people sentenced to death were led to pray opens on the right-hand side of the palace."
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THE PERSON"Enzo (or Enzio) (c. 1218–1272) was an illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II, who appointed him King of Sardinia in 1238. He played a major role in the wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines in northern Italy, and was captured by his enemies in 1249. He remained imprisoned in Bologna until his death."
Enzo was an illegitimate son of Frederick II by a certain Adelaide. It is speculated that she was Adelaide of Urslingen. He was the eldest of the illegitimate sons of the emperor, and allegedly the favourite one.
He had a pleasant personality and a strong physical resemblance to his father. He fought in the wars between his father, the pope, and the Northern Italian communes.
When Ubaldo of Gallura died in 1238, the Doria family of Genoa, in order to secure the Giudicato of Logudoro from Pisan domination, convinced the emperor to marry Enzo to Ubaldo's widow, Adelasia of Torres. By marrying her, Enzo would accede to half of the island of Sardinia jure uxoris. He was created a knight in Cremona and granted the title "King of Sardinia". He travelled to the island to marry Adelasia in October that year.
In July 1239, he was assigned as imperial vicar general in Lombardy, as well as General-Legate in Romagna, and left Sardinia never to return. In 1241, he took part in the capture of a papal fleet at Giglio Island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. His first successful move as military leader was the reconquest of Jesi, in the Marche, which was Frederick's birthplace. Later he was captured in a skirmish against the Milanese at Gorgonzola, but soon released. In 1245 or 1246 his marriage was annulled. In 1247, he took part in the unsuccessful siege of Parma.
He continued to fight the Guelph Lombards, assaulting the Guelphs of Reggio and conducting an assault in the surroundings of Parma.
During a campaign to support the Ghibelline cities of Modena and Cremona against Guelph Bologna, he was defeated and captured on 26 May 1249 at the Battle of Fossalta. Enzo was thenceforth kept prisoner in Bologna, in the palace that came to bear his name. Every attempt to escape or to rescue him failed, and he died in prison in 1272: after the murder of Conradin in 1268, he was the last of the Hohenstaufen.
Enzo shared the father's passion for falconry, and was thus nicknamed Falconello ("little falcon"). He was the dedicatee of a French translation of a hunting treatise by Yatrib. Like his brother Manfred, he presumambly grew fond of poetry at Frederick's court: during his long imprisonment Enzo wrote several poems, and his pitiful fate was itself a source of inspiration for several poets.
The powerful Bentivoglio family of Bologna and Ferrara claimed descent from him."
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