Fiera District in Bologna, Italy

The Fair district in Bologna traces its history to the 19th century. The first important fair held in Bologna was in 1888, in the Margherita gardens, inaugurated by King Umberto I with the consort Margherita di Savoia and from the President of the Council Francesco Crispi.

Fairs were held more constantly from 1927, the year when the "Littoriale" (football stadium) was built, with the Fair developing alongside the stadium.

In 1947 the Autonomous Fairs Corporate in Bologna was born; however it didn't have a fixed location yet. The fairs were held between the "Hillock Park" and the Podestà building.

In the fifties a competition was held to design a permanent venue for the fair and was won by the architect Leonardo Benevolo. Work began in 1964 with the laying of the first stone and in 1965 the 29th Fair in Bologna was the first to be held in a permanent venue.

The Bologna Fair is composed from a fair zone developed in the St. Donato district, in the northern part of the city, behind the bypass road. The historical nucleus was planned between 1964 and 1965.

A following main point joins to the fair district in 1972, edited by the known Japanese architect Kenzo Tange, with the collaboration of Gabor Acs; the complex of the skyscrapers is also owed the "Fair District", center of important offices, among which the Regional Offices, for a total of 20,000 sq.m.

In 2002 the Autonomous Corporate of the Fair in Bologna turned into "Bolognafiere Spa", that is the fulcrum of a regional fair system composed by three poles: Bologna, Modena and Ferrara, for a total of around 200.000 sq.m, in the ray of 30 kilometers.