Salara

Industrial archeology

Bologna

This building, known as Salara (the word “Salara” refers to the salt stored in the building in ancient times) was built at the end of the XVIII century and was originally used as a salt warehouse. Thanks to this building, Bologna was able to store the amount of salt supplied by the city of Cervia. The first salt warehouse was raised in Bologna in the middle of the XVI century when the harbour of the city was founded as well. At the time the salt trade used to take place along the rivers Po and Reno, reaching Bologna through the canals. Later, in 1787 Bologna started the construction of a new and more spacious warehouse, Salara, located on the left bank of the harbour. At the moment, this building is the only one that proves the former presence of the ancient harbour of Bologna; as a matter of fact, all the other buildings were demolished and the plot was leveled on the basis of a local plan approved in 1881. Nowadays, this building hosts the Gay Association “Il Cassero” and this area is known as “Manifattura delle Arti” because of the presence of Cineteca di Bologna (film library), some departments of the University of Bologna and MAMbo (the Museum of Modern Art).