ARCHITETTURE ECLETTICHE DEL PRIMO NOVECENTO IN ITALIA. IL RESTAURO DEL CINEMA MODERNISSIMO DI BOLOGNA.

The paper deals with the construction history of Palazzo Ronzani in Bologna, the first building born after the urban demolition of the historic centre of the city, started in 1910. Designed from 1911 by the architect and scenographer Gualtiero Pontoni, Palazzo Ronzani is one of the first multifunctional buildings in Bologna with offices, commercial activities and entertainment spaces inside. A careful research activity of archival documents allowed to understand the design process followed to define the stylistic choices, the planimetric distribution and the structure of the building. In particular, the paper will focus on the Teatro Modernissimo, located on the two underground levels of the building, characterized by a rectangular area with a capacity of about 2.000 seats, distributed over a gallery and a parterre. The conformation of the theatre area was inspired by a "politeama", and there were also film screenings even from the beginning. Modernissimo maintained the unique destination of cinema until 2007, with the name of Arcobaleno I. A big restoration project by the Cineteca Foundation of Bologna, the Municipality of Bologna and the Department of Architecture of the University of Bologna as consultants, currently in course of realization, will bring the cinema Modernissimo to reopen in 2019.