Ex Caserma Zucchi, today Palazzo Dossetti, is located at Viale Antonio Allegri 9, in Reggio Emilia.

Historical Notes

The Ex Caserma Zucchi, now Palazzo Dossetti, was built in the heart of the 19th century, during a period of great urban transformation in Reggio Emilia. It was designed by architect Pietro Marchelli (1806-1874), a leading figure in Reggio Emilia’s architectural culture, who also designed works such as the Teatro Ariosto and the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo.

Entrance to the ex Caserma Zucchi, now Palazzo Zucchetti, from Viale Allegri

Beginning in the 1980s, after its military function was abandoned, the building was gradually repurposed for cultural and educational purposes, becoming one of the centers of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia (UNIMORE). On February 9, 2013, the Reggio Emilia university building was named after Constituent Assembly member and jurist Giuseppe Dossetti.

This transition is part of a broader urban regeneration process that has affected several Italian historic complexes, transformed from military spaces into places of education and active citizenship.

The Architecture

Pietro Marchelli’s design fully reflects the neoclassical style, which found fertile ground in Reggio Emilia during the 19th century.

The architecture, defined by an imposing and solemn façade overlooking Viale Allegri, is part of the trend of 19th-century public buildings that combined functionality and representation. The restoration work carried out in the 2000s, during its conversion into a university campus, respected the original neoclassical design, enhancing its monumentality while ensuring the usability of the interior spaces for classrooms and academic offices.

The interior

The interior of the Caserma Zucchi still retains the monumentality of the original layout, despite being profoundly transformed by its various functions over time. During the university conversion, the large spaces once used as warehouses, stables, and dormitories were reinterpreted for educational purposes, with the creation of classrooms, libraries, and common areas.

 Luciano Fabro’s Araba Fenice 

The Araba Fenice (Phoenix) is located in the portico of the Ex Caserma Zucchi. 

Created in 2005 by Luciano Fabro, a master of contemporary art, the work consists of a column of Iranian travertine-gold marble, approximately seven meters high, composed of three stacked drums.

The Synagogue is located at Via dell’Aquila, number 3, in Reggio Emilia.

Historical Notes

The Synagogue of Reggio Emilia is one of the symbolic places of Jewish memory in the city.

It stands in the heart of the ancient Jewish ghetto, established in the second half of the 17th century and bordered by Via Caggiati, Via della Volta, Via dell’Aquila, and Monzermone, in accordance with the segregation policies that affected most Italian cities. A first temple existed in this area as early as 1672, built by the local Jewish community to provide a place of worship within the ghetto, as mandated by the ducal authorities.

The current synagogue was built between 1857 and 1858 based on a design by architect Pietro Marchelli (1806–1874), a key figure in Reggio Emilia’s neoclassicism.

After the war, the synagogue increasingly assumed the value of a place of memory, as well as of worship, becoming a point of reference for the city during moments of commemoration and reflection on the Holocaust. Today, the building no longer hosts regular religious services, but is open for events, celebrations, and guided tours, especially on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The Architecture

The synagogue features a sober and balanced neoclassical façade, a testament to Pietro Marchelli, who skillfully adapted the monumental language of classicism to simple, functional forms for a place of community worship.

The façade is punctuated by columns and pilasters, culminating in a triangular tympanum, following a pattern typical of 19th-century religious architecture, but reinterpreted with restrained elegance and without excessive decoration.

The rectangular interior is enriched by the presence of lateral women’s galleries, once intended for women according to Jewish tradition, which contribute to the sense of verticality and solemnity of the space.

The central axis leads to the Aron ha-Kodesh, the sacred shrine containing the Torah scrolls, located on the eastern wall and highlighted by a 19th-century decorative scheme combining stucco and pictorial motifs. The interior decorations reflect the eclectic taste of the 19th century, with ornamental inserts that, though simple, contribute to a serene and solemn atmosphere.

The prayer hall also preserves some original liturgical furnishings, testifying to the vitality of the Reggio Emilia Jewish community until the mid-20th century. The choice of a sober yet solemn neoclassical style is part of a period in which many Italian Jewish communities, emancipated or in the process of emancipation, sought to build synagogues that reflected dignity, social recognition, and urban roots.

Today, the Reggio Emilia synagogue is not only an architectural monument, but above all a place of civic memory. Its presence in the heart of the former ghetto brings to life the history of the Jewish community, from the period of segregation to Nazi-Fascist persecution, up until the return to democratic life.

In recent decades, the building has been used as a cultural center for exhibitions, conferences, concerts, and educational activities, becoming an integral part of the city’s fabric and a tool for interreligious and intercultural dialogue.

The Ariosto Theatre is located in Piazza Vittoria, in the city centre.

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The city’s second-largest theatre after the Valli Municipal Theatre, the Ariosto Theatre is situated in Piazza Vittoria and stages drama and dance performances. It was built in1878 on the ashes of the Cittadella Theatre, which burned down during a fire on the night of 21 to 22 April 1851. All that remains today of the theatre designed by Antonio Cugini in 1740-41 are the octagonal vestibule with Ionic pilasters, the austere entrance hall with four Doric columns and the portico on the south side.
The reconstruction project was commissioned to the architect Achille Grimaldi and financed by Ulderico Levi, a wealthy member of an important Jewish family in the city.

The Cavallerizza Theatre is located near Foro Boario, the present-day site of the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, close to the Valli and Ariosto theatres.

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The Cavallerizza theatre owes its name to the fact that, from the late 19th to the mid-20th century, the building housed the stables for the horses of the Zucchi artillery barracks, which have now been transformed into the main building of the city’s university. In 1986, the municipality transformed the Cavallerizza into a theatre. In 2002, on the occasion of the international conference of “Architecture and Theatre” studies, the Cavallerizza theatre was dedicated to Cesare Zavattini.