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Fondazione Collegio San Carlo | Collegio San Carlo Foundation 115

ish Hall for the spiritual exercises of the Congregation. In the following
years, the building underwent a slowdown because of the presence of
archeological findings and of technical problems related to the flow of
the Modonella and Canalino rivers right in the area where the buildings
stood. Nevertheless, the Congregation continued to grow thanks to the
conspicuous number of bequests and donations and to the forfeiture of
the Opera Molza. Shortly thereafter, the Tomasi and the Giovanni Paolo
Brizzi properties were included in the Congregation’s possessions.
Brizzi, who was also an active member of the Congregation and a mem-
ber of the Art of Silk Congregation, was not satisfied about the projects
commissioned to the other architects. As a result, he asked and obtained
permission from the Duke Francesco I to commission the project to
Bartolomeo Avanzini (1608-1658). He had also been commissioned
to build the Palazzo Ducale by the Municipality. The architect Avanzini
created a project consisting in the construction of a building around an
already-existing court, partly porticoed and already owned by Molza. The
main entrance was located on the most secluded facade of the building, i.e.
Via San Carlo. The façade on Via Emilia was characterised – in Avanzini’s
project – by another porch, in turn sustained by Doric columns made of
Verona stone and created by the architect and sculptor Tommaso Lorachi.
Under the porch there were some artisans and commercials’ shops, which
represented one of the sources of income of the Collegio.
In order to create this façade, Avanzini thought of something that
would complement the architecture of the city’s arcade represented by
Via Emilia. He decided to pursue this aim by designing an airy façade
without any particular decorations, with a simple but elegant colonnade.
The gatehouse, the visitation hall and the first residence of the Dean
were situated on the left side of the entrance in Via San Carlo. On the
right side of the building towards the church, the construction of which
had started in 1664 there was the fencing room and the major stairway,
which was completed in 1677. Before the construction of the first flight

Il portico del Collegio, Modena Collegio’s porch, Modena