Palazzo Fantuzzi, Bologna, Renaissance palace in Bologna, Italy

Palazzo Fantuzzi is a Renaissance palace on Via San Vitale featuring a monumental facade of cut stone, double-story columns, and ten large windows topped with triangular pediments. The structure displays the classical proportions and formal arrangement that defined the city's most important buildings of that era.

Francesco Fantuzzi commissioned the building in 1517, combining it with adjacent properties into a single design. The formal authorization came in 1535, establishing a Roman-style facade without a covered portico.

The Fantuzzi family claimed descent from the Elefantuzzi, hence the elephant-and-tower crest above the corner niches and the palace's nickname, Palazzo degli Elefanti. The composer Ottorino Respighi was born on 9 July 1879 in an apartment at via Guido Reni 8, marked by a plaque placed in 2000.

The building serves primarily as offices and event spaces today, so visitor access is limited to special occasions. It helps to check ahead for opportunities to see the interior during festivals or cultural events.

The elephants with towers are not on the roofline but carved above the two corner niches of the upper order, where they display the Fantuzzi coat of arms. The family, originally from Treviso, claimed its original surname was Elefantuzzi, which gave the palace its nickname Palazzo degli Elefanti.