The cafés, banks and shops of Via Rizzoli are  the contemporary image of the street that two thousand years ago was already present with  the name of Via Aemilia. This stretch of the Roman decumanus maximus (main road axis direction west-east) links the heart of the city, Piazza Maggiore, with the Two Towers, symbol of the city. It was opened  in the beginning of XXth century in the old market area known as Mercato di Mezzo (Middle Market) and actually named after the famous orthopedist Francesco Rizzoli, born in Milan but who has always lived in Bologna.