EMILIA-ROMAGNA | Sights and churches in Bologna

October 2022. As we wanted to test Trenitalia‘s Frecciarossa 1000 service from Paris to Milan, we planned a rail trip around it. From Antwerp to Paris with Thalys, the ‘Red Arrow’ to Milan and once in Italy continuing to Trieste and Bologna. The return trip took us to Basel in Switzerland to enjoy SBB‘s panoramic coach and Germany‘s Rhine route to Cologne. From there we got back to Belgium.

After an uneventful train ride from Trieste to Venezia Santa Lucia or Venice St. Lucy and to Bologna Centrale or Bologna Central, we checked in at the The Social Hub, ex-The Student Hotel.

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And we started exploring.

Main Square

Our afternoon walk brought us to the Fountain of Neptune, next to Piazza Maggiore or Main Square. The Fountain of Neptune (Italian: Fontana di Nettuno) is a monumental civic fountain located in the eponymous square, Piazza del Nettuno. The fountain is a model example of Mannerist taste of the Italian courtly elite in the mid-sixteenth century.

On Piazza Maggiore there is the Basilica of San Petronio. It is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petronius, who was the bishop of Bologna in the fifth century.

Construction began in 1390 and its main facade has remained unfinished since. The building was transferred from the city to the diocese in 1929. The basilica was finally consecrated in 1954. It has been the seat of the relics of Bologna’s patron saint only since 2000; until then they were preserved in the Santo Stefano Basilica of Bologna.

San Petronio is free but the famous painting of St Sebastian is semi covered up. You have to pay to see it properly.

Two Towers

Next up were the Two Towers or Le due torri. Both of them are leaning. They are located at the intersection of the roads that lead to the five gates of the old ring wall (Mura dei torresotti). The taller one is called the Asinelli while the smaller but more leaning tower is called the Garisenda. Their names derive from the families which are traditionally credited with having constructed the towers between 1109 and 1119.

Their construction may have been a competition between the two families to show which was the more powerful family.

4 in 7 in 1

After visiting the Museo della Storia di Bologna in Palazzo Pepoli – which I will review later – we went to the Basilica di Santo Stefano also known as Sette Chiese or Seven Churches because there are… four (remaining) churches in one.

According to tradition Saint Petronius built the basilica over a temple of the goddess Isis. The saint wished to have a building that recalled the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

The different parts of the complex include:

Church of Saint Stephen or of the Holy Crucifix (8th century, presbytery reshaped in 17th century), with the Crypt.
Church of the Holy Sepulchre (according to tradition: 5th century).
Church of the Saints Vitale and Agricola (4th century, rebuilt first in the 12th century).
Courtyard of Pilate (Santo Giardino, 13th century).
Church of the Trinity or of the Martyrium (13th century).
Chapel of the Bandage (Cappella della Benda) dedicated to the strip of cloth worn around the head by the Virgin Mary as a sign of mourning.

Cathedral

After dark, we entered the Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro or Bologna Cathedral of St Peter. It’s the the seat and the metropolitan cathedral of the Archbishop of Bologna. Most of the present building dates from the 17th century, with a few parts from the late 16th century.