27–29 Nov 2013
Palazzo Poggi
Europe/Rome timezone

Attractions

 
Link to the Bologna official tourism website: information, activities and tourist itineraries.

Some selected suggestions:
 

MONUMENTS and CHURCHES
 
Towers of Bologna – Between the 12th and the 13th century, the number of towers in the city was very high, possibly up to 180. The reasons for the construction of so many towers are not clear. One hypothesis is that the richest families used them for offensive and defensive purposes during the period of the Investiture Controversy. Besides the towers, one can still see some fortified gateways (torresotti) that correspond to the gates of the 12th-century city wall (Mura dei torresotti or Cerchia dei Mille), which itself has been almost completely destroyed.
Among them, the most prominent are the so called Due Torri (two towers), located in the heart on the city beside the famous via Emilia (here via Rizzoli). Their names derive from the families which are traditionally credited for their construction between 1109 and 1119. The taller one is called Asinelli while the smaller but more leaning tower is called Garisenda.

San Petronio
(Piazza Maggiore) is the most important church of the city, albeit not the cathedral (San Pietro, Via Indipendenza); initiated in gothic style by the architect Antonio di Vincenzo in the year 1390, it has never been completed, as is already evident from its front, presently under restoration, which hides the magnificent marble portals. In particular, the central one was decorated with high-reliefs by the great Renaissance sculptor Jacopo della Quercia from 1425 to 1438. The interior contains several important works of art; of particular interest the fourth chapel on the left, the Bolognini chapel, fully decorated by frescoes by Giovanni da Modena (1410- 1415). On the floor of the church, the sun-dial designed by the astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini in 1655 has the length of 1/600000 of the earth’s circumference. The church is the most important building of the magnificent Piazza Maggiore: opposite to San Petronio, the Palazzo del Podestà (the governor of the city during the Middle Ages, when Bologna was a free commune) was rebuilt in Renaissance style by the architect Aristotile Fioravanti in the second half of the 15th century. Near it, in Piazza Nettuno, the fountain is decorated with the bronze statue of Neptune, a masterpiece of the Flemish sculptor Giambologna (1566). On the other two sides of Piazza Maggiore, the Palazzo dei Banchi with the Portico del Pavaglione, with a front of the 16th Century, and, opposite to it, the Palazzo d’Accursio, with a characteristic clock tower, is the Town Hall and hosts the Collezioni Comunali d’ Arte, the art collections of the commune.
 
Santo Stefano (Piazza Santo Stefano) is the oldest church of the city, or, more correctly, a set of small churches and chapels in romanic style, built in different ages; among them, the church of Santo Sepolcro, probably built in the 5th century, but entirely restored in the 12th  century, hosts the tomb of the holy patron of Bologna, Petronius, to whom the great church of Piazza Maggiore is dedicated.

San Domenico (Piazza San Domenico), initiated in 1221, the year of the death of  saint Dominic, maintains the original gothic front, but the interior was completely restored in the eighteenth century: the chapel of Saint Dominic hosts the magnificent tomb of the saint, a  masterpiece sculpted in different ages by Nicola Pisano and collaborators, Nicolò dell’ Arca, and the young Michelangelo, who was in Bologna in the year 1494 and decorated the tomb with three small statues, a kneeling angel and two of the patrons of Bologna, Petronius and Proculus.

San Giacomo Maggiore (Via Zamboni, close to conference venue) was the favourite Church of  the Bentivoglio family, the masters of the city in the fifteenth century: the Bentivoglio chapel, located in the apsis, is decorated with a beautiful altar-piece by Francesco Francia, the greatest Bolognese painter of the Renaissance, and, on the side walls, by two interesting paintings by Lorenzo Costa, the Virgin with the Child and the donors, Giovanni II Bentivoglio and his family, on the right, the Triumphs of Death and Fame on the left. Accessible from the cloister of the adjacent monastery, the oratory of Santa Cecilia is decorated with  interesting frescoes by Francesco Francia, Lorenzo Costa and Amico Aspertini.

San Francesco (Piazza San Francesco) was built in the 13th century in Gothic style and hosts on the main altar a masterpiece of Gothic sculpture, the marble altar-piece sculpted by Pier Paolo Dalle Masegne and collaborators from 1388 to 1392. Out of the church, near its apse, one can see the characteristic Tombe dei Glossatori, i. e.  tombs of commentators of Roman law at the University of Bologna during the Middle Ages.

Santa Maria della Vita (via Clavature 8–10, close to Piazza Maggiore), with its dome designed by Bibiena, is the most significative example of the Baroque style in Bologna. The sanctuary houses the famous Compianto su Cristo morto by Niccolò dell’Arca, described by Gabriele D’Annunzio as the “stone scream” which incredibly influenced the Italian cultural history. In the adjacent oratory, it is possible to admire the sculptural group Transito della Vergine by Alfonso Lombardi, made of 14 statues in terracotta.
For further information on this church and others, with opening hours, please follow this link.

 
MUSEUMS

Pinacoteca Nazionale (National Painting Gallery) – Via Belle Arti 56, within walking distance from conference venue. Visiting hours : Tue – Wed : 9 a. m. – 1:30 p. m. ; Thu – Sun : 2 p. m. – 7 p. m. This is the most important museum of the city, hosting many works of the Bolognese painting school from the 14th to the 18th century, in particular masterpieces by Annibale Carracci, Guido Reni, Guercino, Domenichino and other eminent painters of the 17th  century. Among the masterpieces not painted in Bologna, a polyptych by Giotto and an altar-piece by Raffaello.

MAMbo – Museum of Modern Art of Bologna – via Don Giovanni Minzoni 14. It is the venue of Istituzione Bologna Musei dedicated to contemporary art. The museum offers a dynamic perspective: it travels through the history of Italian art from the second post-war period until today; it explores the present thanks to an exhibition centred on research and it contributes to outline the routes of contemporary art following the most innovative and pulsating experimental practices. Located in the heart of the Manifattura delle Arti cultural district, the museum is the focus of various research- and innovation-based activities, such as the Cineteca di Bologna, the DMS workshop spaces, the Communication Sciences Faculty and many associations and art galleries. MAMbo joins the cultural network collaborating with different Institutions and Academies, in order to promote and stimulate the debate on contemporary culture.
From November 2012, MAMbo hosted the collection of Museo Morandi, dedicated to the work of the most important Bologna’s artist in the XXth century painting. 

Museo Civico Medioevale (Medieval Museum) – Via Manzoni 4. Visiting hours : Tu – Fri : 9 a. m. – 3 p. m. The Museum contains several marble sculptures taken from the medieval tombs of professors of the University of Bologna, as well as an interesting collection of ancient arms and armours.

Museo Civico Archeologico (Archaeologic Museum) – Portico del Pavaglione 2 (near Piazza Maggiore) . Visiting hours : Tu – Fri : 9 a. m. – 3 p. m. The ancient Egyptian collection is second in Italy only to the Museo Egizio of Turin; of great importance is also the Etruscan collection, since Bologna originally was an Etruscan city with the name of Felsina, dating from the 6th century b. C.

Collezioni Comunali d’ Arte Antica – Palazzo d’ Accursio (the palace with the clock tower in Piazza Maggiore). Visiting hours : Tu – Fri : 9 a. m. – 6:30 p. m. The former apartment of Cardinal Legato, the cardinal governor of Bologna when the city belonged to the State of Church, at the second floor of the palace, hosts the ancient art collections of the commune, including several paintings of the Bolognese school from the 15th to the 18th century.