HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
From Via Indipendenza to the west, a very particular area of Bologna develops which allows you to reach an area that crosses centuries-old streets and rationalist urbanization of the 20th century. Via Indipendenza itself was built around 1890 to connect the railway station with Piazza Maggiore and is now the reference point for citizens and tourists.
Originally, however, the reference point was via Galliera, where the city’s nobles and wealthy met.
Right in via Galliera, among the many historical monuments, is the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore: the oldest church in Bologna dedicated to the Madonna.
Its façade is characterized by a three-arched portico and the interiors are further embellished by the presence of a work by Orazio Samacchini, the Madonna with Child and the Saints Giacomo Minore and Antonio Abate, the Circumcision of Giovanni Francesco Bezzi, known as Nosadella, completed by Prospero Fontana, and a work from a fifteenth-century Bolognese school, the Madonna adoring the Child between Saints Liberata and Onofrio.
The origins of the Church date back to the 6th century and it underwent various restorations and reconstructions in the Romanesque age.
CURIOSITY:
Under the portico of the Church, in 2013, during the consolidation works, a stone cross dated 1143 was found: the oldest recognized road cross in Bologna.
WHERE TO EAT: Trattoria Osteria Buca Manzoni.
Located in the cellar of a historic building from the 1400s, the restaurant offers traditional, quality cuisine, thanks to the selection of local raw materials. Dishes for celiacs and vegetarians.
Click the following link if you want more information on the Ancient and Modern Bologna Route.
