Bologna Ex Church of San Mattia
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About Ex Church of San Mattia
Ex-church of San Mattia
This ex church of San Mattia was completed 1580-84 by Pietro Fiorini. Part of the bell tower only barely seen dates back to the 15th century since the history of the church is actually much older. A side entrance leads into the back where you can find an ancient cloister. Some remnants of art work can be seen on the lunettes under the porticoes.
The Resistance Museum next door displays particularly interesting wall frescoes also from this era. The convent was eventually closed in 1799 and sold, part of it is presently being occupied by a state school and local council offices.
The church of course was served by the convent which was founded in this area by the hermit nuns of San Luca. They were initially based on Guardia Hill in the late 12th century. It wasn’t until the early 1200s that they moved next to Porta Saragozza – just down the road here. They sat up residence in various buildings and shortly after built a church dedicated to San Mattia. Unfortunately this period of settlement was short lived since the church and convent were demolished in the middle of the 1300s probably due to infighting among Bolognese noble families.
In each of these chapels use to hang precious paintings which can either be found in Bologna’s Pinacoteca Museum in Via Belle Arti or are thought to have perished at the hands of invading French soldiers as Napoleon arrived at the end of the 18th century. Most of the remaining or faded frescoes here were painted by Pietro Scandellari and Nicolo Bertezzi around the mid 18th century.
In the third chapel along on the right hand side, the frescoes are attributed to Tertulliano Taroni.
With their numbers having increased over time the nuns suddenly found themselves unable to return to their original home due to a lack of space. After gaining permission it was then decided to build an oratory on this exact location. It was followed shortly by a bell tower mentioned earlier and more buildings over the years. In 1496 they passed to the authority of the Dominican Order which obviously called upon them to adhere to different rules. However, one thing that did not change was the traditional displaying of the Madonna di San Luca painting which continued to serve their community as a faithful reminder to their origins from Guardia Hill.
And so, when work got under way for the new church building it was no-less in competent hands because Pietro Fiorini was noted for his style of being a late-renaissance Bolognese architect. He was complimented for many other projects throughout the city.
Another architect who may or not have played a role here was Antonio Morandi, also known as Il Terribilia, however, this seems to be disputed and depends on the given source of information. When San Mattia was competed in 1580 the nuns had it consecrated on the 25th September 1588.
In the final chapel here are photos of the church before it was restored. Incredibly, it seems to have been used as some sort of garage or repair shop. Now though it serves a much less controversial purpose as a serene but serious location for conferences and meetings.
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