Bologna San Bartolomeo di Reno
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San Bartolomeo di Reno Photos
About San Bartolomeo di Reno
This church of San Bartolomeo di Reno was originally built as an oratory upon an earlier church dating back to 1204 outside the second circle of walls. It was dedicated to San Bartolomeo the apostle and its construction was financed by the merchants and foreign exchange agents of Bologna.1
It’s quite a small place of worship with a beautiful frescoed barrel vault. For some time it was even closed but fortunately now open again to the public.
Just inside at the first left-hand side chapel is this painting l’Adorazione dei pastori by Agostino Carraci.
Other noted artists here include F.M. Zanotti, Filippo Pasqualini, Antonio Crespi, Francesco Monti, Ercole Graziani, and a relief by Lorenzo Sabbatini.
In 1367, among the rubble of nearby buildings a board with a painting of the Virgin and Child was discovered and referred to as the Beata Virgine del Serraglio. Henceforth, it was moved to the oratory which incidentally also served as a hospital.
The painting, still displayed above the main altar, also became commonly known as Madonna della Pioggia after the miraculous intervention that local parishioners attributed to the end of a drought in 1561. During that year in August and in 1633, 1642 and 1666 this event was celebrated with processions to the four crosses.
The upper floor of this building was used by the Confraternity and an orphanage.
The church was reconstructed and enlarged in 1536 and then again in 1730 but years of neglect though saw the collapse of the interior. For this reason it took on a different shape with only a nave and a few lateral chapels. Further damage occurred during WWII.
G.A. Raimondi was responsible for creating this statue of St Anthony of Padova with the Child Jesus.
The last chapel on the right here displays a painting by Alessandro Stiatici. The Madonna and Child is depicted with Saints Lucia and Caterina.
Recent restoration works also brought to light slight traces of two 16th century frescoes here by Gabriele Fiorini from 1595.
References
1 Sassatelli, Giuseppe; Govi, Cristiana Morigi; Ortalli, Jacopo; Bocchi, Francesca. Atlante Storico Delle Città Italiane Emilia Romagna Bologna, Bologna IV,III,II,I, Bologna 1996, p138.
Costa, Tiziano – Poli, Marco. Conoscere Bologna, Bologna 2005, p303.