Built originally in 1527 over the Reno Canal. Dedicated to the Madonna in commemoration of driving away the plague from Bologna. Bianchini enlarged it in 1764. The church has never closed despite 1798. Giuseppe Canepa and Filippo Scandellari decorated it with magnificent statues and plaster art work in the 1700s. There are few paintings inside.

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Santa Maria della Visitazione Photos

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About Santa Maria della Visitazione

This old photograph shows the Reno Canal flowing under it.

Beginning from 1527 in Via delle Lame a temple was built right over the Reno canal. It’s mostly concreted over now although about 100 metres immediately in front of the church is an opening which still reveals the route of the old canal.

This place of worship was built to commemorate the thanksgiving to the Madonna for having driven away the terrible plague which killed many people here in Bologna.

There was an image of the Virgin with the saints John the Baptist and Sebastian brought here from one of the walls of the city as part of their gratitude. Unfortunately, it’s not normally on display.

This first altar on the right aisle holds some reliquaries displayed behind narrow glass windows. The statue above it is dedicated to the Protector Noster.

In 1764 Marco Antonio Bianchini redesigned and enlarged the church and the bridge over the canal although as can still be seen from outside the external façade was unfinished. Surprisingly though and despite the religious suppression of 1798 this church never closed to the faithful and in fact in 1942 its status was elevated to that of a sanctuary. It suffered only slight bomb damage during WWII.

The rich interior decorations of plaster from the 1700s was by Giuseppe Canepa while the statues were the work of Filippo Scandellari in 1765. The most interesting part of each statue along the nave is that each one of them stands next to a statue of an animal.

The church isn’t used much in winter since it’s too difficult and expensive to keep warm. Although around the back are some much smaller rooms one of which is often used to say mass. Together this space at the back is also where one of the local charities hands out clothes and donations to the poor usually stipulating that women and men visit on separate days of the week.

This altar on the left aisle shows a delicate figure of the child Jesus wearing a crown while above it stands His Mother Mary under the title Virgo Doloratissima.

On the very back wall beside the entrance is this stone tablet in memory of Don Lodovico Neri who was a priest here and died on the 25th May 1925.