Basilica di San Petronio ★★

Massive as the Basilica di San Petroniois, it's not nearly as big as its 14th-century architects intended it to be.

Rome got wind of the Bolognese scheme to build a church bigger than St. Peter's and cut off funding. Even so, the structure that was erected over the next three centuries is impressively grand. Its facade is partially striped in white and red (the city's heraldic colors) and punctuated by one of the great works of the Italian Renaissance: a marble doorway surrounded by bas-reliefs depicting the Madonna and Child and other biblical scenes carved by Jacopo della Quercia, which are now sadly weather-worn. Several of the chapels in the cavernous interior, where Charles V was crowned Holy Roman Emperor in 1530, are richly decorated with frescoes, the best of which are in the chapels to the left as you enter. One contains Lorenzo Costa's Madonna and Child with Saints, and the other (fourth on the left) is enlivened with colorful depictions of heaven and hell, the life of St. Petronius, and Stories of the Magi by Giovanni da Modena (who also did the frescoes in and around the left aisle's first chapel). Embedded in the floor of the left aisle is an enchanting curiosity—Italy's largest sundial, a 66m (216-ft.) astronomical clock installed by the astronomer Cassini in 1655. The two-room treasury museum (free admission; Mon–Sat 9:30am–noon and 4–5:30pm, Sun 2:30–5:30pm) at the end of the left aisle contains drawings and wooden models of the church and various plans for its facade; some fine illuminated choir books; and the usual gilt and silver reliquaries, robes, and chalices.

Tips & links

Share this page

Search ReidsItaly.com