Tour to the monumental complex of San Domenico and the National Art Gallery (Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna)
Meeting at the entrance of the Basilica of San Domenico, meeting with the guide and visit to the complex.
Saint Dominic with some brothers arrived in Bologna in 1218 attracted by the fame of its University and settled at the Church of Santa Maria della Mascarella, which stands near the university area.
Soon this place was insufficient to accommodate the Dominicans, who in 1219 moved to where today stands the current Basilica of San Domenico and where the Saint died two years later. The first stone of the current Basilica was laid in 1235 and was immediately dedicated to the saint, who had been canonised the previous year.
The Basilica, formerly surrounded by a cemetery of which two monumental tombs, called arks, remain, preserves precious treasures inside, including the Chapel of the Saint, where his mortal remains rest, decorated over the centuries by great artists, among which Nicola Pisano, Niccolò dell’Arca and Michelangelo deserve to be mentioned. The Chapel of the rosary (Cappella del rosario) is also splendid, decorated by the best painters of the sixteenth century: Lavinia Fontana, the Carracci, Guido Reni and many others, which also boasts an organ on which Mozart practised in 1770, during his stay in the city. Also of great value are the wooden choir, completed in 1551 to a design by Fra Damiano from Bergamo and completely decorated with intarsia, and “The mystical marriage of Saint Catherine” by Filippino Lippi.
On the occasion of the jubilee year proclaimed for the 800th anniversary of the death of San Domenico, the Tavola della Mascarella can be admired in the Basilica and is probably the oldest Dominican iconographic document that has survived to this day, which was probably painted around 1235 and represents San Domenico and brothers at the table. The visit continues with the museum where several important works are kept, such as the “Velvet Madonna” by Lippo di Dalmasio and the bust of san Domenico by Niccolò dell’Arca. Inside the convent it will be possible to admire the Renaissance library, which dates back to 1466 and contains precious manuscripts, as well as the rooms that housed the court of the Holy Inquisition, which was based here.
At the end of the visit, a pleasant walk in the centre of Bologna takes you to the National Art Gallery (Pinacoteca Nazionale), located inside the former Jesuit Novitiate of Saint Ignatius, dating back to the 1600s.
Its collection includes works by some of the greatest Italian artists of the Renaissance, Mannerism and Baroque, including Raphael, Perugino, Tintoretto, Titian, the Carracci, Guercino and Reni without forgetting the Polyptych of Bologna, Giotto’s masterpiece. The visit to the National Art Gallery will focus on the representations of Saint Dominic that are kept here, works by Simone Cantarini, Ludovico Carracci and Guido Reni, without neglecting the other masterpieces enclosed here.
Tour made in the morning or in the afternoon – Guided tours
For information on fees and minimum number of participants please contact us!
