Name of Monument:

Santuario della Beata Vergine di San Luca

Location:

Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy

Date:

1723–1765

Artists:

Architect: Carlo Francesco Dotti; sculptor: Angelo Gabriello Piò; painter: Vittorio Maria Bigari

Denomination / Type of monument:

Religious architecture (shrine)

Patron(s):

Bolognese Church and private citizens

History:

In 1680, Cardinal Lazzaro Pallavicino bequest some money to build a new altar for the miraculous painting of the Virgin still preserved in the old church. It was realised in 1696 in the shape of a modern chapel. In this same year, refurbishing work was made enlarging the church, so that when the new chapel was finished (1713) the church appeared too poor and indecorous. The architect G. Paolo Sacchi was charged to design a new building and his project was presented in 1717. Five years later the Swiss Carlo Francesco Dotti, a celebrated master builder, made a new project that was approved and finally built.
The new shrine was consecrated in 1765.

Description:

Starting from the project made by Sacchi, Dotti’s drawings provided an elliptic plan, completed by a high chapel covered by a great dome. Most important Dotti thought of a very ingenious and startling connection of the body of the church and the last section of the portico accompanying the faithful from the city. The main façade is linked to the covered route through a sort of tribune while another one is symmetrically repeated on the other side of the front giving way to the exit. There is also a place for resting after the effort of climbing the hill which opens towards the sky, encouraging meditation and prayer before entering into the sacred space of the church.

Located upon the so called hill ‘della Guardia’ (“of the guard”), in the outskirts of Bologna, the shrine is dedicated to the Virgin, in particular to a miraculous painting of a Madonna with child attributed to St. Luke’s brush. A place of special worship for the Bolognese people, this religious complex is characterised by the harmonious connection between architecture and landscape: the soft bends seem to be inspired not only by the sinuosity (due to the site orography) of the covered route (a portico) leading to the place but are also in relation with the circular and linear structure of the main building.

How Monument was dated:

Historical documents.

Special features

Interior of the church

Santuario della Beata Vergine di san Luca

1722–1765

Carlo Francesco Dotti; Angelo Piò; Antonio Borelli; Giovanni Callegari; Vittorio Maria Bigari; Claudio Ferroni

What really defines the internal space is the adoption of half and free standing columns conveying the impression of a cross-shaped plan. The use of free standing columns is a leitmotiv of Bolognese architecture during the modern age, when designers appreciated the monumental character of this solution. Stucco decoration and sculptures were realised by Angelo Piò with the help of Antonio Borelli and Giovanni Callegari. Mural paintings of the chapel of the Virgin were commissioned to Vittorio Maria Bigari and Claudio Ferroni.

The portico

Exterior, Santuario della Beata Vergine di san Luca

1674–1721

Camillo Saccenti; Gian Giacomo Monti; Giovanni Antonio Conti

The construction of the long and sinuous portico in its actual shape started in 1674, thanks to the contributions of religious orders, noble families, guilds and private citizens. The project, made by Camillo Saccenti (already presented in 1655 but at that time thought to be too expensive) was modified by the architect Gian Giacomo Monti at the beginning of the eighteenth-century. Based on the advice provided by the archbishop’s architect Giovanni Antonio Conti the work started from the portico next to the shrine and ended in 1721.

Monumental arch so called ‘del Meloncello’

Exterior, Santuario della Beata Vergine di san Luca

1714–1732

Francesco Bibiena; Carlo Francesco Dotti

This ingenious structure links the side of the portico coming from the city to the one climbing up the hill, as a sort of overpass. The monumental arch was built under the direction of the same architect who designed the new church; he was probably charged with the building of a project by a great protagonist of the European baroque age, Francesco Galli, known as Bibiena, whose education as a theatre architect and stage designer influenced the general idea and the decorative features of the work.

Selected bibliography:

Matteucci, A.M., Carlo Francesco Dotti e l'architettura bolognese del Settecento, Bologna, 1969, pp. 73-99.
La Madonna di San Luca in Bologna. Otto secoli di storia, di arte e di fede (eds. M.Fanti and G. Roversi), Milan, 1993.

Additional Copyright Information:

Copyright images: Ufficio Beni culturali ecclesiastici della diocesi di Bologna.

Citation of this web page:

Silvia  Medde "Santuario della Beata Vergine di San Luca" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;it;Mon12;27;en

Prepared by: Silvia MeddeSilvia Medde

SURNAME: Medde
NAME: Silvia

AFFILIATION: Universita di Bologna

TITLE: Art historian

CV: Graduated and specialized in History of art, Ph D, Post doctorate, two year post doctorate scholarship (Università degli studi di Bologna). She is a specialist of eighteenth and ninenteenth-century Bolognese art and architecture.
Translation by: Silvia MeddeSilvia Medde

SURNAME: Medde
NAME: Silvia

AFFILIATION: Universita di Bologna

TITLE: Art historian

CV: Graduated and specialized in History of art, Ph D, Post doctorate, two year post doctorate scholarship (Università degli studi di Bologna). She is a specialist of eighteenth and ninenteenth-century Bolognese art and architecture.
Translation copyedited by: Lisa Kelman

MWNF Working Number: IT2 31