Basilica di San Domenico

The church that holds the body of Saint Dominic preserves a major sculptural ensemble. Nicola Pisano, Niccolò dell'Arca and Michelangelo contributed to the saint's tomb; the nave also contains paintings associated with the Bolognese school and an organ linked to Mozart's 1770 stay.

Why it matters

Dominic of Guzmán, founder of the Order of Preachers, reached Bologna around 1200, died there on 6 August 1221 and was buried in the church his friars raised beside their priory. Bologna became the order's spiritual centre, and the basilica also became a civic monument: in 1469 the city government co-financed the marble canopy over the saint's sarcophagus through a dedicated tax. Five centuries of sculpture and painting gather around the tomb.

What to notice

The Arca di San Domenico combines works by several generations of sculptors. Nicola Pisano carved the sarcophagus between 1264 and 1267, with reliefs depicting the saint's miracles. Niccolò da Bari added the canopy and figures from 1469 to 1473; his nickname, “dell'Arca,” derives from this commission. In 1494–1495 Michelangelo carved three figures for the monument: a candle-bearing angel and the saints Petronius and Proculus. Alfonso Lombardi added the marble base with the Adoration of the Magi in 1532. The wooden choir stalls by Fra' Damiano da Bergamo, paintings by Guercino, Filippino Lippi and Ludovico Carracci, and Guido Reni's Apotheosis of Saint Dominic add to the church's artistic history. Reni and his pupil Elisabetta Sirani are buried in the Rosary chapel. The organ is associated with Mozart's stay in Bologna in 1770.

Context and history

The Dominicans acquired land from the Carbonesi family near the university quarter and developed the convent of San Niccolò delle Vigne into the present basilica. The bell tower was built in 1313, and successive campaigns gave the church its blend of brick Gothic structure and later Baroque interiors. The convent library, founded in 1218, grew into an important collection by the fifteenth century.