Santa Maria della Carità is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

-style

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

church in central

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

By mid-13th century, an administrator under Pope Gregory IX, founded a hospital at an adjacent lot. For a time, it was an orphanage. A chapel, attached to a hospital, existed by 1378. From the 15th to the 18th century, the church and convent were attached to a

Franciscan order , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

. The present layout dates from 1583, by designs of Pietro Fiorini. It was enlarged with the addition of four large chapels in 1680 under the designs of Giovanni Battista Bergonzoni, a Franciscan theologian. The interior is decorated with paintings by prominent

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painters. In the first chapel on the right is a ''Visitation'' by Il Galanino. In the 3rd chapel on the right is a ''Vision of St Elizabeth'' (1685) by Marc Antonio Franceschini. The third chapel to the left has a ''Holy Family with St Anthony of Padua''(1680) by

Felice Cignani Felice Cignani (January 27, 1660 – January 12, 1724) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period, active mainly in Forlì and Bologna. He was a pupil and son of the painter Carlo Cignani. Felice helped train his cousin, Paolo Cignani (1709–1 ...

. The most prominent work in the church, in the 1st chapel on the left, is the altarpiece depicting the ''Crucifixion'' (1583) by a 23-year-old

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

. The painting originally was found in the church of San Nicolò di San Felice.Bologna Welcome
Official Tourist site. Other artists include

Giovanni Valesio Giovanni Luigi Valesio, also known as ''Giovanni Valesio'' or ''Luigi Valesio'', (c. 1583–1633) was an Italian painter and, most prominently, an engraver of the early-Baroque, active in his native city of Bologna, and then in Rome. Biography Ma ...

;

Flaminio Torre Flaminio Torre (1620–1661) was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School, active during the Baroque period. He was a pupil of Guido Reni, Giacomo Cavedone, and Simone Cantarini. He was also called ''Degli Ancinelli'', and painted for ...

(''Virgin and Saints''); Giovanni Battista Fiorini;

Antonio Crespi Antonio is a masculine given name of Etruscan language, Etruscan origin deriving from the root name Antonius. It is a common name among Romance language-speaking populations as well as the Balkans and Lusophone Africa. It has been among the top 40 ...

;

Luigi Quaini Luigi Quaini (1643–1717) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Biography He was born in Ravenna, and first learned the art of architectural perspective painting from his father, Francesco Quaini, a pupil of Agostino Mitelli. After s ...

; and

Luigi Crespi Luigi Crespi (January 23, 1708 – July 2, 1779) was an Italian painter, and art merchant and historian. He was the son of the prominent Bolognese painter, Giuseppe Maria Crespi. Biography He trained with his father and completed a few altarpi ...

. The sacristy, designed also by Bergonzoni, has paintings by

Gaetano Gandolfi Gaetano Gandolfi (31 August 1734 – 20 June 1802) was an Italian painter of the late Baroque and early Neoclassic period, active in Bologna. Career Gaetano was born in San Matteo della Decima, near Bologna, to a family of artists. Ubaldo G ...

Jacopo Alessandro Calvi Jacopo Alessandro Calvi (23 February 1740 – 15 May 1815) was an Italian painter and art critic who painted sacred and historical subjects in a late-Baroque style. Biography He was born in Bologna. He became deaf at the age of eight years, and ...

, and sculptures by

Giovanni Francesco Bezzi Nosadella, full name Giovanni Francesco Bezzi, (active c. 1549–1571) was an Italian painter and draftsman, active during the Mannerist period, mainly in Bologna. He appears to have traveled to Rome. He was a pupil of Pellegrino Tibaldi. Few o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maria della Carita, Bologna Roman Catholic churches completed in 1583 16th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Italy Renaissance architecture in Bologna Roman Catholic churches in Bologna