A church or chapel existed on the hill for about a thousand years. Tradition holds that in the 12th-century, a pilgrim from the Byzantine Empire came to Bologna with an icon of the Virgin Mary from the Temple of St Sophia in Constantinople. Two holy women, Azzolina and Beatrice Guezi, tended a small hermitage-chapel atop the hill. Construction of a church began in 1193. In 1294, the Dominican order came to the site and remained there until 1799. The present church was constructed in 1723, with designs by Carlo Francesco Dotti.
The lateral external tribunes were built by his son, Giovanni Giacomo, using his father's plans. The centrally planned sanctuary has painted artworks by Domenico Pestrini, Donato Creti, Guido Reni, Giuseppe Maria Mazza, Vittorio Bigari and Guercino. The church is part of the Porticoes of Bologna UNESCO World Heritage site.
The Portico di San Luca is a monumental 3.8-kilometre covered arcade in Bologna, consisting of 666 arches. It links Porta Saragozza to the hilltop Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca on Colle della Guardia. Constructed between 1674 and 1793, the arcade was originally designed to shelter the annual religious procession in which the icon of the Virgin Mary is carried from the sanctuary to Bologna Cathedral.
Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons
Written by Nicolo Ciampini
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