San Colombano

About

The Oratory of the Madonna of San Colombano, also called the Chiese di San Colombano e Santa Maria dell'Orazione, is a religious site in central Bologna, found on Via Parigi #5, near the Bologna Cathedral.

History: The oratory was built in 1591, atop the site of a chapel or small church that sheltered the painting of the Madonna dell’Orazione by Lippo di Dalmasio. The church, called San Colombano, at the site had been founded in the 7th century by Peter I, the bishop of Bologna and pupil of the Irish monk Columbanus. Columbanus had died in nearby Bobbio. The annexed oratory contained a revered icon of the Virgin by Lippo Dalmasio as a main altarpiece. Starting about the year 1600, it was decorated by an impressive series of pupils of Ludovico Carracci, among them some of the titans of early Italian Baroque painting: Francesco Albani, Francesco Brizio, Domenichino, Lorenzo Garbieri, Lucio Massari, Guido Reni, and Baldassare Aloisi (il Balanino). The frescoes include scenes from the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Among the paintings listed by Malvasia in the Oratory are:

Last Judgement (outside portico) by Pietro Pancotto St Francis with angels above and demons below (right...