Home / Itineraries /
Baroque Walk
Posted on 12 November 2022
The Baroque Walk runs through the main streets of the historic centre of Medicina and showcases the most important buildings and religious monuments of the city. Between the 17th and 18th centuries, Medicina enjoyed a long period of Prosperity which brought significant changes to the urban fabric and fostered architectural renovation. During the late Enlightenment period, the city walls and four towers were demolished to create more open spaces, large squares and new streets. The walk is entirely on the street and in between the arcades of the historic centre. The starting point is Piazza Garibaldi, with the Archpriest’s Church of S. Mamante and its bell tower. The complex is the result of a complete reconstruction of the ancient 14th-15th century parish church between 1735 and 1740. The interior is one of the most interesting examples of Bolognese sacred architecture from the first half of the 18th century. On Via Libertà, the Torre Civica dell’Orologio (Clock Tower) rises at the intersection of the Cardo and Decumanus of the ancient Roman land division system. A short distance away is the Church of the Carmine, built in 1696 by the influential Carmelite community in Medicina. The ancient Carmelite convent once stood on the same street where the Palazzo Comunale now stands. The Palazzo still preserves some of the original spaces, such as the internal portico and the staircase. Arriving in Piazza Andrea Costa, you will see the Church of the Assumption or of the Crucifix, designed by Alfonso Torreggiani around 1748. The church was built in the years that followed on behalf of the ancient and extended Confraternity of the Assumption. It contains a papiermâché crucifix that is still carried in procession on Good Friday. We recommend a visit to the Palazzo della Comunità, now the Civic Museum and Art Gallery A. Borgonzoni.