A flickr's eye view of San Petronio

Photos on flickr with the tag ' San Petronio'

Imagine a church that can hold up to 28,000 people inside, and it would probably look very like the Basilica di San Petronio which hulks over Bologna's Piazza Maggiore. This huge church, once planned to be larger than St. Peter's in Rome (until the Pope put an end to that design), is the fifth largest church in the world.

The Basilica, which was built by the Comunal authorities - leading to tensions with the Church - over a period of several centuries, still has an unfinished facade as well as truncated side chapels - all testimony to the long-running division between the town authorities and the Papacy (which, at various stages in the city's history ruled over the town).

Amongst the things to see in the Church are the world's longest sundial (in the form of a meridian line which runs along the left aisle), a hugely impressive door scultped by Jacopo della Quercia (which would influence Michelangelo in his portrayal of Genesis in the Sistine Chapel), a Madonna with Saints by Lorenzo Costa the younger (one of the major figures of the Bolognese school of painting), and a Pietà by Amico Aspertini (who was one of the artists commissioned to decorate a triumphal arch in the city on the occasion of the coronation of Charles V by Pope Clement VII which took place in San Petronio in 1529).

None of these marvels, though, are responsible for the heavy police presence around the Church, which has been a constant since 2001. The reason for security checks, on tourists entering the Basilica, is a rather dark and dusty fresco in a side chapel on the left as one enters. The impressively doomy and gloomy depiction of Satan from Dante's Inferno, painted by Giovani di Modena, commissioned in Bartolomeo Bolognini’s last will and testament in 1408.

So, what's the fuss? Well, if you light up the small chapel, and look to the right of the Devilish portrait, you'll see two devils gleefully poking a trussed up figure with their pitchforks. The trouble emanates from the fact that this figure is clearly labelled as Muhammed. According to press reports, two visitors, allegedly from North Africa, became animated upon seeing this fresco shortly after 9/11, and in these terrorised times that was enough to place the Church on a special 'target' list drawn up by the Italian secret services.

Since 2001 there have been a number of alerts, but never any trouble. The feeling most Bolognese seem to have is that the alerts were an (understandable) over-reaction - particularly given that there are many different representations of Dante's inferno, and the poem itself does place the prophet Muhammed firmly in the nether regions of hell as a false prophet. In short, while artistically striking, the fresco of Giovanni di Modena is nothing unique. It's well worth seeing though, if only as an introduction into a fascinating landmark like San Petronio.

How to get to San Petronio?