This small, delightful church is thought to have been built before the 13th Century. It was restored by the Malvezzi family in 1450 and in 1725 they instructed the architect Dotti to completely reconstruct this sanctuary. The bell tower was designed by Angelo Venturoli and was built in 1795. The exterior of the church is very sober and is built in a classical style. Inside, there is a single nave with four side altars decorated with works by Crespi and Pedrini. The vaulted ceiling is frescoed with sublime images by Michele Mastellari and Napoleone Angiolini.
The site of the oldest cemetery in Bologna, the Certosini cemetery sits on top of what was previously an Etrusan necropolis. The necropolis was uncovered in 1869 by archaeological digs carried out by Antonio Zannoni. The cemetery has now become a very special memorial. It is beside the Certosini Monastery (built in 1801). Nowadays, it contains a collection of the most artistic funeral monuments, many of which were carved by some of the best 19th-and 20th-century artists. There are monuments to famous men like Giosué Carducci and Giorgio Morandi e Ottorino Respighi.
The Palazzo della Mercanzia (Palazzo of the Merchants) was once the main trading area for the Bolognese merchants. It was designed by Antonio di Vincenzo in 1382. The building has a beautiful crenelated facade which is made up of red terracotta bricks contrasting with the carved white mullioned windows and the baldachin spire. The color contrast is made more evident by the small statues in their niches and the vaulted loggia with its pointed arches supported by robust pillars. The attractive loggia contains portals which are decorated with an inlaid lunette from 1490. Above the portals, there is a clock which was made by Alfonso Rubbiani and Alfredo Tartarini in 1889.
The Medieval Museum is located in the 15th-century Palazzo Fava Ghisilardi, and was first opened in 1985. The Museum contains exhibits from all around the world. The Palagi collections include numerous pieces of Pre-Colombian, Asiatic, and African art, and other collections contain oriental arms, gold Lombard crosses, byzantine ivories, Murano glass, ceramics from Faenza, Turkish arquebuses, and many other items which represent the evolution of Medieval and Bolognese Renaissance art. The Museum also holds the bronze piece made by Giambologna in 1567 for the creation of the magnificent Fountain of Neptune. The frescoes by Carracci in the five rooms with casson ceilings are of particular artistic interest, they represent mythological tales from the works of Homer and Virgil.
Eremo di Ronzano was originally a female hermitage when it was built in 1140. In 1475, it was rebuilt by the Domenicans. In the 19th Century, it became the home of the Gozzadini. It was often host to those illustrious people who enjoyed staying there for a long time, out of which one of them was called Carducci. The Church and convent of Ronzano were later converted into a college and Church of the Servants of Maria. The interiors were decorated with frescoes by Bolognese and Lombard artists in the 16th Century. The Eremo has recently been restructured in order to become a welcoming center for pilgrims on their way to Bologna. It is an enchanting place, where it is possible to restore your body and pacify your spirit.
The beautiful Villa dell Rose sits on Monte Franco and is surrounded by a lovely Italian garden and an English garden where many rare and exotic plants are grown. The park as a whole is absolutely enchanting and is definitely a place to visit during one of the hot Bolognese afternoons. The villa was built for the Cella family and then passed into the hands of the Armandi Avogli counts. In 1916, Nerina, the widow of Count Avogli left the property to the city of Bologna who opened the Galleria d'Arte Moderna there. In 1975 the Gallery was moved to its current location in Piazza Costituzione and the Villa delle Rose was kept as a location for temporary exhibitions. Today it hosts exhibitions of contemporary art.