Alles Gute zum St. Petronius-Tag – Stadtfest von Bologna, Italien!

Some context & fun facts about St Petronius.

From the end of the Roman Empire to Italian independence (1400 years), the city of Bologna had only one goal: to remain free from external influences, primarily that of the nearby Papal State of Rome.

For this reason, in 1253 the Free City-State of Bologna decided to change its patron saint: from St Peter (too pro-Rome) to St Petronius, an ancient bishop of Bologna almost unknown and of whom they wrote a hagiographic biography (800 years after his death!) almost invented.
This was to be able to have their own independent religious symbol, a civic and “secular” patron, for this very reason much loved by Bologna people.

In 1388 Bologna began to build the perfect church to anger the Popes: bigger than Rome’s St.Peter, oriented to the north (opposite direction to Rome!) instead of to the east as was tradition, financed with their own money thanks to the success of their University (also taking a part of it by imposing a tax on the clergy), obviously dedicated to their personal saint and new civic patron St Petronius.
The Popes boycotted it in every way: they rejected the project, every time they regained power in the city they stopped the work and sold the materials, finally they conquered Bologna and built a new palace (the beautiful Archiginnasio) right next to it to stop its expansion.
Even today St Petronius Church, the most famous in Bologna, has an incomplete structure (but still the 6th largest church in Italy) and an incomplete facade, but us Bolognesi are very proud of it and it was chosen not to complete it because it’s a symbol of independence and freedom.
It was consecrated by the Church only in 1954, just 564 years after the beginning of its construction.. touchy!