San Giovanni in Persiceto
It is a town rich in history and culture, located in the Plain Northwest of Bologna about 26 km from the historic centre of the Emilian capital. Home of the historic Persiceto Carnival, famous for the "Spillo" (from the Bolognese dialect spél, meaning transformation)
San Giovanni in Persiceto is a town rich in history and culture, located in the Plain Northwest of Bologna about 26 km from the historic centre of the Emilian capital. Home of the historic Persiceto Carnival, famous for the “Spillo” (from the Bolognese dialect spél, meaning transformation).
The town extends around Borgo Rotondo, a system of concentric streets of Lombard origin that lead to Piazza del Popolo, which the Palazzo Comunale (Town Hall), rebuilt in the fifteenth century by the Bentivoglio family and home to the splendid Teatro Comunale, overlooks. But the oldest building is the Palazzaccio (or Casa dell’Abate, [House of the Abbot]), dating from the 13th-14th century, characterized by a high portico with oak columns.
Walking through the alleys and amid the ancient buildings one finds oneself amid the colourful trompe l‘oeil of Gino Pellegrini in Piazzetta Betlemme, transformed in 1980 on the occasion of an event dedicated to comic cinema.
Not far away, in Piazza Carducci, is the medieval Complesso Conventuale di San Francesco (Convent Complex of San Francesco), one of the features of Persiceto richest in history thanks to its architectural stratification. The complex consists of the Chiesa di San Francesco (San Francesco’s Church), now deconsecrated, and the evocative fifteenth-century cloister overlooking a room decorated with a fresco of the Last Supper.
The town also offers a rich concentration of museums, including the Museo del Cielo e della Terra (Heaven and Earth Museum), a scattered museum founded in 2000 for the purposes of conservation, research, teaching and scientific dissemination. It includes the astronomical area, the botanical garden, the ecological rebalancing area “La Bora”, the Insect Laboratory and a section dedicated to stories and didactics of physics.
In the surroundings, there are several protected wetlands, such as the ecological rebalancing area “La Bora”, the natural area of Manzolino-Tivoli and the expansion tank of the Samoggia stream, which can also be reached by bicycle thanks to the many cycle paths in the area, including the Ciclovia del Sole (Sun Cycle Path).
The Bolognese saint Clelia Barbieri, founder of the ordine delle Suore minime dell’Addolorata (Order of the Little Sisters of the Sorrowful Mother), canonized in 1989 by John Paul II lived and died in the hamlet of Le Budrie. Her relics are kept in the oratory of San Giuseppe.
At the Budrie, near the banks of the Samoggia, there is also the imposing Villa Caprara.
San Giovanni in Persiceto is also known for its gastronomic products. In the fertile plain of Samoggia, in the countryside of the hamlet of San Matteo della Decina, melons and watermelons are grown.
In addition, a typical dessert of the area are the Africanetti, yellow biscuits made with eggs and sugar in the shape of an ingot.
