Bologna’s Basilica di San Petronio dominates the city’s main square, Piazza Maggiore. The world’s tenth-largest church by volume, the Basilica honours the city’s patron saint. The massive structure was originally conceived as a civic project. It was designed to demonstrate Bologna’s considerable municipal power; the building’s elaborate marble exterior would rival Saint Peter’s Basilica in Rome…but that was never to be.

The building’s main construction took place between about 1390 and 1479, and in 1514 work began on the elaborate marble facade. But when the Pope at the time learned of the project he put a stop to the work and the facade was never completed. Today the Basilica’s unfinished exterior is one of its most recognisable features. The building was finally transferred from the city to the church in 1929 and the Basilica was consecrated in 1954.

On 1 October 2017 the current Pope Francis will travel to the Emilia-Romagna region to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of Pius VI (1717-1799). On that day, during his visit to Bologna, the Pope will share lunch with the city’s poor in the Basilica di San Petronio.