Bologna is mainly known for its medieval soul but also has an important Renaissance past, with works of great masters in churches and museums.

The most important pictorial cycle of the Bolognese Renaissance...

is located at the Oratory of Santa Cecilia. The decoration was started in 1506 by the main artists of the time: Lorenzo Costa, Francesco Francia and Amico Aspertini. It is remarkable that in these frescoes there are no iconographic signs that can identify Cecilia as the patron of music: in fact, these references will spread only after the arrival in the city in 1515 of the painting by Raphael, now at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna.

In continuity with its close connection with the city, even at the Grand Hotel Majestic "già Baglioni" we can find elements of the Renaissance

as the Camerino of Europe, with the magnificent frescoes of the Carracci brothers. The cycle of frescoes depicts the stories of Jupiter and Europe, taken from the second book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses. A work that shortly precedes the cycle of Jason and Medea, by the same authors, housed in the adjacent Palazzo Fava.

To complete this journey in the Renaissance not to be missed is the exhibition "Giulio II and Raffaello. A new season of the Renaissance in Bologna" a great exhibition project at the Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna from 8 October to 5 February. The protagonist of the exhibition will be the portrait of Giulio II by Raffaello, who returns exceptionally to Italy from the National Gallery in London.