The best road cycling routes around Park Gessi Bolognesi and Calanchi dell'Abbadessa

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It is located in the Villa Spada park. It served as an air raid shelter during the Second World War.

From here, the path continues uphill for about 2 km to the Church of San Luca. On hot days, be sure to bring water.

Neo-Gothic tower where Ugo Bassi is said to have been locked up before his execution

It's not the ring road, but the ring roads

Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso The history of the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Sasso begins in 1283 when friar Giovanni da Panico dedicated a small oratory to the Virgin Mary in a cavity of the nearby Rupe, called Sasso di Glòsina. In 1787 the Sanctuary was closed due to the detachment of a large layer of sandstone. In 1831 the new sanctuary was rebuilt based on a design by Angelo Venturoli. The new façade, with a portico with three arches, is set back on the same level as the bell tower and the municipal clock tower, added in 1888 by the engineer Tito Azzolini. Destroyed by Allied bombing in April 1945; in 1950 the reconstruction based on a design by the engineer Paolo Graziani was concluded. The interior, with a single barrel-vaulted nave and three chapels on each side, houses the Madonna del Carmine with Saints within a sumptuous frame, dated 1674, and the Madonna Enthroned with Angels and Saints of the Neapolitan school (1734). The apse is decorated with a modern polychrome stained glass window with the Madonna and Child and a depiction of the church.

The Villa Spada Park is a green area located in Bologna which extends for approximately 6 hectares. It is located at the end of the ridge between the Meloncello river and the Ravone, with patches of trees and meadows alternating along the slope that descends from the Casaglia hill onto Via Saragozza. From the highest points of the park, which reach 120 metres, you can admire beautiful views of the historic center of Bologna, framed by the foliage of the many Mediterranean evergreens such as holm oaks, cypresses, laurels, stone and maritime pines and strawberry trees. Inside the park there is also a neo-medieval turret where, according to tradition, Ugo Bassi was locked up before his execution. The villa, in neoclassical style, was built by the Zambeccari family at the end of the 18th century and the project is said to be attributed to G. B. Martinetti. The latter also designed the small terraced Italian garden, adorned with vases and sculptures. Today, the villa houses the Historical Educational Museum of Tapestry and on the pediment you can see the coat of arms of the Spada princes, the owners from whom the park takes its name. For further information, we recommend visiting the Bologna Welcome website or that of the Municipality of Bologna.

Dating back to the 13th century, Porta Saragozza remained a rather secondary and unused pass until 1674, when the long portico was built which leads from Via Saragozza to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. From that moment, the door acquired particular importance as the point of arrival and departure of the famous processions dedicated to the Blessed Virgin and relative point of reference for the faithful heading to the Sanctuary, to the point of being called "sacred door" and "pilgrims' door". . Today the door houses the Museum of the Blessed Virgin of San Luca. Rebuilt in 1858 in a neo-Gothic style which was a source of heated controversy at the time, Porta Saragozza returned to being talked about on 28 June 1982. For the first time in Italy, the then mayor of Bologna Renato Zangheri decided to assign the spaces of the door, a public structure, to a homosexual cultural association: the 28 June Club. The association remained in those spaces until 2002, then becoming the historic Cassero association and moving to Salara, its current headquarters. A decision which, in a historical moment of high political tension, was already revolutionary in itself, made even stronger by the fact that the gate was a place of great religious importance. The event took on historical and social relevance at a national level and contributed to marking the image of Bologna as a progressive city open to differences.