Santuario di Santa Maria della Vita — Attraction in Bologna

The Church of Santa Maria della Vita is located along Via Clavature and is just a couple minutes walk east of Piazza Maggiore. Seems church history dates back to the 13th-century. However, the building you see today is a rebuild by G.B. Bergonzoni in the late 17th-century, giving the church the fairly elaborate High Baroque appearance you can see today.

The facade is narrow and tall with is a bit peculiar, note the two statue figures in niches above the entryway. Seems these represent Riniero de' Barcobini Fasani (right) and Bonaparte Ghisilieri (left)

The interior opens up into an oval shaped nave with embedded side chapels each with impressive altarpieces. Look up and see the inner side of a 52-meter tall dome added in the late 18th-century, thus making the church one of the city's tallest buildings even to this day.

Importantly, while a visit to the nave is free to the public, there is a separate area which requires ticket to enter. This is where you can view the famous sculptural series known as the Lamentation over the Dead Christ by...

Pay the small fee to see: The Lamentation Over the Dead Christ by Nicolò dell'Arca, is a masterpiece of Renaissance sculpture, completed around 1490.

The sculptural group is composed of seven life-size figures in terracotta and were originally painted. In the center is the dead Christ, lying with his head reclining on a cushion. The two Marys stand out, Mary of Cleophas and Mary Magdalene, torn by pain with their clothes blown by the wind.

The other figures are more composed, each expressing their grief in a highly individual manner.

The drama, emotion, and movement of these figures have no equal in the Renaissance and would not be matched until the Baroque sculpture of Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1622, more than a century later.

Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita. Late Baroque, 18th century.

The church was founded in the 13th century by a brotherhood of flagellants, who processed through town whipping themselves as an act of penance and devotion.

The brotherhood also founded a hospital "Ospedale della Vita", hence the name...

A must-see in Bologna!! The church contains the Compianto, a set of amazing terracotta sculptures by Niccolò dell'Arca. The sculptures are more impressive than one could ever imagine, because of their sheer scale but also because only by seeing them in real life will you appreciate their exquisite details. Faces, clothes, hands: each of them has a character, a story and a life of its own. Christ's hands are delicate and painfully lifeless while the Virgin Mary's are bony and wrought in pain. Niccolò dell'Arca hardly ever makes it into art history books, but this does not make his work any the less striking. The church is in a busy street of the old city centre and in a nearby arcade you'll find many food stalls where if you're on the go you can get a hot dish of pasta or rice at a reasonable price. Entry ticket for the Compianto is 5 Euro, but it's...