San Giovanni in Persiceto

The area of San Giovanni in Persiceto is populated from ancient times, proved by important archeological and linguistic traces.

Starting from Porta Vittoria or Porta Garibaldi, along Corso Italia, the local shopping street, you can admire the evocative and unique environment of San Giovanni in Persiceto.

At every step, the round pattern of the streets downtown reveals the unique character of this town, the Borgo Rotondo, the ancient settlement of Lombard origins.

The town begins to form and expand before the year 1000, around the Collegiate Church of San Giovanni Battista from which comes the name of the village itself.

The town has a well preserved historic city center, characterized by porticoes and architectural and urban elements typical of the Bologna area.

San Giovanni in Persiceto is one of the most dynamic and active cities in the area, thanks to its strategic location in the valley, the abundance of the territory and the industrial and commercial development. 

In one of the many places of the country, you can have a pleasant break and  taste the traditional “Africanetti” biscuits of Persiceto.

The discovery of this ancient town can continue along the narrow ring streets named with toponym in local dialect, where churches, porticoes, buildings and squares are signs of ancient times and give life to San Żvân.

The beautiful Collegiate Church of San Giovanni Battista, rebuilt from 1671, overlooks the central Piazza del Popolo. Opposite, stands the Palazzo Comunale (Town Hall) with its large porticoes, under which opens the current entrance of the  Teatro Comunale (Municipal Theatre), inaugurated in 1790 and still home to an important theatre season. 

Not to be missed is the wonderful Piazzetta Betlemme, renamed “La Piazzetta degli Inganni” (The Little Square of Tricks) due to its colorful paintings Trompe l’Oeil by the famous scenographer Gino Pellegrini.

In Piazza Garibaldi, there is the Church of the Madonna della Cintura and the Palazzo SS. Salvatore (San Salvatore Palace), first eighteenth-century seat of the Hospital. Today it houses the municipal Library “Giulio Cesare Croce” and the precious municipal historical archive.

The most ancient building in San Giovanni in Persiceto is the Palazzaccio or Casa dell’Abate (Abbot’s House), with its particular high oak columns portico, linked to the ancient “Consorzio dei Partecipanti” (a consortium of “common goods”) in which the oldest local families still have a part.

In Piazza Carducci, there is the large Complex of San Francesco. Today it houses the Museo Fisica Experience but in the past it accompanied the history and life community.

Near San Matteo della Decima, close to Cento, there is  Villa Giovannina,, still closed after the earthquake of 2012. 

Saint Clelia Barbieri, founder of the “Little Sisters of the Mother of Sorrows” and canonized on the 9th April 1989, lived and died in the village Le Budrie in San Giovanni in Persiceto. The reliquaries of the Saint are kept in the Oratory of San Giuseppe, in Le Budrie, near the stunning Villa Caprara, built near the banks of the Samoggia.

The area around San Giovanni in Persiceto offers a lot of cultural and natural places to visit, such as the Tivoli-Manzolino oasis, the Museum of the Sky and the Earth, the Macchina a Vapore Museum (a unique collection of ancient locomotives and agricultural vehicles) and the Archaeological-Environmental Museum.

Additionally, it offers a lot of trekking and cycle paths, the most famous is the Sun Route.