Oratory of San Marco or Cappella Zucchini

At the eastern limit of Baricella, the Oratory of San Marco is a beautiful brick building with neo-medieval terracotta decorations. It is the funeral chapel of Enrico Zucchini, an important figure in the modernization of agriculture in these lands.

The small construction was erected in 1905 by the painter Giuseppe De Col on commission by Giulia Sassoli, widow of Enrico Zucchini. It is considered one of the most relevant examples of funerary art in floral style, expression of the group of Bolognese artists and artesans led by the architect Aemilia Ars", one of the most important trends of neo-medioeval decorative renovation in Italy, inspired by similar aesthetic orientations of taste coming from England and France.

The chapel represents a majestic example of art combined with craft, the revival of a medioeval tradition that can be noticed in the floral decoration of the internal walls, in the sculptures of the memorial stone and the urn, in the extraordinary handcrafted expertise that shaped the wrought iron gate, in the entrance portals and the kneeling-stool made of inlaid wood, in the votive lamps and in the polychrome stained-glass windows.

The interior is completely painted with frescoes celebrating Cavaliere Zucchini (whose ashes have been kept here since 1905). They are characterized by the presence of many white poppies, flowers symbolizing the sleep and, in a broader sense, the death, in line with the floral style of Aemilia Ars' artists.