In the Bologna metropolitan area, there are 5 cemeteries recognized as "monumental and historic cemeteries of Emilia-Romagna" under Regional Law 21/2022: the Certosa Cemetery of Bologna, the Piratello Cemetery of Imola, the Casaglia Cemetery of Marzabotto, the Medicina Cemetery, and the San Giovanni in Persiceto Cemetery.
During the Week of Discovering European Cemeteries, the Città Metropolitana di Bologna (Metropolitan City of Bologna) and Settore Musei Civici Bologna (Bologna Civic Museums Sector), for the second consecutive year, are promoting a coordinated calendar of guided tours and initiatives dedicated to historical, artistic, and naturalistic itineraries in four of these locations.Bologna
Friday, May 23rd3:30 PM
Reading Aloud in Certosa
Street names come from the past and the history of our city; they define a web of connections between our lives and those of who came before us. Knowing why these names were chosen, and in which historical moments, leads to a collective awareness of past and ongoing changes, amidst removals, elisions, disavowals, and cancellations: the path we propose in Certosa leads us to rediscover the roots of this collective history.
Organized by the Associazione Amici della Certosa.
Booking required: prenotazionicertosa@gmail.com.
Meeting point: Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission: Free donation (free for members of Associazione Amici della Certosa)
Friday, May 23rd
4:15 PM
Free in the Sky of Glory
Guided tour with Roberto Martorelli.
To remember the men and women who
fought for the values of freedom and democracy and contributed to the birth
of the Republic, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of Italy's
Liberation from Nazi-Fascism.
Guided tour organized by the Museo civico
del Risorgimento with Associazione Amici della Certosa.
Booking
required: prenotazionicertosa@gmail.com. A confirmation email of your booking is necessary.
Meeting point:
Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Full price €10 / Reduced for Card Cultura holders €8 (payment preferably
with exact change)
Saturday, May 24th
3:00 PM
Really?! Chronicles from the Certosa of Bologna
Guided tour with Roberto Martorelli.
A walk through the porticoes and
galleries of the Certosa, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Illustrious
visits, licit and illicit love stories, murders, political demonstrations,
secret meetings. In the past, the cemetery was a much less quiet place than
you might think.
Guided tour organized by the Museo civico del
Risorgimento with Associazione Amici della Certosa.
Booking
required: prenotazionicertosa@gmail.com. A confirmation email of your booking is necessary.
Meeting point:
Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Full price €10 / Reduced for Card Cultura holders €8 (payment preferably
with exact change)
Sunday, May 25th
10:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Painted Certosa. Discovering Painters and Museums between the 19th and
20th Centuries
Perhaps you don't know that the Monumental Cemetery of Bologna is also a
painting gallery! In the early 19th century, monuments were not sculpted,
but painted. Bring a pen or pencil; we invite you to discover some works and
their creators starting from the historical-artistic Info Point, where you
will find a mediator who will help you navigate within the Certosa, now a
UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the "Porticoes of Bologna" project.
Mediation
activity organized by MIA - Innovative and Open Museums for the Museo civico
del Risorgimento.
Starting point: Historical-artistic Info Point
(courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Free
Wednesday, May 28th
4:00 PM
All of Bologna
Guided tour with Roberto Martorelli.
It's time for Big History: a tour dedicated to the most famous people of
the 19th and 20th centuries who rest in the Cemetery. Politicians, artists,
intellectuals, industrialists, philanthropists who absolutely must be known
while strolling through the monumental cemetery, now a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
Guided tour organized by the Museo civico del Risorgimento with
Associazione Amici della Certosa.
Booking required: prenotazionicertosa@gmail.com. A confirmation email of your booking is necessary.
Meeting point:
Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Full price €10 / Reduced for Card Cultura holders €8 (payment preferably
with exact change)
Thursday, May 29th
3:30 PM
Where Hate Ends - A Contemporary Reflection on War
If the dead could speak, they would still have many things to tell us. The
Certosa welcomes everyone, those who lived in peace and those who were
overwhelmed by tragic events. But would the voices of those who suffered a
war be enough to warn us? A mournful choir of the buried tries to bring its
message of peace to those still on earth who are capable of avoiding armed
conflict.
Project by Alberto Alvisi.
Screening organized by
Associazione Amici della Certosa - Visual Arts, in collaboration with Museo
civico del Risorgimento and Bologna Servizi Cimiteriali.
Booking
required: amicidellacertosa@gmail.com.
Meeting point: Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via
della Certosa 18.
Admission: Free donation / Free for members of
Associazione Amici della Certosa
Thursday, May 29th
7:00 PM
101 Things to Know About the Certosa
Guided tour with Roberto Martorelli.
A sunset walk to discover the 101
things you absolutely must know about the monumental cemetery.
Guided
tour organized by the Museo civico del Risorgimento with Associazione Amici
della Certosa.
Booking required: prenotazionicertosa@gmail.com. A confirmation email of your booking is necessary.
Meeting point:
Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Full price €10 / Reduced for Card Cultura holders €8 (payment preferably
with exact change)
Thursday, May 29th, 9:00 PM / Saturday, May 31st, 3:00 PM
Secret Certosa
Guided tour with Roberto Martorelli.
A guided tour to walk in the
silence of the cemetery, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Hidden rooms,
little-explored cloisters, splendid works of art scarcely visible to the
distracted visitor. The cemetery's rooms and its monuments tell of forbidden
loves, suspicious deaths, and irreproachable lives. A stone book to leaf
through.
Guided tour organized by the Museo civico del Risorgimento
with Associazione Amici della Certosa.
Booking required: prenotazionicertosa@gmail.com. A confirmation email of your booking is necessary.
Meeting point:
Main entrance (courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Full price €10 / Reduced for Card Cultura holders €8 (payment preferably
with exact change)
Sunday, June 1st
10:30 AM
Forever Elegant in the Gardens of the Certosa
Participants will be accompanied to the photography and drawing exhibition
to discover the elegance of details created by the most skilled sculptors:
details of past fashions sculpted in marble, captured by the photographic
lens, or rendered on paper thanks to the course by artist Mara Guerrini.
Guided
tour organized by Associazione Amici della Certosa - Visual Arts, in
collaboration with Museo civico del Risorgimento and Bologna Servizi
Cimiteriali.
Booking required: amicidellacertosa@gmail.com / 345 2699200 (WhatsApp only).
Meeting point: Main entrance
(courtyard of San Girolamo Church), via della Certosa 18.
Admission:
Free
Exhibition: Forever Elegant in the Gardens of the Certosa
June 1st - 20th, 2025
Monumental Cemetery of the Certosa of
Bologna - Chiostro dell’Ossaia o delle Madonne (Ossuary or Madonna
Cloister)
Visitors to the cemetery are offered a view of the elegance
of details sculpted by the most skilled artists, and the poignant beauty of
tombs nestled in the cloisters and galleries. Earrings, lace, hairstyles,
shoes, buttons, moustaches, details of past fashions sculpted in marble,
captured by the photographic lens, are exhibited alongside monuments,
porticoes, plants, and views of the Certosa, rendered on paper. Since 2021,
the Monumental Cemetery has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the
"Porticoes of Bologna" project.
Photography and drawing exhibition
organized by Arti Visive and T900 of the Associazione Amici della Certosa,
and the course "Disegnare la Certosa con Mara Guerrini" (Drawing the Certosa
with Mara Guerrini), in collaboration with the Museo civico del Risorgimento
and Bologna Servizi Cimiteriali.
The exhibition is freely accessible
during the cemetery's opening hours, open daily from 8:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Medicina
Tuesday, May 27th, 6:00 PM / Saturday, May 31st, 10:30 AMPaths of Medicinese Memories
Two walks from the Municipal Library to the historic Cemetery, discovering some personalities who contributed to the history of their community. During the walk, the cemetery guide, created thanks to Regional Law 21/2022, will be distributed and presented.
Guided tour organized by the Municipality of Medicina with Area Blu.
Meeting point: Library entrance, via Pillio 1, Medicina.
Admission: Free
Info: serviziculturali@comune.medicina.bo.it / 051 6979209
Imola
Sunday, June 1st5:00 PM
The Monumental Cemetery of Piratello in Imola: A Journey Through Architecture, Sculptural Works, and Centenary Trees
Guided tour with Elena Scheda.
The Piratello Cemetery of Imola was built 3.5 km from the city center to prevent any epidemiological contagion and began to be used in 1822.
During the visit, the architectural evolution of the last 200 years, the main monuments, sacred furnishings, and epitaphs of illustrious personalities who rest here will be illustrated, including, among others, Andrea Costa, many partisans, Giuseppe Scarabelli, Giovanni Codronchi Argeli, Eugenia Codronchi Argeli (Sphinx), Luigi Orsini, Anacleto Margotti, and Francesco Alberghetti. Attention will also be paid to the cemetery's arboreal heritage, composed of about 500 specimens including magnolias and centuries-old cedars of Lebanon.
Guided tour organized by the Municipality of Imola and Area Blu.
Booking required
Meeting point: Entrance of the Piratello Sanctuary of Imola, via Emilia 27, Imola.
Admission: Free
Info: dott.elenascheda@gmail.com / 347 7425404 (WhatsApp only)
San Giovanni in Persiceto
Sunday, June 1st10:00 AM
The Immortality of Memory in San Giovanni in Persiceto
The guided tour of the city's Monumental Cemetery intertwines memory, art, and symbolism to remember the protagonists of the Liberation from Nazi-Fascism. Individual tombs and collective monuments will be the starting point for retracing a crucial part of our history.
Guided tour organized by the Municipality of San Giovanni in Persiceto.
Meeting point: Entrance of the Monumental Cemetery, Circonvallazione Vittorio Veneto, San Giovanni in Persiceto.
Admission: Full price €12 / Reduced €7
Info: cultura.turismo@comunepersiceto.it / 051 6812955