San Michele in Bosco complex

The Church of San Michele in Bosco is an imposing architectural complex comprising the church and adjacent former convent of the Olivetans.

It is placed in one of the most panoramic locations in the hills surrounding Bologna and its courtyard is a magnificent terrace overlooking the city and the plains as far as the Alpine chain. The church is of ancient origin but was rebuilt several times. In addition, the complex was used for various purposes over the years: it served first as barracks and then as prison during Napoleonic times, it later became a villa for the Papal legate and later still residence for the King of Italy.

What is more, near the end of the 1800s, the complex became the seat of the Rizzoli Hospital complex, where the great orthopaedic specialists of the Institute are still buried. Inside the church, in the presbytery, the door on the right leads to a long corridor of the ancient convent known as the “Telescope” (il Cannocchiale) as, thanks to an optical effect, it seems as if you are touching the Asinelli Tower.

The complex also houses the Centro Putti and the Central Library (Biblioteca Centrale), named after King Umberto I, one of the most complete and rare existing library collections in the orthopaedic field.