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Basilica of San Petronio
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The basilica of San Petronio is the most famous and majestic church of Bologna, where it dominates Piazza Maggiore.
Its imposing dimensions make it the fifth larger church of the world; it is dedicated to the Patron of the city (Petronio was Bishop of Bologna in the 5th century) and its construction began in 1390, when it was devised as a great gothic basilica, with three naves, transept, dome and choir.
The building works were often interrupted, because of the lack of money and the difficulties to build the vaults; only in the 17th century the problems were finally solved and the church was completed, without the transept and the dome, and leaving the facade incomplete, with the lower part decorated with red and white marbles, while the higher part shows the simple bricks of the wall.
The interior of the church is majestic, with three wide naves and deep chapels where are kelt precious works of art; moreover, on the pavement of the church it is possible to admire the sundial, traced in 1655: it is one of the longest sundials of the world, that today as four centuries ago, indicates solstices and equinoxes.
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