Oratory of San Colombano, Bologna

The oratory was built in 1591, atop the site of a chapel or small church that sheltered the painting of the Madonna dell’Orazione by Lippo di Dalmasio.

The church, called San Colombano, at the site had been founded in the 7th century by Peter I, the bishop of Bologna and pupil of the Irish monk Columbanus.

The annexed oratory contained a revered icon of the Virgin by Lippo Dalmasio as a main altarpiece.

Starting about the year 1600, it was decorated by an impressive series of pupils of Ludovico Carracci, among them some of the titans of early Italian Baroque painting: Francesco Albani, Francesco Brizio, Domenichino, Lorenzo Garbieri, Lucio Massari, Guido Reni, and Baldassare Aloisi (il Balanino).

[3] The attached complex of buildings, since 2010, houses the collection of musical instruments donated by Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, consisting of nearly ninety pieces including harpsichords, spinets, pianofortes, clavichords and others.