Santuario del Corpus Domini & St Catherine of Bologna
A quiet brick church a few minutes from Piazza Maggiore hides one of Italy's strangest sights: a 15th-century nun, seated upright on a golden throne, her body never buried.
Most visitors walk straight past the Corpus Domini, also called the Chiesa della Santa, on their way to flashier sights. Inside, in a small chapel to the left of the nave, sits the incorrupt body of Santa Caterina de' Vigri, St Catherine of Bologna, who died in 1463 and has been on display, seated and dressed in her habit, ever since. It's free, it's rarely crowded, and it's one of the more unforgettable things you can do in the city.
- Where
- Via Tagliapietre 19
- The saint
- Caterina de' Vigri (1413–1463)
- Entry
- Free (donations welcome)
- Time needed
- 20–30 minutes
Who was St Catherine of Bologna?
Caterina de' Vigri grew up at the cultured court of Ferrara, where she learned Latin, the viola and miniature painting before entering a Poor Clares convent at 13. She came back to her home city in 1456 to found the Corpus Domini monastery and served as its abbess until she died. She wrote, copied and illuminated manuscripts, painted, and played music almost to her last day. The Catholic Church made her the patron saint of artists, and she's a patron of Bologna itself.
After her death the nuns reported that her body gave off a sweet smell and would not decay. They sat her upright, and there she has stayed for more than five centuries. She was canonised in 1712.
Seeing the body
The saint sits behind glass in a small, candle-lit chapel reached from the second chapel on the left of the nave. Centuries of candle smoke have darkened her skin almost black. She wears a nun's habit and holds a cross and a book. It is genuinely affecting rather than ghoulish, and people of every faith and none come to look. Keep your voice down: this is an active place of prayer, and nuns from the attached monastery still use it.
If the chapel is shut when you arrive, you can still glimpse her through a small round window to the left of the main altar in the main church.
Local tip
Opening times for the chapel are short and split across the day, roughly mid-morning and again in the afternoon, and only on certain days of the week. Treat any hours you read online as a guide and check the sanctuary's official site before you go, since the times shift. Outside posted hours there's a side door with a bell, and a sister will sometimes let you in.
The church itself
Don't rush back out. The Corpus Domini was built in the 1470s, given a lavish Baroque makeover in 1687, and patched up after wartime bombing damaged it badly. The rough-brick Renaissance doorway is the oldest surviving piece. It's a working monastery church, so dress modestly, shoulders and knees covered, the same as you would for the great basilica on Piazza Maggiore.
Getting there
Via Tagliapietre sits in the quiet streets southwest of the centre, about a 10-minute walk from the main square and close to the university's older buildings. It pairs naturally with a wander through this less-touristed quarter. From here it's an easy stroll to the atmospheric chapels of the Seven Churches complex, or back through the centre toward the leaning medieval towers.
See the hidden corners with a local
A small-group walking tour is the easiest way to fit the offbeat stops in with the headline sights, and a guide can usually time the visit around the chapel's awkward hours.
Browse Bologna walking toursMake a half-day of it
Catherine's chapel takes half an hour at most, so build it into a wider loop. Climb the taller of the two towers for the rooftop view (book the timed ticket ahead, it sells out), see the carved anatomical theatre at the old university palace, then nose around the food stalls of the old market lanes when hunger hits. When you're ready to eat properly, our guide to where to eat in Bologna points you at the real tagliatelle al ragù.
Staying nearby keeps all of this on foot. See where to stay in Bologna for the best central bases, and the getting around guide if you're arriving by train or plane.