Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro (Saint Peter's Cathedral), Bologna (must see)

Located at the southern end of Independence Street, just a short walk from Main Square, Saint Peter's Cathedral is Bologna’s cathedral and the seat of the city’s archbishop. Although it is often overshadowed by the larger Basilica of Saint Petronius, the cathedral has played a central role in the city's religious life for centuries. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII elevated the Bishop of Bologna to the rank of archbishop, making the cathedral a metropolitan church and emphasizing Bologna's importance within the Catholic Church.

The early foundations of the cathedral date back to the dawn of the Middle Ages, though the structure was repeatedly leveled by fires and rebuilt over the centuries. The most extensive modern reconstruction began in the late 16th century under Domenico Tibaldi, the prominent Mannerist architect who trained under his famous brother Pellegrino Tibaldi. During this reconstruction phase and the Baroque expansions that followed, almost all of the church's original Romanesque and Gothic architectural lines disappeared beneath a grand, monumental Baroque redesign intended to broadcast the power of the archbishopric.

Inside, visitors will find a spacious Baroque interior with monumental columns, ornate stucco decoration, and works by several leading Bolognese artists. Among its treasures are a rare 12th-century Romanesque cedarwood crucifix, the expressive Lament over the Dead Christ, a group of terracotta sculptures created by Alfonso Lombardi in the 16th century, and a graceful Annunciation by Ludovico Carracci, alongside paintings by other local masters. The cathedral also preserves its crypt, where visitors can explore archaeological remains from earlier phases of the church.

After exploring the interior, take a short walk along Altabella Street for one of the best views of the cathedral's soaring bell tower. It houses "The Grandmother'', a bell weighing around 3.3 tonnes. While it is the heaviest bell in the city to be operated by hand, it is still rung using the traditional bolognese system—a complex, highly dangerous full-circle team ringing technique developed during the Renaissance that remains one of Bologna's most captivating living cultural traditions.