Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna

The Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna, at Via delle Belle Arti 56 in the university quarter of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, is the city's principal art gallery and one of the most important collections of Emilian painting in Italy. Housed in a former Jesuit novitiate, it traces a path from Byzantine-influenced panels and Giotto, through the fourteenth-century Bolognese school, to the Renaissance and the Baroque. The highlights include Raphael's Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia, a landmark of the High Renaissance, and works by Guido Reni, Annibale, Agostino and Ludovico Carracci, Guercino, Parmigianino and Perugino. The Carracci, who founded the Accademia degli Incamminati in Bologna in the 1580s, set the direction for Baroque painting, and the museum shows the roots of that movement in the city that produced it. A visit takes about 1.5 to 2 hours, with the rooms arranged chronologically, so visitors can follow the story from the earliest altarpieces to the seventeenth century. The galleries are airy and uncrowded, and the large altarpieces are best viewed from the centre of each room. Photography for personal use is generally allowed without flash, but check signs. Opening hours are Tuesday to Sunday and public holidays from 9AM to 7PM, with last entry 30 minutes before closing, and the museum is closed on Monday. Admission costs EUR 12, with free entry under 18 and on the first Sunday of each month, when the museum is busier. The best time to visit is a weekday morning. The gallery lies about 20 minutes' walk north-east of Piazza Maggiore along Via Zamboni, and combines with the Museo di Palazzo Poggi in the same quarter.