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Santa Lucia is a former ancient Roman Catholic church in central Bologna, located on Via Castiglione 36. The incomplete, nearly semi-ruinous brick facade screens a stunning Baroque interior architecture, now used as a large lecture hall by the University of Bologna.
History
The original church was built here since 432, assigned its titular saint by San Petronio. Ruined by the Hungarian invasion of 903, in 1208 the Order of Canons Lateran rebuilt another church, and officiated here til 1418. In the 1500s, the church and the adjacent convent became property of the Jesuits, who rebuilt the church. Starting in 1623, the interiors were refurbished by Girolamo Rainaldi in a style recalling the mother church of the Jesuit order, the Gesù in Rome.
In 1775, with the suppression of the Jesuits, the church briefly passed to the Barnabite order, only to be cloistered by Napoleonic forces. The interior has a chapel dedicated St Louis Gonzaga with an altar (1763) designed by Alfonso Torreggiani.