Guercino’s Dome, painted by one of the greatest Emilian artists of all time, is located inside Piacenza Cathedral.
Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, known as il Guercino, was born in Cento in 1591 and lived most of his life in Bologna. The Emilian artist is a figure with few folkloric traits-if it were not for that squint that delivered him the nickname by which we know him-but not unloved by the general public.
In Piacenza Guercino produced one of his masterpieces, frescoing the dome of the cathedral between 1626 and 1627. It is a monumental, far-reaching work.
Here Pier Francesco Mazzucchelli known as Morazzone began painting the Prophets in 1625, but died after completing only the first two segments. In 1626 Guercino succeeded him. He completed the other six compartments of the dome (the prophets Haggai, Hosea, Zechariah, Ezekiel, Micah, Jeremiah), the lunettes in which episodes from Jesus’ childhood alternate with eight fascinating Sibyls, and the frieze of the tamburo.
Since from below the frescoes stand out so far away that it becomes almost impossible to appreciate them properly, in order to enhance and make the prophets and sibyls more approachable, an elevated ascent inside the dome was made on the occasion of the Guercino in Piacenza event, which remains usable to this day.
Practical information:
Maximum height of the path (dome): 27 meters
Number of steps going up: 136.
Access for the ascent to the dome is located at 7 Prevostura Street, at the back of the Cathedral.
