Located in the south-eastern Bologna Apennines, the territory of San Benedetto stretches between the valleys of the Setta, Lambro and Savena.
The area is full of woods and springs, from whose slopes you can enjoy beautiful natural environments. Easily accessible thanks to a good path, it is an ideal destination for pleasant excursions to discover ancient sanctuaries, characteristic villages and charming, well-preserved architecture.
The area is full of forests and springs and panoramic places.
It offers many opportunities for resting and excursions like the lake of Castel dell’Alpi, Monte Bastione with the Roman road, the medieval tower of Galappio, Villa Ranuzzi in Pian del Voglio, the Sanctuary of Serra at Ripoli, and many watermills and good panoramic paths.
Monte Bastione is the town where Cesare Agostini and Franco Santi, after numerous excavations, brought to light the first part of what is hypothesized to be the ancient Roman paved road that connected Bologna to Arezzo, today called Flaminia Militare. Easily observable amongst the greenry, the pavement, not having undergone maintenance or replacements, is presented in its original form preserving all its evocative charm.
A tour of the ancient villages. In Zaccanesca, of medieval origin, the architectural characteristics left by the Comacini Masters can still be seen, fully intact.
Qualto is of ancient origin and has a medieval-esque urban setting with stone walls, sandstone slab roofs and lintels.
Ripoli houses a parish church of the fourteenth century, in which there are some paintings by the Bolognese painter Fabio Fabbri. Nearby, in Serra, stands the sanctuary of Madonna del Rosario, built in 1616.
The town Madonna dei Fornelli owes its name to the Sanctuary dedicated to the Madonna della Neve erected in 1638 by the population to celebrate the end of the plague. The image of Mary with the Child Jesus, painted on copper, is visible in the small temple enlarged between the end of the 1800s and the early 1900s.
Also unmissable is the Castel dell'Alpi Lake, the only lake in the province of Bologna to have formed naturally.
Pian del Voglio is also worth a visit, an interesting historical centre that preserves many traces of its ancient origin, with its characteristic shops under the arcades of the old town.
Inside the parish church, renovated after the war, there are some remarkable canvases. Near the town there is the Tower, a feudal palace of the fifteenth century still well preserved, with an interesting coffered ceiling inside with carved rosettes and a fireplace dating to 1520. The oratory of the Beata Vergine del Carmine and the Ca' dei Morelli, a mountain manor house from the late 1600s, are also worth mentioning.
