Piazza Malpighi and Glossators Tombs

Why is it significant?

Stand in the open sweep of Piazza Malpighi to admire one of the most picturesque architectural tableaus in Bologna, where towering medieval tombs stand dramatically before the soaring Gothic choir of the Basilica of San Francesco.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Stand in the open sweep of Piazza Malpighi to admire one of the most picturesque architectural tableaus in Bologna, where towering medieval tombs stand dramatically before the soaring Gothic choir of the Basilica of San Francesco. Named in honor of Marcello Malpighi, the seventeenth-century physician and university professor who discovered microscopic capillaries, the square is dominated by three spectacular raised marble tombs belonging to thirteenth-century university glossators. The most famous tomb honors Accursius, author of the definitive Magna Glossa commentary on Roman civil law, and his son Franciscus, resting beneath a soaring Gothic pyramidal canopy supported by slender marble columns. These elevated monuments reflect the extraordinary reverence medieval Bologna paid to legal intellect, honoring university professors with public tombs that rivaled the burial monuments of kings and popes across Europe. The warm afternoon sun gilds the ancient terracotta pinnacles. Surrounded by whispering plane trees and bustling street life, these majestic medieval monuments honor the profound intellectual legacy of Bologna s legal scholars, whose brilliant commentaries established European civil law.

Look closely at the delicate marble columns supporting Accursius's tomb: these elevated tombs were intentionally placed in public open air along busy thoroughfares so that passing citizens, foreign law students, and visiting merchants would constantly be reminded of the supremacy of justice, civic law, and intellectual inquiry. They are monuments to human knowledge rather than military conquest.

Nearby stands the monumental column of the Immaculate Conception, erected in 1638 and designed by painter Guido Reni, topped by a graceful bronze Virgin Mary crafted to protect the city against plague and warfare.

Examine the Romanesque brickwork behind the tombs: the towering apse and flying buttresses of San Francesco rise like a northern European Gothic cathedral transported under Italian skies.

Walk around the apse into Piazza San Francesco to explore the magnificent Gothic basilica.