About 3.5km southwest of the city centre, the hilltop Basilica Santuario della Madonna di San Luca occupies a powerful and appropriately celestial position overlooking the teeming red-hued city below. The church houses a black representation of the Virgin Mary, supposedly painted by St Luke and transported from the Middle East to Bologna in the 12th century. The 18th-century sanctuary is connected to the city walls by the world's longest portico, held aloft by 666 arches, beginning at Piazza di Porta Saragozza. #Artkn
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