Conferences and Events Program
31 January 2026
19:30-21:30
Museo d'arte Lercaro_via Riva di Reno, 57_Bologna
Event
Visit and aperitif - Perspectives on art and architecture
The Museo d’arte and Centro studi per l’architettura sacra dedicated to Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro offer a tour of 20th-century sacred art and architecture, presenting the initiatives planned for the 50th anniversary of the death of the Bolognese bishop.
The Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Museo d’arte is a place where ancient, modern, and contemporary art interact in harmony. Born from the Cardinal's personal collection, which has been enriched over time thanks to donations from artists and collectors, this museum tells a profound story of love for art. The museum is a space for dialogue with and between artists, a research center for contemporary art that hosts projects in collaboration with galleries and cultural institutions. A museum rich in history.
The Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Centro studi per l’architettura sacra is a place for research, training, and discussion on issues related to historical, modern, and contemporary sacred spaces. Its goal is to offer study groups, courses, meetings, workshops, exhibitions, and guided tours that allow visitors to learn about and update the cultural and liturgical thinking of Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro.
Speakers:
The Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Museo d’arte is a place where ancient, modern, and contemporary art interact in harmony. Born from the Cardinal's personal collection, which has been enriched over time thanks to donations from artists and collectors, this museum tells a profound story of love for art. The museum is a space for dialogue with and between artists, a research center for contemporary art that hosts projects in collaboration with galleries and cultural institutions. A museum rich in history.
The Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Centro studi per l’architettura sacra is a place for research, training, and discussion on issues related to historical, modern, and contemporary sacred spaces. Its goal is to offer study groups, courses, meetings, workshops, exhibitions, and guided tours that allow visitors to learn about and update the cultural and liturgical thinking of Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro.
Speakers:
- Giovanni Gardini, Director of Museo d’arte Lercaro
- Claudia Manenti, Director of Centro studi per l’architettura sacra
Speakers
Giovanni Gardini
Museo Lercaro Director
Giovanni Gardini obtained a Baccalaureate in Theology and a Licence in Theology of Evangelisation at the Academic Theological Study of Bologna. At the same time, he is associated professor at the Theological Faculty of San Tommaso d’Aquino in Rome. After getting his diploma at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Ravenna, he obtained both a Baccalaureate and a Licence in Christian archaeology at the Pontificio Istituto of Christian Architecture, in Rome. Giovanni’s master degree was about History, protection and conservation of pieces of art and he graduated at the Cultural Heritage Faculty at the Bologna University, in Ravenna. He has always been engaged in the research and dissemination of the artistic heritage, with a special focus on the Christian iconographic tradition. Moreover, he played the role of curator in different exhibitions and conferences. He has also written several articles and essays, but in this right moment, Giovanni teaches at the Higher Institutes of Religious Sciences in Rimini and Florence. He holds the positions of director of the Diocesan Museum and the Card. Cicognani of the Diocese of Faenza-Modigliana and Director of the Cardinal Giacomo Lercaro Museum of Art in Bologna. He is, in addition, a publicist journalist. For the five-year period 2020-2025, he holds the position of President AMEI, Association of Italian Ecclesiastical Museums.
Claudia Manenti
Director of Fondazione CENTRO STUDI PER L'ARCHITETTURA SACRA "Cardinale Giacomo Lercaro”
Claudia Manenti is an architect who graduated first in Florence and then at the Bologna University at the Architecture and Spatial Planning Department. It is here that Claudia Manenti achieved her PhD, which was about Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city. During her career, she was professor at the Architecture Faculty of Ferrara and Cesena.
Since 2008 she has been director of Dies Domini Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra, and la città della Fondazione Lercaro of Bologna. According to that, she organizes many conferences and meetings about the liturgical architecture. She is also member of the holy art Commission of both Bologna and Ravenna Dioceses.
Since 2008 she has been professor of Introduction to the liturgical architecture at the Bologna Pontifical Regional Seminary.
She has published several articles and essays, such as Architecture of temporary churches, BUP, Bologna, 2016; Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city, edited by FrancoaAngeli, Milan 2012; Cardinal Lercaro and the contemporary city (edited by) Editrice Compositori, Bologna, 2010; and Church and city fifty years after the Second Vatican Council (edited by) BUP, Bologna 2016.
In the meanwhile, she has been editing the series of publications of Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra della Fondazione Card. Giacomo Lercaro of the Bononia University Press – Bologna. Moreover, during her career she has also worked on several architectural projects and liturgical arrangements.
Since 2008 she has been director of Dies Domini Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra, and la città della Fondazione Lercaro of Bologna. According to that, she organizes many conferences and meetings about the liturgical architecture. She is also member of the holy art Commission of both Bologna and Ravenna Dioceses.
Since 2008 she has been professor of Introduction to the liturgical architecture at the Bologna Pontifical Regional Seminary.
She has published several articles and essays, such as Architecture of temporary churches, BUP, Bologna, 2016; Places of identity and spaces of the holy in the contemporary European city, edited by FrancoaAngeli, Milan 2012; Cardinal Lercaro and the contemporary city (edited by) Editrice Compositori, Bologna, 2010; and Church and city fifty years after the Second Vatican Council (edited by) BUP, Bologna 2016.
In the meanwhile, she has been editing the series of publications of Centro Studi per l'architettura sacra della Fondazione Card. Giacomo Lercaro of the Bononia University Press – Bologna. Moreover, during her career she has also worked on several architectural projects and liturgical arrangements.
