Chiesa di Santa Lucia, Baroque church in central Bologna, Italy

The Chiesa di Santa Lucia is a Baroque church in central Bologna featuring a plain brick facade and a spacious nave lined with six lateral chapels. The interior layout opens up toward the altar, allowing light to flow through the broad central space.

A church existed here by 432, dedicated to Saint Petronius; it was destroyed in the Hungarian invasion of 903. The Lateran Canons rebuilt it in 1208 and served it until 1418. In the 16th century the Jesuits took over and had Girolamo Rainaldi refurbish the interior from 1623 after the Gesù in Rome. After the Jesuit suppression in 1775, Napoleonic forces closed it; from 1873 the Comune used it as a gym, and after restoration it became the university's aula magna on 7 June 1988.

The Jesuit period left the name Borgo dei Gesuiti on the surrounding streets, and the order's colleges stood in the triangle of Via Castiglione, Cartoleria and de' Chiari. Inside, the chapel of Saint Louis Gonzaga keeps its 1763 altar by Alfonso Torreggiani. Since 1988 the former church has served as the University of Bologna's aula magna.

The building stands at Via Castiglione 36, in the block bounded by Via Cartoleria and Via de' Chiari, a short walk from Piazza Maggiore. It is not a visitable church: since 7 June 1988 it has served as the University of Bologna's aula magna, so the hall opens for ceremonies, conferences and academic events rather than for tourists.

In the crypt lay the Mexican Jesuit Francisco Javier Clavijero, who died in Bologna in 1787; his remains stayed there until 1970, when they were moved to the Panteón Civil de Dolores in Mexico City. The chapel of Saint Louis Gonzaga still holds Alfonso Torreggiani's altar of 1763.