Votive shrine dedicated to Saint Anthony, near the historic Fontana Copella along Via Roma.
Fernando di Martino, the future Saint Anthony, was born in Lisbon in 1196, at the time of the Crusades. From 1210 to 1220 he lived in a convent near Lisbon and was ordained a friar with the name Anthony. He travelled the world, but above all Italy, preaching the word of God and performing many miracles that brought him close to the people. The city most closely linked to him is Padua, where he worked for many years and where he received the vision of the Christ Child. Gravely ill with dropsy, he decided to return to die in his beloved Bologna, to whose name he is now inseparably linked, at just 36. He is popularly remembered as the protector against throat ailments. A small chapel dedicated to the saint stands 50 metres above the “Copella” fountain along Via Roma, under a small white arch next to private houses.
