In depth
What it is
"Statuette. Presepi storici della tradizione bolognese" is an exhibition held every year in Bologna by Fondazione Carisbo, in the historic Casa Saraceni on via Farini 15. It is not a nativity scene set up for the occasion, but the display of a collection of antique Bolognese nativity figurines, permanently preserved by the Foundation and shown to the public during the Christmas period. The event has now become a tradition for those in Bologna who wish to find, alongside the city's most spectacular nativity scenes, a nativity display with a historical and popular character, linked to local artisan tradition.
What makes it special
What makes this exhibition particularly special is the nature of the figurines on display: not modern pieces, but polychrome terracotta figures created by Bolognese sculptors between the second half of the eighteenth century and the early nineteenth century. Some come from important historic city collections, those of the Baiesi and Zacchia Rondinini families, and some pieces had already participated in a famous Bolognese exhibition in 1935 curated by Guido Zucchini and Roberto Longhi. The setting itself is unusual for a nativity scene: not a church or a grotto, but the rooms of a Renaissance palace in the centre of Bologna, the historic headquarters of the Cassa di Risparmio.
Origins and history
The collection now displayed at Christmas was acquired by Fondazione Carisbo in 2007 on the antiques market, to prevent the figurines, which had belonged to private Bolognese collections, from being dispersed and sold individually. The figures are the work of some of the greatest sculptors active in Bologna between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, including Giuseppe Maria Mazza, Angelo Piò and his son Domenico, Filippo Scandellari and Giacomo De Maria, the latter a pupil of Antonio Canova. Since then the Foundation has presented them to the public every year during the Christmas period, in the rooms of Casa Saraceni, as part of its artistic heritage made available to the city.
What to see
The exhibition brings together terracotta figurines with vivid polychrome decoration, depicting the popular Bolognese nativity scene with its typical characters: shepherds, farmers, housewives, craftsmen at work, angels and pipers, together with farmyard and pack animals. There is also a characteristic figure from local tradition, the so-called "dormiglione", the sleeping shepherd who does not notice the birth. Overall the exhibition offers a small glimpse of the rural and popular world of times past, with trades and scenes of everyday life now vanished, interpreted with great expressive vitality by Bolognese sculptors.
When and how to visit
The exhibition is held every year at Casa Saraceni, on via Farini 15 in Bologna, during the Christmas period: in the latest edition it was open from 11 December 2025 to 11 January 2026. The opening hours for the latest edition were Tuesday to Friday from 3 pm to 6 pm, Saturday, Sunday, public holidays and days before public holidays from 10 am to 6 pm, closed on Mondays; special openings, always from 10 am to 6 pm, on 24, 25, 26 and 31 December and 1 and 6 January. Admission has always been free. For dates and opening hours of the current edition it is advisable to check the Fondazione Carisbo website before visiting.
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