Galliera is a scattered comune made of three centres: the seat is San Venanzio, then there are the hamlet of Galliera, which gives the comune its name, and the locality of San Vincenzo — another case of a town hall that does not stand in the place the comune is named after. Before anything else, though, one thing has to be said that has nothing to do with this plain: in 1813 Napoleon I made Josephine of Leuchtenberg duchess of Galliera; she was six years old at the time and would become queen of Norway and Sweden. The title came from here, from the countryside north of Bologna, and it was the kind of thing that in those days moved on paper from an emperor to a little girl.
The real history of Galliera, though, is that of the land and of the people who worked it. Between the end of the eighteen hundreds and the beginning of the nineteen hundreds vast landed estates were formed here by landowners such as Antonio Bonora and Giuseppe Vittorio Venturi and the latter's sons, Brenno and Enea: they reclaimed many hectares, adopted modern techniques of ploughing and manuring and encouraged the growing of rice. But the rice fields of Galliera were also, after the First World War and again after the Second, the scene of long strikes and hard social struggles: the same water that had made the countryside productive held within it the hardest work on the plain. At San Venanzio, in 1901, was born Onorato Malaguti, a communist trade-union leader, who exiled himself to Belgium during the twenty years of fascism. Of the things still standing there remain the medieval tower of Galliera, the parish church of Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio, the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine Addolorata della Coronella and the parish church of San Venanzio, where for centuries San Venanzio of Camerino and Saint Philomena have been venerated. Part of the territory is today a protected zone for the environmental restorations between Bentivoglio, San Pietro in Casale, Malalbergo and Baricella. The village still carries the cracks of the Emilia earthquakes of 2012.
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📅 Every year, on 22 January
Galliera celebrates Saints Vincent and Anastasius on 22 January. The town's other patrons are Saint Venantius, on 18 May, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on 16 July.
📅 Every year, on 18 May
Galliera celebrates Saint Venantius on 18 May. The town has two more patrons: Saints Vincent and Anastasius, on 22 January, and Our Lady of Mount Carmel, on 16 July.
📅 Every year, on 16 July
Galliera celebrates Our Lady of Mount Carmel on 16 July. The town's other patrons are Saint Venantius, on 18 May, and Saints Vincent and Anastasius, on 22 January.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Galliera, but an easy day trip away.
