The statue guarding the city hall is Gregory XIII; the pope of Bolognaise origins who led the reform of the Church and calendar change, but a plaque identifies him as Saint Petronius, patron saint of Bologna.
It is not the result of an error by the local sculptor Alessandro Menganti, but a trick that even the Napoleonic troupes fell for.
Upon arriving to the city with the intention of ransacking the statues of popes and use the material to create new statues dedicated to the French emperor, the sly people of Bologna added a miter, a pastoral staff, and a headstone, and the pope was transformed into San Petronio.
The gadgets of the patron saint were eventually removed, but the plaque still remains, fooling its viewers…
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