Municipality located in a plain area, at West of Bologna. The town's name derives from the Family of Calderini, that. in the XIII century, were the local feudal Lords. Its history was conditioned by the presence of the river Rhine and the river Lavino, between the banks of which stands the town centre. Famous also for the summit on the shores of the Lavino between Octavian, Mark Antony and Lepidus in 43 B.C., in which the second triumvirate was established. In the past the territory of Calderara was mostly covered by swamps and marshes, which were reclaimed, piece by piece, by the Benedictine monks from the Abbey of Montecassino and their farmers that lived here since the VIII century A.D.. At the end of the IX century, the community of St. Helena, workers of the Abbey of Monte Cassino, but employed by the Abbey of Nonantola, helped the Benedictines, to reclaim more lands, thanks also to the donations of the Lombard populations. The presence of the first settlements around the monasteries were established only in the XII century, thanks to the rehabilitation of the lands, that then became cultivable. In the XVI century, the town became an important residential area of several noble families of Bologna.
Sites of Interest:
- the Church of Santa Maria, evidence of which is already attested in the XIII century and was home to the minor friars. After the desecration of 1798, a new construction was erected in its place, but this was destroyed by bombing in World War II. Rebuilt in the 50s of the XX century from designs of the architect Mazzanti, inside is preserved a large fresco of the Madonna and Child by the artist Bettini;
- the Church of San Vitale in Reno, which stands on the foundations of an older church, probably destroyed during the frequent flooding of the River. The present building dates from the XVIII century and houses a series of fine paintings;
- the Oratory of Our Lady of Grace (XVIII century), with a fresco depicting the Madonna and Child with Saints Elizabeth and Zechariah;
- the district of Longara, already inhabited in the XIII century, features two religious buildings: the current Church of St. Michael which in the XV century was annexed to the nearby older one, entitled to St. Andrew. Located in the nearby, the XIX century Villa Donnini, with its frescoes by the artists Samoggia and Guardassoni;
- the district of Sacerno, with the XI century Church, entitled to St. Helena and built by Benedictine monks. Of the original structure, flanked by a Bell Tower, however, there is little left, due to major refurbishments completed in the XVIII century.