Forlì

Province of Forlì-Cesena, Emilia Romagna, Italy

Situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, is an important agricultural center in Romagna, with also a lively clothing and footwear industries.

The local restaurants and trattorie offer the great cuisine of the region, based on home-made pasta, ravioli, tagliatelle and cappelletti, and the traditional piadina, kind of low pancake baked on high-temperature iron.

Info

Altitude: 34 mt a.s.l -- Population: ca. 110,000 inhabitants -- Zip/postal code: 47100 -- Phone Area Code: 0543 -- Patron Saint: the Madonna del Fuoco celebrated on 4 February

What to see

The cathedral of San Mercuriale, in the central large square (piazza Saffi) a very ancient church rebuilt in 1173, with a fine belltower and inside the sepulchre of Barbara Manfredi, a 15th-century work of Francesco of Simone Ferrucci, and two beautiful paintings of Palmezzano.
The Museo Etnografico Romagnolo, with a collection of items from the agricultural tradition, such as carts and waggons, looms, measuring instruments, and a real-size reconstruction of the typical peasant's house
The Pinacoteca Comunale, which preserves among other works paintings of Beato Angelico, Marco Palmezzano, the Guercino, Giorgio Morandi, as well as Flemish tapestries and the Amanni sarcophagus by Antonio and Berardino Rossellino
The Rocca di Ravaldino, a 13th century fortress a little south of the town, with a square plan and imposing corner towers, enlarged in 1471 on a project by Giorgio Marchesi Fiorentino (1471), which was a refuge of countess Caterina Sforza sieged in 1500 by Cesare Borgia (called Duca Valentino) a natural son of Pope Alexander VI who inspired Machiavelli for his portrait of the ideal statesman.

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History

An ancient town, was founded by the Romans probably on a previous Etruscan center in 188 BC as Forum Livii, from the name of its founder consul Marcus Livius Salinator. The key moments in the history of the town are well represented in its coat of arms: the red shield in the eagle's claw to the left was given by the Romans who founded it, the white cross in the claw to the right commemorates the First Crusade, the imperial eagle was granted by Frederick II, whom the town supported in the conflict with the Papal power in the year 1241 and the word "libertas" inside the small white shield reminds of the periods when Forlì was a free republic, in 889 AD nd in 1405 AD. In later centuries the town was under the Ordelaffi, then it was included into the Church State.

Provinces of Emilia-Romagna: Bologna, Ferrara, Forlì-Cesena, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Ravenna, Reggio Emilia, Rimini
Other Regions: Abruzzo, Apulia, Aosta Valley, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Latium, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Molise, Piedmont, Sardinia, Sicily, Tuscany, Trentino - Alto Adige, Umbria, Veneto