Forlì

Related Topics:
Forlì_Cesena

Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, famed as the birthplace of the great painter Melozzo da Forlì and of Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, at the nearby comune of Predappio.

It is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena.

History

Ancient era

The surroundings of Forlì have been inhabited since the Paleolithic: a site, Ca' Belvedere of Monte Poggiolo, has revealed thousands of chipped flints in strata dated 800,000 years before present, which indicates a flint-knapping industry producing sharp-edged tools in a pre-Acheulean phase of the Paleolithic ^*.

About the city of Forlì, the legend would make its founder (188 BC) the consul Marcus Livius Salinator, who confronted Hasdrubal Barca and vanquished him at the banks of the Metaurus River (207 BC). The old city was destroyed in 88 BC during the civil wars of Marius and Sulla and rebuilt by the praetor Livius Clodius afterwards. Presumably Forum Livii was a middle-sized city producing agricultural products, which reached market via the Via Aemilia.

Middle Ages

After the collapse of the West, the city formed part of the realms of Odoacer and of the Ostrogoth kingdom before becoming an outlier of the Byzantine power of the Exarchate of Ravenna. In the time of the Lombards, the city was contested and was repeatedly retaken by Lombard forces, in 665, 728, 742. It was finally incorporated with the Papal States in 757, as part of the Donation of Pepin.

By the 9th century, but perhaps a century earlier, the comune had wrested control from its bishops and was established as one of the independent Italian city-states, the communes that signalled the first revival of urban Italian life. Forlì became a republic for the first time in the 889.

In the medieval struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, Forlì remained with the Ghibelline factions, partly as a means of preserving its independence, rather than out of loyalty to the temporal power of the papacy. It supported all the Holy Roman Emperors in their adventures in Italy. Their fiercest rivals were Faenza and Bologna. In the centuries, popes many times tried to resume the control of Forlì, sometimes by violence sometimes by allurements.

More essentially local competition was involved in loyalties: in 1241, during Frederick II's struggles with Pope Gregory IX the people of Forlì offered their loyal support to Frederick II during the capture of the rival city, Faenza, and, as a sign of gratitude, they were granted an augmentation of the communal coat-of-arms with the Hohenstaufen eagle, together with other privileges. With the collapse of Hohenstaufen power in 1257, Guido da Montefeltro the staunchest imperial lieutenant, was forced to take refuge in Forlì, the only remaining stronghold in Italy of the Ghibelline political power. He accepted the position of capitano del popolo and gained for Forlì some notable victories: against the Bolognesi at the Ponte di San Procolo, on June 15, 1275; against a Guelph allied force, including Florentine troops, at Civitella on November 14, 1276; and at Forlì itself against a powerful French contingent sent by Pope Martin IV, on May 15, 1282, in a battle cited by Dante Alighieri (who was hosted in the city in 1303 by Scarpetta Ordelaffi III). In 1282, Forlì's forces were led by Guido da Montefeltro. The famous astrologer Guido Bonatti (advisor of Emperor Frederick II, too) was one of his advisors. The following year the exhausted city's Senate was forced to accede anyway to papal power and asked Guido to take his leave. The commune soon submitted to a local condottiere rather than accept a representative of direct papal control, and Simone Mestaguerra had himself proclaimed Lord of Forlì. He did not succeed in leaving the new signory peacefully to an heir, however, and Forlì passed to Maghinardo Pagano, then to Uguccione della Faggiuola (1297), and to others, until in 1302 the Ordelaffi came into power.

Local factions with papal support ousted the family several times, in 1327–1329 and again in 1359–1375, and at other turns of events the bishops were expelled by the Ordelaffi: Fra Bartolomeo da Sanzetto (1351), was expelled by Francesco degli Ordelaffi and Bishop Giovanni Capparelli (1427), banished by Antonio degli Ordelaffi. Bishop Luigi Pirano (1437) took an active part in the Council of Ferrara. In that period, the famous musician Ugolino da Orvieto, too, had to escape from Forlì, and went in Ferrara.

Modern Forlì

The most renowned of the Ordelaffi was Pino III, who held the Signiory of Forlì from 1466 to 1480. Pino was a ruthless lord; nevertheless he enriched its city with new walls and buildings and was a sponsor of art. When he died just 40 years old, perhaps by poison, the situation of Forlì was weakened as contingents of Ordelaffi fought one another, until Pope Sixtus IV claimed the signory for his nephew Gerolamo Riario. Riario was married to Caterina Sforza the indomitable Lady of Forlì, whose name is associated with the city's last independent history. Forlì was seized in 1488 by Visconti and in 1499 by Cesare Borgia, after whose death it was more directly subject to the pope than it had ever been before (apart from an ephimeral return of Ordelaffi in 1503-1504).

The diseappearance of Forlì from wider history ended in June 1796, when the Jacobine French troops entered the city, while Napoleon was here on February 7, 1797. In the 19th century Forlì took part in the struggles for Italy's unification: Piero Maroncelli and Aurelio Saffi were born in Forlì.

On April 16 1988, in Forlì, Red Brigades killed Italian senator Roberto Ruffilli, an advisor of Prime Minister Ciriaco de Mita.

Famous people

The most famous painter of the comune was Melozzo da Forlì , who worked in Rome and other Italian cities during the brief years of the High Renaissance. Other famous forlivese painters were: Ansuino da Forlì, Marco Palmezzano, Francesco Menzocchi, Livio Agresti. Together, they formed the Forlì painting school. Carlo Cignani was not born in Forlì, but painted important works there.

Other famous forlivese men were: Gian Battista Morgagni, Giuseppe Merenda, Aurelio Saffi, Ercole Baldini, Giovanni Battista Cirri.

In the years between 1265 and the 1 May 1315, Peregrino Laziosi lived in Forlì, as a friar. Now, he is the patron saint of persons suffering from cancer, AIDS and other serious diseases, according to the Catholic Church.

Main sights

The Abbey of San Mercuriale
The Palazzo Comunale, built around the year 1000 over a pre-existing tower. In 1412, enlarged, it became the residence of the Ordelaffi family. The current façade was redesigned in the 19th century. It contains frescoes by Francesco Menzocchi, Felice Giani, Girolamo Reggiani and Paolo Agelli.
Palazzo del Podestà
Palazzo Albertini

External links

"Forlì and its historical background"
The Forlì Branch of the University of Bologna
Forli.tv, a student-run streaming tv
Catholic Encyclopedia: Diocese of Forlì
Almanacco di Forlì: An yearly book of the most important events and chronicles of Forlì
Vivi Forlì: Events and Fun in Forlì
Un'altra Forlì: Political events of Forlì
Chiesa di San Mercuriale: Campanile (in Italian)

Cities and towns in Italy