Art and Culture

The main sight in Forlì is the Basilica of San Mercuriale in the central square, Piazza Saffi. This Romanesque church, dedicated to the town’s first bishop, was built in the 1120s on the ruins of the Early Christian church of Santo Stefano. The portal is decorated with a beautiful pink marble lunette, from the early 13th century. The Basilica contains several works of art, such as the tomb of Barbara Manfredi, the first wife of Pino III Ordelaffi, one of the rulers of the town (1467-68); a few paintings by Malco Palmezzano (b. mid-15th century, d. 1539); the Cappella Ferri (1515) and the late 16th-century Cappella Mercuriali, also called Cappella di San Mercuriale.

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Next to the church is its square belltower, one of the symbols of Forlì, in a plain Romanesque style. It is about 72 metres (about 235 feet) tall, and is both elegant and solid.

Vast Piazza Saffi is the hub around which all the town revolves and acts as the local meeting point, being the place of elegant cafés and Sunday strolls. It has some of the oldest and finest buildings in Forlì: the town hall, the Palazzo del Podestà and the Palazzo Alberini (dating back to the mid-15th and early 16th century respectively, both substantially reconstructed during fascism), the 18th-century Palazzo Ex Credito Romagnolo (formerly a bank) and the Palazzo delle Poste (the main post office, dating from 1931-32).

Close to the square is the recently rebuilt Teatro Diego Fabbri, which, together with the Teatro Piccolo and Teatro Giovanni Testori, hosts leading performing arts companies every year. The importance of Forlì as a town of art is also witnessed by the precious works kept at the Pinacoteca Comunale (civic art gallery), including two small paintings by Fra Angelico, pictures by Guercino and a statue by Antonio Canova.

Housed in the same building, the civic library (Biblioteca Comunale "Aurelio Saffi") contains the Fondo Piancastelli, a bequest of 53,000 volumes, 173,000 documents about Romagna and other 50,000 about the Risorgimento in Romagna (the 19th-century republican movement for the unification of Italy), 8,000 autographs, several prints, drawings and ceramics, an outstanding painting collection and a most valuable coin collection.

Those interested in the architecture and town planning of the fascist period will probably find Forlì the most interesting town in Italy; there are even dedicated tourist itineraries. A definitely more romantic sight is Via Gaddi, a gaslit and cobbled alleyway that seems to come directly from the 19th century.