FROM THE ENLIGHTENMENT TO ROMANTICISM THROUGH EPIC REVOLUTIONS: ITINERARIES ACROSS THE MODERN AGE

Verdi Country

One of the most typical itineraries around Parma includes the places where Giuseppe Verdi was born and lived. The legendary composer (1813-1901) was born in Busseto (38 km or some 24 miles from Parma) and never left his land, not even when he became rich and famous. As he often put it, “I will always be a peasant from Roncole”. The starting point of this itinerary is precisely the maestro’s birthplace in Roncole Verdi, a suburb of Busseto, where Verdi spent his very fi rst years. A few rooms on the fi rst fl oor of a simple house and tavern have been refurnished with vintage furniture dating from the composer’s time. In larger Busseto virtually everything, except perhaps the collegiate church of San Bartolomeo and Villa Pallavicino, is dedicated to the maestro: a statue, Piazza Verdi and small Teatro Verdi, recently restored. Verdi moved here from Roncole at the age of 10, to go to a music school. He was the guest of the local grocer, Antonio Barezzi, and eventually married his daughter Margherita. Central Casa Barezzi still hold several relics of Verdi’s days, as does the Palazzo Orlandi, at that time the most aristocratic palace in town, bought by the maestro in 1845. Verdi lived here with his lover, the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, raising quite a scandal among the locals. The last stop of the itinerary is Villa Verdi in Sant’Agata, home to the composer from 1851 until he died in 1901.

The apex of Renaissance splendour: the Malatesta signory

Were there a hit chart of the best monuments of the Italian Renaissance, the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini would top it. This absolute must-see is perhaps the grandest symbol of the rule of the Malatesta dynasty over the local area. This building (in central Via IV Novembre, just off Piazza Cavour) was meant to be the mausoleum of powerful Sigismondo Malatesta, who had the older church of San Francesco demolished to make room for it. Sigismondo wanted the Temple to be the absolute wonder of his time, a status symbol that should have left his rivals agape with admiration and jealousy. To achieve this aim, in 1447 he called the greatest artists of the Renaissance: architect Leon Battista Alberti, who built the splendid marble facade; painter Piero della Francesca, who frescoed the walls; and sculptor Agostino di Duccio, the author of the reliefs inside. After Sigismondo fell into disrepute and was excommunicated in 1461, work stopped, never to be resumed again. Although incomplete, the Tempio Malatestiano is a magnifi cent building and holds several treasures of Renaissance art, including a wooden crucifi x painted by Giotto and the tombs of Sigismondo and his young lover and wife-to-be Isotta degli Atti.

Reggio Emilia between the 18th and 19th centuries

The starting point of this itinerary is Piazza Prampolini, the place where the Italian flag was invented and the scene of the popular revolt which led to the foundation of the short-lived Napoleonic Cispadane Republic. Inside the town hall or Palazzo Comunale, during the historic session of the 7th January, 1797, the delegates of the Republic adopted the red, white and green tricolour as their official flag. All the details of its history can be found in the Sala and Museo del Tricolore. Another interesting legacy of the late 18th century is the collection left by the Enlightenment naturalist Lazzaro Spallanzani, in the Musei Civici: the exhibits are still displayed following Spallanzani’s classification system. Moving on to the next century, main sights include the 19th-century section of the Galleria Fontanesi, the Teatro Ariosto or the Teatro Valli (1857), an imposing Neoclassical building that catalyzes the local cultural life. Another collection dating from the same period is the Galleria Parmeggiani, an eccentric collection displaying originals side by side with clever fakes. From here, it is only a short walk to the old alleyways winding around the recently restored synagogue in Via dell’Aquila, which was expanded in the egalitarian and libertarian 19th century. The itinerary ends with the former ducal palace (Palazzo Ducale) in Corso Garibaldi, now home to the provincial administration (Provincia).

Neoclassical Faenza

You might think about this tour of neoclassical Faenza as a practical art history lesson. If you have no idea of what neoclassical architecture looks like, go straight to the Palazzo Milzetti, widely considered to be one of the finest Italian examples of neoclassicism. Built between 1792 and 1805 and currently stateowned, the palace has a stern facade with protruding corner decorations and trompe-l’oeil painting which creates a three-dimensional effect. Some of the rooms inside are finely decorated with tempera paintings and stuccowork depicting mythological scenes. Another masterpiece of neoclassical art is the Teatro Masini, which (as well as several other local buildings of the same period) features interiors designed by the talented Felice Giani (1758-1823). It is horseshoe-shaped and has four tiers of boxes separated by columns; the top tier is decorated with twenty statues of the Muses and the gods of Olympus. Neoclassical architecture, rich in columns, stuccos and mythological figures, is also a constant of the town hall and the palaces in Corso Mazzini: Palazzo Gessi, Palazzo Conti, Casa Morri and Casa Pistocchi, Palazzo Zucchini, and Casa Bubani. Neoclassical churches include San Domenico (in the piazza bearing the same name), San Vitale, San Sigismondo and San Gerolamo. The itinerary ends with two architectural treats, Villa Rotonda and Villa delle Sirene.

Inter-war architecture

Voluntarily forgotten until a few years ago for its embarrassing historical implications and recently revived, Mussolini Deco is a tangible legacy of the fascist love for grand boulevards, imposing palaces, tall open porticoes and spacious squares. Forlì, once called “Mussolin’s town”, is full of examples of fascist architecture, now favourite tourist sights. Mussolini, who was actually born in small Predappio, some 10 km or 6 miles west from Forlì, chose Forlì as his personal showcase: he ordered a massive re-planning of the town and crammed it with monumental buildings that celebrated Italy’s victory in WWI. The most extensive addition includes the train station (meant to be a gate to the town and a frontier), the broad and straight Viale della Libertà facing it and the several buildings on the Viale, such as the “ex G.I.L.” complex. Viale della Libertà leads to the vast Piazzale della Vittoria, dominated by the monument to WWI victims designed by the Roman architect Cesare Bazzani. The monument features a 22 metre (72 feet) tall column topped by a bronze allegory of the three victories carried off by the Italian navy, the air forces and the army. An imposing example of the functionalist current of Mussolini’s architecture is the huge Collegio Aeronautico, formerly an aeronautical academy and now a school complex that takes up a long tract of Viale della Libertà and Piazzale della Vittoria. Centrally located Piazza Saffi and Piazza XX Settembre also underwent massive changes under fascism: in the latter, a whole block of houses was razed to the ground to make room for the new tribunal.

On Fellini’s trail

Several places and people of Rimini feature prominently in Fellini’s fi lms: the Grand Hotel, the cinema Fulgor, la Gradisca, il Pataca, the main square, the sea (with the fabulous ocean liner Rex fading in through the haze)... The Maestro always had a very special relationship with his hometown and asked to be buried here. Visitors to the cemetery of Rimini are welcomed by the sculpture dedicated by Arnaldo Pomodoro to Fellini and his wife and cult actress, Giulietta Masina: a ship’s bow raised towards the sky, a homage to the legendary Rex of Amarcord. Rimini also dedicated to the Maestro a research foundation, housed in Fellini’s home (Via Oberdan 1) together with a library, the collection of the fi lmmaker’s drawings, and a museum hosting exhibitions and containing props and sketches. The town’s fi lm archives (Via Gambalunga 27) holds posters, fi lms and other visual material. Next stops on the Fellini tour are Piazza Cavour and nearby Piazza Tre Martiri, the models for the main square in Amarcord. The actual square in the fi lm is not real: Fellini always had “his” RImini reconstructed in the studios. The “original” cinema Fulgor, for instance, can still be seen in Corso d’Augusto, but the cinema in Roma and Amarcord was a stage reproduction. In front of the sea, along the central marina and in front of the large piazza dedicated to the Maestro, there is the splendid Grand Hotel (with the Fellini suite), which the fi lm director saw as the embodiment of “the fable of wealth, luxury, Oriental magnifi cence... on summer nights, it turned into Istanbul, Baghdad, Hollywood...”