Forlimpopoli Fortress, Forlimpopoli, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
Image by Billy Wilson Photography
"The fortress of Forlimpopoli or Rocca Albornoziana, in memory of its builder, is a fortress that overlooks today’s Piazza Garibaldi in the city of Forlimpopoli.
The fortress was built in the years between 1360 and 1365 at the behest of Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, the cardinal to whom the Pope entrusted the reconquest of the Romagna lands.
Even before the arrival of Albornoz in Forlimpopoli there was a fortification to guard the city walls. In 1356 the Ordelaffi provided to restore and strengthen the fortifications of the city, but in 1360 Cardinal Egidio Albornoz, at the head of the papal troops, after a long siege, razed almost the entire city to the ground allowing the troops to sack the houses and kill residents.
The fortress was rebuilt on the foundations of the previous one and incorporating pre-existing buildings, such as the old church which served as a cathedral. Within a few years the structure was already practically completed, so much so that Anglico de Grimoard, in his Descriptio provinciæ Romandiolæ of 1371, named it Salvaterra fortress.
After the Albornoz period, the city passes under the dominion of the Ordelaffi and one of these, Sinibaldo Ordelaffi, had the structure strengthened. After construction, Sinibaldo ceded the fortress to his son Pino Ordelaffi who, dying, left it as an inheritance in 1402 to his brother Francesco. On 19 January 1500 the fortress surrendered Cesare Borgia who held it until December 1503, the year in which the Church returned the Forlimpopolese fiefdom to Antonio Maria Ordelaffi. The following year, when the last Ordelfaffi died, the city returned to the Pontiff who, in 1528, gave it as a fief to Count Lodovico Rangone. In1535 Antonello Zampeschi is awarded the title of lord of Forlimpopoli and takes possession of the fortress. A period of relative tranquility begins for the town of Romagna which sees local lords promoting artistic and cultural initiatives as well as military ones. At the end of the 16th century, the fortress of Forlimpopoli definitively lost its defensive function to become a stately home.
In 1815 the arches that give access to the inside of the building were opened along the west side of the fortress, the one that overlooks today’s Piazza Garibaldi. Inside what used to be the hall of honor of the fortress, the municipal theater was built in 183, which will be restored in its current form in 1878 and inaugurated four years later.
In 1944, the retreating Germans undermined and destroyed the Palace of the Congregation of Charity, built in the 19th century close to the south-west tower of the fortress. Severely damaged by the explosion, the part of the fortification involved was rebuilt, while the palace was not.
The fortress has a quadrangular shape and is equipped with 4 circular bastions placed at each of the corners. The southern curtain is reinforced by the keep that guards the entrance below. For this purpose, to strengthen the positions at the entrance, a ravelin was erected to strengthen access to the fortress. Of this ravelin, which was destroyed over time, no trace remains. The two towers that face east currently have a circular shape, but archaeological excavations have highlighted the original shapes: they had a polygonal shape and only towards the middle of the fifteenth century were they transformed into a circular plan which they still preserve today.
Forlimpopoli (Italian pronunciation: [forlimˈpɔːpoli]; Romagnol: Frampùl) is a town and comune in the province of Forlì-Cesena, north-eastern Italy. It is located on the Via Emilia between Cesena and Forlì.
The name of Forlimpopoli derives from the Roman Forum Popilii, most likely connected to the consul Publius Popilius Laenas, who founded it in 132 BC. The area has been inhabited since Palaeolithic times, as proved by recent archaeological discoveries. Later it was settled by the Umbri and the Gauls from the Pianura Padana. In the 1st century BC Forum Popili become a municipium, and flourished due to its location near the important port of Classis (for which it provided amphorae for wine transport), as well as its own agricultural production.
It started to decay in the 3rd century AD, and, as in the High Middle Ages the area became marshy, its agricultural output fell drastically. In this period it was part of the Byzantine Exarchate of Ravenna and had its first Catholic bishop in the 5th century; over his sepulchre, outside the town, a Benedictine monastery was founded. In the 7th century Forlimpopoli was ravaged by the Lombard king Grimoald; in the following century it fell under Papal rule. Later the city started to grow again with the foundation of another burgh, the Civitas Nova, and with the communal autonomy.
In the 13th century it became a fief of the Ordelaffi family from Forlì. Their expansion was momentarily halted by the Papal reconquest by Cardinal Gil de Albornoz who, in 1361, ordered the destruction of Forlimpopoli due to its loyalty to the Ordelaffi. A chronicle from ten years later states that the town no longer existed, the bishopric having been moved to Bertinoro, and the cathedral having been replaced by a fortress, the current Rocca. A few years later Sinibaldo Ordelaffi, now in peaceful terms with the Popes, had the town rebuilt with the construction of a line of walls. In the 15th and 16th centuries it was a possession of several families, including the Riario and Cesare Borgia. In 1535 it was returned to the Papal States, who assigned it in turn as a fief to the Zampeschi family, followed by the Savelli and the Cardinal Capponi. Direct Papal authority was restored after the Napoleonic Wars.
An imposing and very well-preserved castle from the 16th century lies in the centre of the town. It houses the local government, the archeological museum, a theatre and the music school.
Outside the town is the Sanctuary of Santa Maria delle Grazie di Fornò, one of the most notable circular plan churches in Italy (late 15th century). It features two works by Agostino di Duccio. The basilica of San Rufillo was originally built in the 6th century but it is now a more recent reconstruction; it is home to two canvases by Luca Longhi and Francesco Menzocchi, and the tomb of Brunoro II Zempeschi, lord of Forlimpopoli.
The church of the Servi (mid-15th century) has a painting by Marco Palmezzano.
The "Scuola di Musica Popolare di Forlimpopoli" was founded by the commune of Forlimpopoli and is now carried by an association of teachers and students. The main focus of teaching is the traditional folk music of the region. The music school has a supra-regional importance. In cooperation with the academy Burg Fürsteneck in Germany and the Eric Sahlström Institutet in Sweden it developed the "European Nyckelharpa Training"." – info from Wikipedia.
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