The Musei San Domenico with Melozzo and Canova, the Rocca di Ravaldino, Piazza Saffi and the bell tower of San Mercuriale
Forlì is the city of the Ordelaffi family and of Caterina Sforza, 'the tigress of Forlì', who from her fortress held out against Cesare Borgia. It has one of the largest squares in Italy, a 75-metre Romanesque bell tower and the Musei San Domenico, where a major art exhibition from around the world arrives every year. A flat centre that you can explore entirely on foot.
When to goAll year round; from February to summer the major exhibition at the Musei San Domenico
The plan from Castrocaro Terme
Leave Castrocaro Terme for Forlì centre15 min driving, 10 km
Forlì centre3 h 00 of visits: Musei San Domenico, Rocca di Ravaldino, Piazza Aurelio Saffi, Abbazia di San Mercuriale, Basilica di San Pellegrino
Drive back to Castrocaro Terme15 min driving, 11 km
Back in Castrocaro Terme
Times are a guide: driving times are worked out without traffic, then come the visits and ten minutes at every stop to park. In summer towards the coast and at rush hour allow extra time.
What you will see
1Forlì centre
Musei San Domenico 75 min
The thirteenth-century Dominican convent, now restored, is today one of the region's most important cultural venues. There is the Pinacoteca Civica with works by Melozzo da Forlì, such as the celebrated Pestapepe (the sign from a spice shop), and Marco Palmezzano, the city's two great painters, Guercino and a room dedicated to Antonio Canova with his Hebe. The deconsecrated church, soaring high, hosts the major exhibition every year.
Tickets and opening times vary with the current exhibition: check the website and book ahead for peak weekends.
Rocca di Ravaldino 25 min
The Ordelaffi fortress strengthened by the Sforza family, with round towers and the keep. Here in 1488 Caterina Sforza held out against the conspirators who had murdered her husband, and between 1499 and 1500 she resisted the siege by Cesare Borgia until its fall. Her son, the future Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, was born in Forlì. For years it was a prison: today you can walk around the courtyard and climb up onto the ramparts.
Open only at weekends and on public holidays, in the warmer months; the ramparts in small groups with staff. Free admission.
Piazza Aurelio Saffi 15 min
One of the largest squares in Italy, the centre of Forlì for eight centuries. It bears the name of the patriot from Forlì who was triumvir of the Roman Republic of 1849 with Mazzini. Around it stand the Palazzo Comunale, the former home of the Ordelaffi family, the fifteenth-century Palazzo del Podestà in brick and, towards the station, twentieth-century buildings such as the Palazzo delle Poste.
On Mondays and Fridays there is a market.
Abbazia di San Mercuriale 20 min
The symbol of the city: a Romanesque brick church from the late twelfth century with a bell tower of around 75 metres, completed in 1180, one of the tallest in Italy. On the portal the lunette with the Dream and Adoration of the Magi, from the circle of Benedetto Antelami; inside are canvases by Marco Palmezzano and the fifteenth-century tomb of Barbara Manfredi.
Free admission every day. The bell tower can only be climbed on a few feast days.
Basilica di San Pellegrino 10 min
A stone's throw from the square, the fourteenth-century church of San Pellegrino Laziosi, the saint from Forlì invoked by cancer patients, with the tomb a destination for pilgrims from all over the world. Inside is the funerary monument to Luffo Numai, one of the masterpieces of Renaissance sculpture in Forlì.
Free admission, outside service times.
Tips
On 4 February there is the feast of the Madonna del Fuoco: the city is packed and the cathedral, which usually only opens for Sunday masses, is the heart of the celebration.
Architecture lovers can add a walk along Viale della Libertà, the rationalist quarter from the twentieth century (ATRIUM route): an extra hour.
The same trip from other towns
How long it takes from each town, the drive back included. Tap a town to see the plan from there.
Almost every old town has a limited traffic zone (ZTL) with cameras: park outside and walk in. The fine reaches your home, abroad too. ZTL and car parks town by town
This trip with a driver
Romagna Transfer picks you up at your hotel, drops you in front of every stop and brings you back: no parking, no ZTL, and the wine is yours to enjoy.
Trips written by our editors from the facts of our monument pages and the official sites. Opening days and hours change: the note under every place tells you what to check before you leave. No prices: you find them on the museums' sites.
