Rocca Manfrediana and Torre dell'Orologio

Brisighella is built at the foot of three spurs of gypsum rock, the three hills. On one stands the Rocca, on another the Torre dell'Orologio, on the third the sanctuary of Monticino. The Rocca was built in 1310 by the Manfredi, lords of Faenza, who held it until 1500, when it passed for three years to Cesare Borgia.

From 1503 to 1509 Brisighella belonged to the Venetians, who built the great keep and two sides of the walls; then it passed to the Papal States. The fortress preserves everything a rocca should have: the holes for the drawbridge chains, the machicolations, the patrol walkways on the walls, the arrow slits.

Inside there is a museum dedicated to the relationship between man and gypsum, the stone that shaped the valley's history. From the Rocca a path leads to the Torre dell'Orologio, rebuilt in 1850 on the site of a thirteenth-century tower: from up there you see the rooftops of the village, the Vena del Gesso and the plain stretching to the sea.

To go up, leave your car in the village and take the Strada della Rocca on foot. The museum's opening hours change with the seasons: ask the council's culture office or the Pro Loco before you go.