Monuments

The Refettorio Nuovo – Sala Oriani is a congress hall.

This monument celebrates the freedom of press and the underground press which was in action during the liberation of Italy at the end of World War II; underground press was an outstanding phenomenon during those historical events and a fundamental means to achieve freedom and liberate the country. The monument is a printing machine similar to those used during the liberation days; behind the machine stand the plates of the news magazine and the Italian and European flags, which were the inspiration for those who fought for freedom.

"In questo convento di S. Giovanni Battista G.G. Lord Byron il 22 gennaio 1821 poneva educanda sua figlia Allegra. La visitava nell’agosto P.B. Shelley trovandola bella e felice non presago che il 20 aprile seguente morte l’avrebbe rapita di 5 anni e 3 mesi al bramoso affetto del grande genitore". (‘In this convent of S. Giovanni Battista, Lord Byron put his daughter on the 22nd of January 1821. During the month of August, Shelley visited Allegra and found her healthy and happy, but the following 20th of April she unexpectedly died at the young age of five years and three months’).

‘Ben fa Bagnacaval che non rifiglia, e mal fa Castrocaro, e peggio Conio che di figliar tai conti più s’mpiglia’ (Purgatory XIV).

Originally, the only doorway to access the town of Bagnara was located on the western side of the castle walls; the entrance had a drawbridge which was destroyed in 1617. The doorway was guarded by a person in charge of closing it at night and reopening in the morning; his duties included also to make sure that no one may enter the castle with arms.

Bagnara’s castle is one of the few completely preserved strongholds of the whole region. Its walls were built in 1354 by Bernabò Visconti; he had the moat dug along the wall, but unfortunately it is not possible to know how deep it was, as the moat was drained in the XVIII century.

This small square located in the historical town centre of Conselice was recently named after the writer Giovannino Guareschi (the author of Don Camillo and Peppone’s stories). The square has been restored by the set designer Gino Pellegrini, who is renown for his top-level experience in the Hollywood cinema industry.

The stronghold of Lugo is a remarkable specimen of its kind, especially because in Romagna fortresses used to characterize and mark the developement of hurban settlements since the second part of the Middle Ages.

The present town hall (the Palazzo Comunale) has always been a public building and is thought to be as old as the castle (sec. XI), to which it was attached, as the Napoleonic land registers state in 1800.

The clock tower was built where the old Medieval castle gateway used to be since it was founded around the early centuries after 1000, probably upon Barbarossa’s wish, as some documents state. The same old documents report that the castle was surrounded by very strong walls and a deep moat called "la Fossa" (the moat). What is thought to be left of the old castle is probably just one of the two towers, which was thereafter transformed into the clock tower, before 1377.