Fanano

Fanano, a very ancient settlement of Etruscan origin, is the largest municipality in the Alto Frignano with its 90 square kilometers of territory largely included in the Regional Park of the Upper Modenese Apennines. Fanano is in possession of a very important historical heritage of which we report a brief excerpt.

TOWN HALL, PIAZZA MARCONI

It was built in 1619 by the Fananese Ottonello Ottonelli as a Convent of the Piarist Fathers, together with the adjacent Church of San Giuseppe and a building, which no longer exists, which housed their prestigious schools, in which many illustrious Fananese trained. Originally the entrance was in via Sabbatini, the most important street of the ancient town ("Lo stradone"), which connected the political-military center of the town ("Il Poggiolo", with the castle) to the religious one (Pieve di San Silvestro), passing through the center of popular life (Piazza Corsini). After the departure of the Piarist Fathers from Fanano (1810), the building was used for 3 different uses: from 1821 to 1835 it housed a boarding school for law students of the University of Modena; later it became the seat of the Municipality of Fanano.
In 2008, the facades and the internal courtyard, the ancient cloister of the convent, were rearranged; the large cellars have also been recovered, inside which the tourist office "Fanano è. . . ”And rooms to host exhibitions and other cultural initiatives; there should also be exhibited a singular Via Crucis, whose 15 stations were painted in 1998 by as many different painters, among the most important of the period at local and national level. In the facing Piazza Marconi, a beautiful fountain with stone sculptures by Italo Bortolotti.

IL POGGIOLO AND THE CASTLE TOWER, PIAZZA OTTONELLI

The term Poggiolo has always indicated the highest part of the ancient village, where the castle stood, which controlled the underlying Valle del Leo and on which fires were lit, at night, to indicate the way to travelers who traveled the Via Romea .
The castle was demolished by Alfonso I d 'Este in 1532 because it had become the refuge of the Ghibelline faction: only one mighty tower remains (the Torre dei "Balestri"), however rebuilt in later times and recently restored. The other tower in the square, which for a certain time housed the community bell, is called the "Ottonelli" because it belonged to this distinguished Fananese family. The beautiful building on the right, going down via Sabbatini, also belonged to the Ottonellis: currently used as a retirement home for the elderly, it retains its noble seventeenth-century appearance both inside and out.

PALAZZO LARDI AND THE CLOCK TOWER, VIA SABBATINI

The Palace, documented until 1340, was built with essentially military purposes, as an infantry barracks and as a gendarmerie with attached prisons, but already at the beginning of the fifteenth century it became the private residence of some of the most important Fano families: first the Ottonellis, then the Carletti, the Cameroni and, finally, the Lardi. It hosted, among others, Cosimo De Medici, during his exile from Florence (1433) and Pope Eugene IV returning from the Council of Ferrara (1439).
The façade, enclosed between two towers and divided into three floors, with a portal and windows framed by a strong sunburst ashlar, in sandstone, was built towards the end of the 16th century. The later tower on the right was built at the beginning of the seventeenth century to replace a previous one which, having become a refuge for the Guelph faction, had been demolished by the Duke of Ferrara in 1532 together with the castle and the town walls. Since 1609 it has housed the public clock, which is recharged every morning by the Fananese volunteers.

THE VILLAGES

Next to the clock tower, a beautiful vault still indicates one of the few entrances that once allowed one to enter the town. Going down under it, you find yourself in the "Borghi", an interesting village that developed behind Palazzo Lardi: apart from a few exceptions, clearly visible but fortunately isolated, it has well preserved its characteristics of a lively and colorful medieval village.

PIAZZA CORSINI

It has always been in the center of the ancient town: the place where the three most important access routes to the town converged and where fairs, markets and popular assemblies were held. At least in part its original medieval aspect has been preserved, of a shell-shaped square, closed by severe buildings according to a consolidated Tuscan tradition. The public fountain is beautiful, solemnly inaugurated in 1913 together with the new aqueduct, designed by the imaginative engineer Lapo Farinata Degli Uberti.

NOT TO BE MISSED:

Palazzo Monari e Coppi (via Pedrocchi), Villa Severi-Burchi (via Badiola, in front of via Abà)

PIEVE OF SAN SILVESTRO POPE, VIA ABA '

The temple, most likely erected at the end of the 12th century over the remains of the abbey church that Sant’Anselmo had founded in 749, was considered one of the most significant examples of late Romanesque architecture in the Apennines. Its structure, which echoed that of the basilica of the Modena Cathedral, with three naves, crypt and raised presbytery, was then modified in 1612 with an inversion of the plan and with the addition of the transept and dome. The original appearance is recognizable above all in the central nave, with mighty columns surmounted by notable capitals from the Campione school.
The current neo-Romanesque façade and the frescoes on the ceilings, transept and dome date back to the demanding restorations carried out by Don Eugenio Battistini at the beginning of the twentieth century. Also on the occasion of these restorations, the remains of the ancient crypt, partially visible in the front part of the church, resurfaced. In the spring of 2010, the terracotta floor dating back to just over a century ago was replaced by a sandstone one, much more suitable for the environment.

The current neo-Romanesque façade and the frescoes on the ceilings, transept and dome date back to the demanding restorations carried out by Don Eugenio Battistini at the beginning of the twentieth century. Also on the occasion of these restorations, the remains of the ancient crypt, partially visible in the front part of the church, resurfaced. In the spring of 2010, the terracotta floor dating back to just over a century ago was replaced by a sandstone one, much more suitable for the environment.

The church, built in 1619 by Ottonello Ottonelli together with the adjacent Convent of the Scolopi Fathers, is considered one of the most beautiful, rich and harmonious seventeenth-century churches in the whole Apennines. It underwent radical restorations by Don Eugenio Battistini in 1892-93, with the frescoing of the vault by Fermo Forti and the 1st opening of the side entrance; after a further conservative intervention carried out in 1968, it was closed for security reasons in 1990, and finally solemnly reopened on March 19, 2008 after a long, complete and very accurate restoration, which has returned it to its original splendor. The church has a single nave with six side chapels and a large raised presbytery, limited by a beautiful arch supported by elegant fluted columns. The seven altars are equipped with sumptuous 17th century altarpieces in carved and gilded wood, largely the work of Giovanni and Giuseppe Gherardini from Fano.
Among the eleven canvases preserved in the church, all of which are interesting, it is worth mentioning in particular: the main altarpiece "Finding of Jesus in the Temple", begun by Giulio Secchiari in 1623 and finished by Pellegrino da Fanano, a pupil of Guido Reni, in 1644 , in the side chapels "Martirio di Santa Caterina d'Alessandria", of the Guercinesca school, "San Giuseppe Calasanzio presents the pupils of the Pious Schools to the Madonna", by Girolamo Vanulli (1749) and, above all, the very elegant, luminous "Madonna della Ghiara ”, by Lodovico Lana. The organ, built in 1649 and recently restored, is the oldest in Fanano. In 2008, in front of the main altar, the tombs of the Fano Piarist Fathers were discovered, including the historian Niccolò Pedrocchi; the remains of the famous Father Odoardo Corsini, who died in Pisa in 1765, were also interred in 2008 at the side entrance of the church.

CHURCH OF SAN FRANCESCO, VIA SAN FRANCESCO (adjacent to the Cemetery)

The oratory was built in 1636 by the Fananese Agramante Fogliani, with a dedication to the Holy Virgin of the Assumption, as can be read in the large cornice overlooking the elegant portico supported by Ionic columns in Tuscan style. It is commonly referred to as the Church of San Francesco, since in its vicinity there was the ancient convent of the Friars Minor Conventual of San Francesco, suppressed in 1778 by Duke Francesco d’Este and of which nothing remains.

ORATORY OF MADONNA DEL PONTE, VIA MADONNA DEL PONTE

The oratory was built with an initial dedication to the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption in 1583 near the bridge with which the Via Romea crossed the Fellicarolo stream, but completely rebuilt in 1650 by Don Pellegrino Ottonelli and his brothers, with a dedication to the Blessed Virgin Mary of Grace . Heavily damaged by the earthquake of 1920, it was demolished and rebuilt closer to the town with a strong economic contribution from the Fanoese emigrants: for this reason the oratory is also known as "the church of the Emigrants". In front of it, a monument created in 1990 by the well-known Fananese artist Italo Bortolotti and Gheorghe Filing recalls one of them: Felice Pedroni (1858-1910), who discovered gold in Alaska and founded the city of Fairbanks there.

NOT TO BE MISSED:

Church of San Colombano (via Abà), Oratories of SS Rosario and San Giovanni Decollato (via Abà), Oratory of SS Sacramento (via Abà), Capuccine Monastery (via Abà), Church of Santa Chiara and Monastery of SS Annunziata (via Sabattini).