Dante’s routes are unique, immersed in history, art and nature, that wind between Florence and Ravenna to rediscover the journey made by the “Supreme Poet”.
The quotations contained in the Divine Comedy referring to places, facts and characters from Forlì are significant, as are the countless testimonies scattered throughout the civic library and museums. This is because Forlì, the Ghibelline city of the Ordelaffi family, hosted the exiled Poet on several occasions between 1302 and 1313.
The Forlì itinerary on Dante’s trail begins at Porta Schiavonia, where those coming from Tuscany arrived via the road that still connects Forlì to Florence and travels through the Acquacheta (now Montone) valley and the Muraglione Pass. On the facade of the building located at the corner of Viale Bologna and Via Firenze a plaque bears Dante’s verses dedicated to the Montone River, which flows a few meters below.
Nearby, on Via Piero Maroncelli, a plaque on the Palazzo Paolucci de Calboli bears Dante’s tercets relating to the memory of Ranieri de Calboli.
Heading towards Corso Garibaldi, you reach the Palazzo Romagnoli Civic Museum, which houses a valuable medallion with a Portrait of Dante Alighieri by Bernardino Boifava.
Returning to Corso Garibaldi you come to Palazzo Albicini on the façade of which a plaque commemorates the hospitality given to Dante by the powerful Ordelaffi family.
Continuing toward the historic center, we come to the magnificent Piazza Saffi. Here, at the base of the bell tower of the Abbey of San Mercuriale, a plaque recalls the “bloody heap” (1282) mentioned by Dante in Inferno, the famous massacre of the French in the pay of Martin IV by Guido da Montefeltro, captain of the Ghibellines from Forlì.
The Aurelio Saffi Civic Library preserves a fundamental Dante Section in which more than a thousand volumes ranging from the late 15th century to the present day are preserved. Among the most significant works is an illuminated parchment from the 15th century.