The great poet’s story takes us to Bertinoro and Polenta. Dante spent the last years
of his life (from 1317 to 1321) as a guest at the court of Guido Novello Da Polenta, who was the lord of Ravenna and regained the castle of Polenta in those years.
His hometown had come under the power of his cousin Guido Riccio and then by his son Alberico, conspiring against Ravenna. But Guido Novello ordered to disarm him, dispatching his brother Giovanni with a group of soldiers, who, in turn, broke into the town.
The expedition to the castle caused a stir in the city and Dante was seized by the will to visit the fortress, where he stopped by the old parish church of San Donato.
Dante Alighieri’s presence in Polenta and Bertinoro is testified by two cantos in his Divine Comedy:
– Inferno’s Canto V, one of the most famous cantos because it focuses on the love passion between Paolo and Francesca (known as “Da Rimini” because she married a then Lord of that city, but actually “Da Polenta”, since she was daughter of the nobleman Guido Novello Da Polenta);
– Purgatory’s Canto XIV, recalling two illustrious characters from Bertinoro, Guido del Duca and Arrigo Mainardi: everyone knows the famous verses “le donne e ‘ cavalier, li affanni e li agi / che ne ‘nvogliava amore e cortesia…”, recalling Bertinoro tradition of Hospitality, which in the Middle Ages was known as ‘love and courtesy’.
(1835 – 1907)
Giosué Carducci is the man who made famous Pieve di San Donato, in the hamlet of Polenta. Since the poet wrote about it in his song ‘La Chiesa di Polenta’ (first published in 1897), the church gained national fame.
Then, the question posed by the poet “perhaps Dante kneeled down here?”, became
almost a certainty and the small village was named ‘Polenta di Dante’.
In 1898, Carducci replanted there the famous cypress tree of Francesca, destroyed by a lightning strike. In the same year, the town of Bertinoro celebrated him by conferring him honorary citizenship.
Inside the Town Hall, in the Sala del Popolo, there is a commemorative epigraph dedicated to him.
Since 1919, every year, usually in September, the poet and the church are remembered with the Raduno Carducciano (Carducci’s Meeting), in which his famous Ode is fully read.
Great Master of Art from Bertinoro (1851 – 1919)
He was the first-born son of a noble and ancient family, one of the twelve of the famous Colonna dell’Ospitalità and he is considered one of the greatest masters of Italian dramatic art of the late 19th century.
He debuted at a very young age and, in a short time, became one of the most appreciated Italian performers. In 1900, he was the first to establish a permanent theatre in Italy, the ‘Casa Goldoni’ at Teatro Valle, in Rome.
In 1902, he returned to Bertinoro and wrote ‘Foglietti sparsi narranti la mia vita’, published after his death.
He built a large theatre, which was lost in the bombings of World War II. Some of his relics are preserved at the municipal palace.
There is a bust in front of his house in Bertinoro that reminds passers-by of him. In 2002, the Ermete Novelli Prize was created, which is awarded every two years.
(Bertinoro -Santa Maria Nuova, 1886 – Premilcuore, 1973)
A paediatrician, poet and senator at the Constituent Assembly, as well as a lover and promoter of the identity and of the popular traditions of Romagna. In 1907, while still a medical student, he founded the satirical newspaper Pestapevar, an ironic term for ‘chemist’.
Between 1911 and 1914 he directed Il Plaustro. In 1920 he founded, together with Francesco Balilla Pratella and Antonio Beltramelli, the magazine La Pié, aimed at local studies, poetic and cultural research and the recovery of the dialect and popular traditions of Romagna. It is still active today, and it is a point of reference for literary life in Romagna. In 1945 he took over the direction of the weekly La Voce di Romagna.
Spallicci’s fundamental merit was to have conferred the dignity of a literary language on the Romagna dialect, just like any other literary language, and to have given it the dignity of a literary language
A professor, a journalist, a syndical activist
He was born in Bertinoro on 16 June 1920. After graduating in Political Science, he specialised in the Scientific Order of Labour and joined the secretariat of the united CGIL in Forlì, representing the republican current.
He was among the founders of the UIL. He was the first secretary of the Forlì Trade Union Chamber, then a confederal secretary and a general secretary of the UIL-tucs. He was a journalist and director of various trade union and political publications including ‘il Pensiero Romagnolo’ in Forlì and ‘il Popolano’ in Cesena’. He was a republican and an uncompromising Mazzinian, the Grand Officer of the Republic, the National Vice-President of Endas, the President of the Young Europe Political Culture Circle and of the Scientific Committee of the Trade Union Historical Institute .
He dedicated his life to his family, to his great country, to democracy and the traditions of Bertinoro. He passed away on 2 November 2004.
A professor, a journalist, a syndical activist
He was born in Bertinoro on 16 June 1920. After graduating in Political Science, he specialised in the Scientific Order of Labour and joined the secretariat of the united CGIL in Forlì, representing the republican current.
He was among the founders of the UIL. He was the first secretary of the Forlì Trade Union Chamber, then a confederal secretary and a general secretary of the UIL-tucs. He was a journalist and director of various trade union and political publications including ‘il Pensiero Romagnolo’ in Forlì and ‘il Popolano’ in Cesena’. He was a republican and an uncompromising Mazzinian, the Grand Officer of the Republic, the National Vice-President of Endas, the President of the Young Europe Political Culture Circle and of the Scientific Committee of the Trade Union Historical Institute .
He dedicated his life to his family, to his great country, to democracy and the traditions of Bertinoro. He passed away on 2 November 2004.
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Thanks to Dante, we all know today the tragic story of Francesca Da Polenta known as ‘Francesca da Rimini’ after her marriage.
In 1275, Guido Minore Da Polenta, who was lord of Ravenna and Cervia, gave his daughter Francesca to Giovanni Malatesta, also known as Gianciotto (because he was lame). Guido wanted to strengthen their political friendship. The tragedy that Dante made famous in Canto V of the Inferno originated from this marriage, everyone remembers it as the Canto of ‘Paolo and Francesca’. Francesca was born in 1260, when the two Guidi worked mainly in Ravenna; she stayed in Polenta because the political rise of the Da Polenta family attracted hatred and envy, dangers and revenge: in Polenta they felt safer. And it was precisely in Polenta, at the ancient parish church of San Donato, where Francesca ‘temprava gli ardenti occhi al riso’, as Giosué Carducci wrote.
A mythical cypress in Francesca’s name stands today on one of the hillocks near Polenta. The original tree, destroyed by a lightning strike, was replaced by a new cypress planted by the same Carducci in 1897.
Under the arcade of the Town Hall, in Piazza della Libertà, there is a plaque that contains some verses of Canto XIV, from Dante’s Purgatorio, and which are particularly important for Bertinoro, because they tell the importance of hospitality for its community.
Originally from Ravenna, Guido del Duca arrived in Bertinoro in 1202 as a judge:
due to the continuous violence between the noble families of the village, he decided
to build – together with the nobleman Arrigo Mainardi – a stone column into which twelve identical bronze rings were inserted: one ring for each noble family. Only the noble family knew which ring belonged to him. In this way, fate would
decided which family the pilgrim would be hosted by, who would tie his brooch or
his mount to one of the rings set in the Hospitality Column. Guido del Duca is
a symbol of the enthusiasm that makes the stranger an opportunity for peace in the community. He shows the profound sense of civilisation that was admired and mourned by Dante.
The Colonna delle Anella or Hospitality Column was his own creation and it became the symbol of Bertinoro, a source of pride for the community. The Rite of Hospitality is celebrated around it every year, on the first Sunday of September.
An important archaeologist (1895-1936)
Luigi Maria Ugolini was born in Bertinoro in 1895, he was the son of a humble watchmaker. He was a brilliant student at school, and after fighting in the First World War in the Alpine corps he studied archaeology at the University of Bologna. In 1924 Ugolini was in charge of the first Italian mission to Albania, conceived by the fascist regime primarily as a political, ideological and geopolitical initiative.
Thus in 1928 he began his excavations in Butrint in southern Albania where he discovered an ancient theatre, a sculpture group, a baptistery and much more. His
archaeological site in 1992 was recognised by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. Ugolini had his own scientific agenda that he was able to pursue, building up research programmes of the highest quality.
In 1962, Alteo Dolcini, with Lino Celotti and Pasquale Baccarini, founded the Consortium for the Protection of the typical wines from Romagna, for the denomination of origin. This is the first step towards the creation of the Institution for the protection of wines from Romagna, with the objective of enhancing the oenology of the territory. In 1967 Alteo Dolcini, a volcano of ideas and initiatives, Max David, a great journalist of the Corriere della Sera, and many important people such as the senator and poet Aldo Spallicci, founded the Tribunate of the Wines of Romagna. The birth of the Tribunate is described by the founders as an ‘act of love for their land and people’.
The Tribunate officially took office on 2 April 1967, in the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Bertinoro, where every year, even today, it renews its initiatives aimed at protection and valorisation of the cultural identity and food and wine traditions of Romagna. Among the actions to remember: the creation in 1972 of the first wine shop of Romagna, the Ca’ de’ Bé, which houses ceramic tiles representing the family names of the tribunes, an authentic showcase of the best typical local wine production, such as Albana, Sangiovese, Cagnina or Pagadebit.
Mario Pezzi, founder of Fattoria Paradiso in Bertinoro, one of the greatest architects of the wine revival in Emilia Romagna from the 1960s to the present day.
His wines are “pieces of Romagna in the world”, as he used to call them. Starting with Barbarossa, “discovered” by Mario in 1954 in an old vineyard over 100 years old, no longer productive and destined to be bulldozed. The Sangiovese Vigna delle Lepri, the first Sangiovese Riserva he conceived in 1960, opening the path to the other wineries that followed in the area; the label was chosen by the former Italian President Sandro Pertini for a lunch at Quirinale during the US President Ronald Reagan’s visit. And again Albana Gradisca, so named by his friend director Federico Fellini in honor of the emblematic character in the movie Amarcord. Finally, we must not forget his efforts to save the Pagadebit and Cagnina vines from extinction.
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Great cyclist, winner of the Giro d’Italia in 1961.
He was born in Bertinoro on August 16, 1935. He began racing in 1951, two victories as a student and then, in 1954, the transition to amateur. In this category he wins 41 victories: in 1956 he participates in the Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1957 he becomes Italian amateur champion and, after a very unfortunate race, second at the World Championships in Belgium. In 1958 he turned professional as a domestique for Ercole Baldini and Gastone Nencini and won his first pink jersey in the Giro d’Italia. His nine-year professional career was marked by excellent placings and great successes, including victories in Milan-Turin (1960), the Centenary Tour of Italy (1961), the Tour of Sardinia (1963) and the Brabant’s Arrow in Belgium (1964). He participated in nine Giro d’Italia, four Giro di Francia and was a member of the Italian national team in the World Championships on several occasions. At the end of his competitive career, he stayed in the world of cycling for a few more years as sports director of the “Salvarani” team. He died on July 6, 2022, just a few months after the death of his beloved wife Fabiola. Arnaldo, known as “Gabanì”, always had a very strong and unbreakable bond with Bertinoro and its citizens.
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Opera singer, born 1886, died 1945.
Famous opera singer. Born in 1886, was successful in all the major theatres of Europe alongside the finest names in Italian opera. He died in 1945.
A writer. Born 1921, died 1995.
A writer. Born in 1921, graduated in literature, won the Venice Prize with his novel ‘The Superfluous’, translated into several languages as well as his other work ‘The Fifth Generation’. He died in 1995.
Born in Bertinoro in 1874 to a well-to-do family, he put a strong passion for sporting competitions before the comforts of life.
An incomparable personality in the history of cycling, he triumphed in Italian and foreign velodromes, until he achieved the title of world tandem champion in tandem with Tommaselli. He died in 1909 at only 34 years of age.
It was the Podestà of Ravenna who gave Dante protection and asylum.
Guido Novello da Polenta was the Podestà of Ravenna who gave Dante protection and asylum. He was also a poet and exponent of the Dolce Stil Novo.
Famous physician and philosopher.
Famous physician and philosopher who was the first to be awarded the unusual title of Maestro, due to his uncommon erudition and excellent teaching in Bologna in the second half of the 12th century. He died in 1213.
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