Among the remnants of Forlì-Cesena’s excellent past, however, there are not only military buildings, but also many more or less important places of worship. Among these, also in Forlì stands the Abbey of San Mercuriale, a basilica built in Piazza Aurelio Saffi, in the historical centre of the city. This abbey was born where once there was a church dedicated to St. Stephen, but with time (probably between the fifth and sixth century) the new religious building changed its name, being dedicated to St. Mercuriale, the first bishop of Forlì.
This abbey was systematically destroyed, rebuilt, restructured, modernized and finally brought back to its origins throughout its history. At first it was the war between Guelphs and Ghibellines that seriously damaged it, and in 1180 another abbey was built, then enlarged between the 13th and 14th centuries.
At the beginning of the 1500s, further reconstruction work was necessary, which lasted until the middle of the 1600s, distorting the initial Romanesque style of the abbey by virtue of a much more fashionable baroque style. The building was destroyed again during the Second World War, and between 1951 and 1956 work began to rebuild it according to the original fourteenth-century project.
Particularly important is the bell tower of the Abbey of San Mercuriale, considered one of the greatest wonders of Italy at the time of its raising, and also taken as an example for the construction of the bell tower of St. Mark’s in Venice.
