The best walks and hikes around Russi

Tree-lined avenue Villa Dragoni

It was a small, wild, silent, hidden corner of absolute tranquility. The photos will never be able to make it seem as lucky as bikers like me and Alessandro who traveled it............

The convent of San Francesco, dating back to the 13th century, is the oldest convent building in the city of Bagnacavallo. The complex includes the church and the large convent that houses: the beautiful Sala Oriani or “New Refectory”, the cloister, the monumental staircase and the rooms on the first floor (not restored) used as exhibition spaces, the basement and the “large attic” also known as the Sala delle Capriate. Dating back to the mid-1200s, the convent of Bagnacavallo was one of the first to be built after the death of San Francesco. Considering that the first convents were built in places of heavy traffic, we must deduce that Bagnacavallo at the time was an important road junction and a stop for wayfarers. The convent complex underwent renovations and expansions over the centuries, the most important of which occurred in 1460 and 1667 (works by Andrea Galegati). It took on its current appearance at the end of the 18th century, with the interventions of the architect Gioacchino Tomba from Faenza. After the suppression of religious orders due to Napoleonic edicts, the building became largely public property. From 1875 to 1959 the convent was home to public schools and during the Second World War the immense underground areas were used as a refuge for the population. Only a small part of the building, in the twentieth century, was inhabited by the Conventual Friars Minor. This part, after the transfer of the religious to other locations, is no longer accessible to the public. The majority of municipal property has been renovated and used to host exhibitions or public meetings. Part of the building houses the Albergo Antico Convento San Francesco. (Source: https://www.bassaromagnamia.it/poitofintrests/antico-convento-di-s-francesco/ )

Overlooking Piazza della Libertà are the neoclassical Palazzo Comunale, built starting in 1791 and designed by Cosimo Morelli, and next to it, the beautiful Teatro Goldoni, inaugurated in 1845. On the west side, the Palazzo Vecchio (from the 13th century, but rebuilt several times) and the Civic Tower, built in the mid-13th century; used as a prison, in 1849 the legendary bandit “Il Passatore” was locked up there. Adjacent to the square, in via Trento Trieste, are the 17th-century Chiesa del Suffragio and the Antica Galleria, a public underground passage. (Source: https://www.bassaromagnamia.it/localita/bagnacavallo/ )

Piazza Nuova is the oval porticoed square built in the 18th century as a market, home to butchers, fishmongers and oil shops. Piazza Nuova, built in 1758, is the first example in Romagna of a center equipped for commerce. It is a unique building of its kind for the originality and elegance of its structures. The interior is developed as a loggia on an elliptical plan, with a succession of thirty round arches on square pillars. The two entrances consist of two arched portals with curved pediments, frames and relief panels. The building is made of exposed brick, paved in terracotta and paved with pebbles. Piazza Nuova has always been the ideal setting for events of various kinds; in recent years it has hosted summer film festivals, theater festivals, parties, exhibitions, musical performances. Vittorio Gassman chose it as the setting for the television reading of the first canto of Dante's Inferno. Restored in the late 90s, it now houses a tavern and some artisan shops. (Source: https://www.bassaromagnamia.it/poitofintrests/piazza-nuova/ )

Unfortunately this place no longer exists after last year's floods and was razed to the ground

The bridge, with the classic donkey's back structure, had the function of supporting the doors of one of the eleven locks built at the time of construction of the Canale Naviglio, at the end of the eighteenth century, to allow navigation.