Romagna

ROMAGNA. - I. GEOGRAPHY. - A historical region of northern Italy, corresponding to the southeastern sector of the Emilian compartment, more often called, precisely, Emilia-Romagna.

But the boundaries of Romagna have fluctuated considerably over the different epochs, passing from a narrower acceptation, adhering to the territory to which that name was originally applied, namely to the possessions of the Eastern Empire (Romania or Romandola) when the rest of Italy was under Lombard rule, to a broader one, roughly coinciding with the four present-day provinces of Ravenna, Forlì, Bologna and Ferrara. Today Romagna is properly considered to be the country comprised between the Reno, the Sillaro, the Apennines and the ridge of Monte Carpegna, belonging for the most part to Emilia (province of Ravenna and Forlì, with the eastern extremity of that of Bologna and a small strip of the Ferrarese), and for the rest to Tuscany and the Marches; the small Republic of San Marino is entirely included within it. It is a matter of approximately 6,350 sq km of surface area with 1 million inhabitants, divided into a mountainous sector (the former district of Rocca San Casciano) and a hilly one (territory of Forlì and of Imola), which the Via Emilia separates from the true and proper plain sloping down to the Adriatic (100 sq km of coast).

Romagna is an agricultural country, with notable production of cereals (wheat) and of sugar beet; fruit trees too are important there. Mineral resources are lacking (there is only a little sulfur), and the coastline, as in the rest of the compartment, lends itself poorly to the construction of ports (the only one being that of Ravenna, which is also, like the other Emilian ones, a canal-port). Industries are essentially limited to food-processing (above all sugar refineries); there are nevertheless traditional ones (Faenza majolica) and modern ones (mechanical works at Rimini). The numerous seaside resorts south of the Savio — Cervia, Cesenatico, Riccione, Cattolica, and above all Rimini, whose clientele has long been international — are widely renowned. The density of the Romagnol population exceeds the Italian average (153 and 164 inhabitants per sq km respectively in the two provinces of Ravenna and Forlì).

This region comprises the cities of the Flaminia and a part of those of the Emilia and assumed this particular denomination after after the Lombard invasion, when, Ravenna having become the capital of the Exarchate, the Romania arose over against Lombardy, whence later Romandiola and R. It shared the fortunes of the Exarchate itself until King Astolf occupied Ravenna (751), and it then became the object of the negotiations of the popes Stephen III, Adrian I and Leo III with Pepin and Charlemagne, king of the Franks. The evangelization of the country is connected with that of Ravenna; but it is not certain that all the episcopal sees arose through the work of Ravenna because, like it, they may have had their direct origin from Rome; at least for some the origin is certainly earlier than the 4th century. In Flaminia they were Rimini, Ficocle (Cervia), Cesena, Forlimpopoli and Ravenna; in Emilia, Forlì, Faenza, Imola, Claterna (?), Bologna, Voghenza (later transferred to Ferrara). At the beginning of the 8th century Comacchio appears and in the 9th century Montefeltro.

Already during the Carolingian dominion and still more during that of the Italic kings the political supremacy of the archbishop of Ravenna (v.) was asserted over the R., and the members of the Roman aristocracy of the house of Theophylact were not slow to profit from it with their interference. With the sovereigns of the Saxon house the German dominion succeeded, of which Archbishop Guibert, later antipope, was one of the most resolute representatives.

The communal movement almost extinguished the dispute between Papacy and Empire over the rights of lordship over those lands. An exaggerated principle of liberty led the R. into factions, and finally into disintegration into small principalities. The petty lords, often with the title of papal vicars, were in fact the true masters of the region: the da Polenta at Ravenna, the Malatesta at Rimini, the Ordelaffi and then the Riario at Forlì, the Manfredi at Faenza, the Alidosi at Imola, the Montefeltro, the Pepoli and subsequently the Bentivoglio at Bologna; first among all the Este at Ferrara (cf. Dante, Inf., XXVII, 28 ff.).

The papal sovereignty over the R., explicitly and definitively recognized in 1278 by Rudolf I of Habsburg to Pope Nicholas III, lasted only until the Avignon captivity of the papacy, when the Romagnol tyrants raised their heads again. Cardinal Bertrando del Poggetto, sent by John XXII to reconstitute the pontifical authority, was at first generally recognized, but then, defeated by the Este (1333) and with Bologna in revolt, he lost all that he had previously regained. Later Innocent VI sent to Italy, as new legate, Cardinal Egidio Alvarez Albornoz (1353), who tenaciously resumed the struggle against the Romagnol petty lords, defeated them and transformed them into servants of the Church, confirmed and revived the communal liberties; he restored the temporal dominion, which he reorganized with the famous Constitutiones Aegidianae

(Fano 1357), which remained in force until the beginning of the 19th century. After Albornoz died at Viterbo (1367), the revolts were repeated, even if in a different form, and the R. was bloodied by foreign companies of fortune; it nevertheless had the boast of giving, with Alberico da Barbiano, with Attendolo Sforza and his son Francesco, the first victorious condottieri to the Italian arms. Cardinal Anglico de Grimaud, brother of Urban V, compiled the Descriptio Romandiolae facta a. 1371, which is a complete statistical survey of the region.

Under Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia occupied Imola and Forlì, defended in vain by Caterina Sforza. Appointed gonfalonier of justice (March 1500) and then duke of R. (May 1501), he gathered and organized an army with valiant captains and successively took possession of Cesena, Pesaro, Rimini and Faenza, whose lord, the young Astorre Manfredi, was barbarously put to death by him in Castel Sant'Angelo, while Caterina Sforza, lady of Forlì, was saved only through the intervention of Louis XII. Cesare, having allied himself with France, and aided by Alfonso I d'Este, was about to set about new conquests, when the sudden death of Alexander VI (18 Aug. 1503) cut short his ambitious designs.

The Venetians, always watchful from Ravenna (where they had installed themselves in 1441), occupied Rimini and Faenza and other lands. On 15 March 1505, by an agreement with Julius II, they, while keeping Ravenna, Cervia, Faenza and Rimini with their territory, restored to the Church the other lands held by them. From Bologna, which had returned to the Church after the flight of the Bentivoglio (1506), Julius II joined the League of Cambrai concluded by Louis XII of France and Maximilian I of Austria (10 Aug. 1508), and recovered Ravenna, Cervia and Rimini. When the Pontiff prepared the Holy League (15 Oct. 1511) against the French, Bologna, Ferrara and the exiled Pandolfo Malatesta ranged themselves on the side of France. The R. was traversed by the Spanish army and by the French forces, whose commander, Gaston de Foix, entrenched himself on the banks of the Ronco. Here on 11 Apr. 1512 the famous battle of Ravenna was fought, and the French, having remained masters of the field, pitilessly sacked the city. With the decline of French fortune in Italy, Clement VII drew closer to Charles V (Pact of Barcelona 1529), who undertook to drive the Venetians from Ravenna, whither they had returned in 1527. Venice, reconciled with Rome, definitively restored Ravenna with Cervia to the Church in 1529. With the recovery of Ferrara in 1598 upon the death of Alfonso II, last legitimate heir of the Este, the whole R. is under the obedience of the Papacy within the broadest boundaries assigned to it by Dante (Purg., XIV, 92) between «the Po, the mountain, the sea and the Reno». For it a new historical period begins (1598-1797), in which the factions are not entirely extinguished and under the old names of Guelphs and Ghibellines give vent to their age-old rancors.

In Feb. 1797 the revolutionary troops spread through the R., welcomed with the first dawnings of liberty. In the Peace of Tolentino (19 Feb. 1797), Pius VI renounced the Apennine-Adriatic slope of his States, which entered the new Cispadane Republic, whose capital was Bologna. With the Cispadane the R. passed to the Cisalpine Republic, then to the Italian Republic and finally to the Kingdom of Italy. The R. was divided by the French into the three departments of the Reno (cap. Bologna), of the Lower Po (cap. Ferrara) and of the Rubicon (cap. Forlì), which, under the Italic Kingdom, were transformed into prefectures. The Austrian troops, who had occupied the R. in the early years of the second coalition, made their return there with General Nugent (1813-14). In Feb. 1814 there appeared there, allied with Austria, the Neapolitan soldiers of Joachim Murat, who were in turn succeeded by the Austrians when Murat ranged himself against his former allies, and with the proclamation of Rimini (30 March 1815) proclaimed the independence and unity of Italy.

The Congress of Vienna restored the pontifical power also in the R., not without the resistance of Austria. Pius VII reconstituted there the three ancient legations of Ravenna, Bologna and Ferrara, subdivided into the two delegations of Bologna and Ferrara and the two legations of Ravenna and Forlì.

The Revolution of Naples (1820) and that of Piedmont (1821) had only a faint echo in the R. A stronger repercussion was found there instead by that of Paris of July 1830. During the vacant see, from Bologna, Forlì and the other cities as far as Ancona the pontifical authorities were deposed; at Bologna the temporal power was proclaimed lapsed and the provisional government of the «United Italian Provinces» was instituted. To the aid of the new pope Gregory XVI Austria moved; near Rimini (25 March 1831) the militias of Gen. Carlo Zucchi were dispersed. The Austrians, on the pretext of new liberal tumults, re-entered the legations (1832) where they remained until 1838, while the French, on the pretext of balance, occupied Ancona. Once the Habsburg troops had withdrawn, the agitations resumed in the always restless R. (risings of 1843 and 1845). The Rimini insurrection offered Massimo d'Azeglio the occasion for the pamphlet on Gli ultimi casi di R. (Jan. 1846).

The liberal policy of Pius IX was greeted in Romagna with enthusiasm. When the Roman Republic was proclaimed on 9 February 1849, it found support in Romagna, but toward the end of the same month the Austrians returned; although Cavour at the Congress of Paris (1856) had proposed the abolition of the military occupation in the Papal States, they left Romagna only after the battle of Magenta (11 June 1859). Papal rule then ceased there definitively; a provisional government proclaimed the dictatorship of Victor Emmanuel II. Massimo d'Azeglio was immediately sent as royal commissioner, taking up residence in Bologna; he was later replaced, after the armistice of Villafranca, by Col. Leonetto Cipriani, who assumed the title of governor general of Romagna, until it united with the former duchies of Modena and Parma under L. C. Farini, appointed "dictator of Emilia." With the plebiscite of 11-12 March 1860, Emilia, together with Tuscany, decreed its own annexation to the Kingdom of Victor Emmanuel II. Romagna, thus joined to the Kingdom of Italy, has since shared its history.

Angelo Ferrari

III. CONCILIAR REGION

It has the title of Flaminian Region (Regio Flaminia). It presents itself in the manner of a right triangle, whose longest side is formed by the Apennines and whose shorter sides are formed respectively by the Adriatic Sea and the Po; it embraces part of Emilia.

Ecclesiastically it comprises three archdioceses: Ferrara, Bologna and Ravenna; nine dioceses: Bertinoro, Cervia, Cesena, Comacchio, Forlì, Faenza, Imola, Rimini and Sarsina. Bologna and Ravenna are also metropolitan sees, with Bertinoro, Cervia, Cesena, Comacchio, Forlì, Rimini and Sarsina as suffragans for Ravenna; Faenza and Imola for Bologna. Ferrara is immediately subject.

Bologna is the seat of the court (Tribunal of the Via Flaminia) of first instance in cases of matrimonial nullity, with appeal to Venice. The said tribunal exercises its jurisdiction also over that part of the territory of the Republic of San Marino which belongs to the diocese of Rimini. In Bologna there is furthermore the seat of the Pontifical Romanagnol regional seminary, founded by Benedict XV; but not all the dioceses send their students to Bologna. Civilly the Romanagnol conciliar Region comprises four provinces: Ferrara, Bologna, Ravenna and Forlì. The last plenary Council of the region was celebrated on 27 Sept. 1932.

Benedetto De Sanctis

IV. ART

The art of the Romagna is closely connected to the evolution of artistic forms in Emilia (v.). It nevertheless also has direct and immediate relations with the art that flourished in Umbria, the Marches, Tuscany and the lower Po valley.

The pre-Romanesque architecture of the territory of the ancient Ravenna exarchate, deriving from the Byzantine and late Roman themes that appeared in Ravenna in the 5th and 6th centuries and linked to the developments of the architectural forms of the Po valley, as also the characteristics of the Romagnol, or Riminese if you will, painting school of the 14th century, testify to this amply for the Middle Ages.

And so it also happened during the Renaissance, when Leon Battista Alberti and Agostino di Duccio, both Florentines, Piero della Francesca of Arezzo and Matteo de' Pasti of Verona contributed to creating in Rimini that Malatesta Temple which is one of the most distinguished and harmonious works of the 15th century. In direct and constant relation with the art flourishing in Bologna is the art of the Romagna during the Baroque age, while at the close of the 18th century and in the course of the 19th, especially through the work of Felice Giani, painter of the Neoclassical age, a native of Faenza by adoption if not by birth, and of Tommaso Minardi, recognized head of "Purism" in Italy, the Romagna showed a notable independence from the Bolognese artistic milieu.

Emilio Lavagnino

V. FOLKLORE

The distinctive character of folklore in R. is given by the meeting of two different traditions: Padanian and Italic. This dimorphism has been noted for the rural house, whose principal forms can be grouped into two types, Emilian and Italic; and also in other fields: for example, with regard to agricultural transport, the four-wheeled cart, decorated with flowers, similar to the Piedmontese one, which predominates to the west of the Savio, and the two-wheeled cart with painted sides, in use in the Rimini-Cesenatico area. With the same decoration of floral motifs are painted the castellate, special oblong barrels used for transporting musts. Other characteristic expressions of folk art are rustic ceramics: plates, vases, jars, and in particular the mezzina or mezzetta, a vessel with broad sides vividly painted with floral patterns and with joking inscriptions inviting one to drink, and the gotto, which is the traditional glass. But rustic art reaches its maximum of originality in the industry of rust-printed cloths, with various decorative motifs, according to whether they are table covers, bed covers, or destined for the rumps of oxen. On the rust carpets, as on the sides of the plaustra, are often reproduced the images of St. George and St. Anthony Abbot, who are among the most venerated saints. Notable too is the devotion to the Madonna del Fuoco of Forlì, whose feast (Feb. 4) is enlivened by great fires, and to the Madonna del Monte of Cesena, in whose sanctuary ancient and most beautiful painted ex-votos are preserved.

Of the beliefs and customs that mark the cycles of man and of the year, the most common are reported. A pregnant woman is forbidden to throw stones at a walnut tree and to cross bridles or halters of animals. Whoever is born with a "caul" is considered very fortunate. When two betrothed persons hold a child at Baptism, they cannot marry before a year and three days, because they believe that through that function they have become relatives. The figure of the bracco or marriage intermediary is quite widespread; among the betrothal ceremonies should be noted the toccamano, which repeats the ancient dextrarum coniunctio. While the spouses are kneeling on the stool in church, once the rite is finished, the bride does not rise until the mother, or in her absence a person appointed (filippa), has pulled her by the dress. After 8 days of married cohabitation, the bride returns to her father's house, where she stays for another eight days (rivoltaglio or ritornello). Falling asleep on Easter day and falling in church are omens of death.

Certain customs and feasts characterize the cycle of the year, of rustic origin and meaning, which R., an eminently agricultural region, has preserved and often enlivened. On Christmas Eve the peasants set fire to a large log (whoever burns the largest will kill the largest pig), which must burn all night, and sometimes until Epiphany; on Christmas morning they scatter the extinguished charcoal bits in the vineyard, seed of graces, and keep the remnants of the burnt trunk, to ward off hail and storms. On the first day of the year they are careful to note the person they meet first, inferring from it, according to whether that person is well-off or poor, young or old, a favorable or ill-omened prelude. It is believed that on the night of Epiphany the animals speak. The young go from house to house singing the pasquella, to receive gifts. On the last evening of carnival the oldest hen in the poultry yard is eaten, otherwise all the others will die. The feast of Mid-Lent (Segavecchia) takes place with greater splendor at Forlimpopoli and at Cotignola: a great puppet, adorned with necklaces of dried fruit, is sawed apart, amid festive shouts, and the fruits fall, fiercely contended for by the boys. Of the ancient sacred drama various traces have remained also in R. in the rites of Holy Week: the most important is the feast of the Signor morto at Modigliana. Particular curative virtues are attributed to the dew of the night of St. John, especially for the scabby, who, at dawn, roll about naked on the grass. This day is also propitious for omens.

Nov. 11 (St. Martin) is the feast of the grape harvest.

Folk songs for the most part are not of Romagnol origin: in them, however, they have assumed a certain local character, discernible in the various names they take according to subjects and occasions and in a particular dialectal color that constitutes the poetic language proper to Romagnol canterini. Lyric poetry includes the canti a la stesa (songs at full stretch), which thus vary in name: canti a la biogga (at the plowing), canti a la rastladora or a la sfujadora (of raking and of stripping leaves), and in the Ferrarese area rumanelli (romanelle). Narrative poetry includes two groups, which represent the confluence of two traditions: the first is given by the epic-lyric songs of Franco-Provençal type formed of short stanzas with a more or less complicated refrain (e.g., La donna lombarda); the other is given by legends, mostly sacred, coming from central Italy, in laisses of rhymed or assonanced hendecasyllables (e.g., S. Alessio): they are called urazión and recited by country beggars. Rich too is the heritage of fairy tales and stories, riddles and proverbs.

Of the ancient folk dances there survive the saltarello, the trescone, the Bergamasque dances, and in the upper Savio valley the ballo della mela: they are performed, usually, at carnival and during agricultural work, among which the stripping of maize and the braking of hemp and flax take on a particularly festive character for betrothed couples. The traditional styles of dress have disappeared. The old Romagnol peasant wore on his head the galoza, a horn-shaped cap of felt or fur, wore a suit of coarse brown or dark blue cloth and in winter wrapped himself in the two-faced cloak (caparèla). — See plates LXXV-LXXVI.

Giovanni Bronzini