FORL3 (anc.

See also:

• FORUM (Lat. from foris, " out of doors ")

Forum Livii)  , a town and episcopal see of Emilia, Italy, the capital of the province of Forli, 40 M . S.E. of Bologna by rail, so8 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (1901) 15,461 (town); 43,321 (commune) . Forli is situated on the railway between Bologna and Rimini . It is connected by steam tramways with Ravenna and Meldola, and by a road through the Apennines with Pontassieve . The church of S . Mercuriale stands in the principal square, and contains, besides paintings, some good carved and inlaid choir stalls by Alessandro dei Bigni . The facade has been considerably altered, but the campanile, erected in 1178-r180, still exists; it is 252 ft. in height, square and built of brickwork, and is one of the finest of Lombard campanili . The pictures in this church are the work of Marco Palmezzano (1456–1537) and others; S . Biagio and the municipal picture gallery also contain works by him . The latter has other interesting pictures, including a fresco representing an apprentice with pestle and mortar (Pestapepe), the only authentic work in Forli of Melozzo da Forli (143$–1494), an eminent master whose style was formed under the influence of Piero della Francesca, and who was the master of Palmezzano; the frescoes in the Sforza chapel in SS .

Biagio e

Girolamo are from the former's designs, though executed by the latter . The church also contains the fine tomb (1466) of Barbara Manfredi . The cathedral (Santa Croce) has been almost entirely rebuilt since 1844 . The Palazzo del Podesta, now a private house, is a brick building of the 15th century . The citadel (Rocca Ravaldina), constructed about 1360–1370, and later rebuilt, is now used as a prison . Flavio Biondo, the first Renaissance writer on the topography of ancient Rome (1388–1463), was a native of Forli . Of the ancient Forum Livii, which lay on the Via Aemilia, hardly anything is known . In the 12th century we find Forli in league with Ravenna, and in the 13th the imperial count of the province of Romagna resided there . In 1275 Forli defeated Bologna with great loss . Martin IV. sent an army to besiege it in 1282, which was driven out after severe fighting in the streets; but the town soon afterwards surrendered . In the 14th and 15th centuries it was under the government of the Ordelaffi; and in 1500 was taken by Caesar Borgia, despite a determined resistance by Caterina Sforza, widow of Girolamo Riario . Forli finally became a part of the papal state in 1504 .

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