Cervia (Zíria in Romagna) is an Italian town of 28 769 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna in Emilia-Romagna. Seaside and spa town on the Romagna Riviera with a traditional vocation for seafaring and fishing, its history is closely linked to the production of salt.
In the city
Church of Santa Maria Assunta, co-cathedral of the
archdiocese of Ravenna-Cervia.
Church of Sant'Antonio da Padova
Sanctuary of the Madonna del Pino
Church of the Madonna della Neve
Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio
In the forest
Church of
Sant'Antonio Abate in Castiglione di Cervia
Church of San Giorgio in
Montaletto
Church of the Madonna degli Angeli in Cannuzzo
Parish
Church of Santo Stefano in Pisignano
Stella Maris Church in Milano
Marittima
Church of Sant'Andrea Apostolo in Villa Inferno
Church
of San Severo Bishop
Town Hall
The Palazzo Priorale, now the Town Hall, was begun in
1702 based on a design by Francesco Fontana. However, the Palace was not
completed according to Fontana's original project: from Fontana's
drawings, in fact, the building should have had an internal courtyard
which remained incomplete. Furthermore, instead of one access staircase,
it should have had two. Inside, the atrium led to a small street between
two walls called the "common free passage".
On the ground floor
there were two rooms used as a warehouse; behind them was located the
staircase leading to the entrance to the rooms of the Camerlengo
Minister. In 1772 the palace underwent major renovations inside which
changed the layout of the rooms.
At the center of the
eighteenth-century porticoed façade is a tower in which the access
portal opens. Above the portal is a large balcony in elegant wrought
iron and an aedicule with a statue of the Virgin.
Inside the
Palace there is an art collection consisting of a collection of
paintings by various Italian artists and a permanent exhibition of works
by the Romagna painter Maceo Casadei.
Salt warehouses
The
first warehouse was built in 1689 and finished in 1691 with foundations
resting on pine trunks; it covered an area of 1758 m². All the walls had
a base thickness of 1.40 m and were of the scarp type. The interior was
divided into 6 bays (chambers), the central arch is 9.15 m high and 6 m
wide. Several ancient documents indicate its capacity as 30 million
pounds. The second element called "Cabinet of Ministers" consisted of a
20 m² room. The third element is the body added to the side of the
warehouse on the side of the San Michele Tower also called Sala
Rubicone. The fourth element was an elegant building on the west side
(already finished in 1703) which was demolished for the expansion of the
warehouse.
Lighthouse
On 12 July 1875 work began on the
lighthouse, in the same place as the previous one. Standing 14 meters
above sea level, it came into operation the same year.
The
lighthouse is still active and has undergone numerous changes over time.
In 1918 its height was increased compared to the surrounding buildings.
The second intervention was after the Second World War when the
restoration of the war damage suffered was carried out. Modern
technologies have reduced the importance of the lighthouse, no longer
capable of guiding night sailors alone; for these reasons it was
subsequently equipped with a nautophone which has a range of two miles
and which spreads high-pitched sounds.
Salt workers' houses
The salt workers' houses are located on the perimeter of the city,
designed by the architect Francesco Fontana. On the northern and
southern sides there were the city gates, which were demolished during
the Second World War. In the middle street, thirteen larger houses were
built with large courtyards, stables, woodsheds and warehouses, served
by secondary accesses that opened onto the street that went around the
walls of the houses internally. At the same time as the city, a brick
wall was built that went from the beginning of the city to the mouth of
the canal where the "palata" began, the wall no longer exists
Borgo Aurelio Saffi
It has always been believed that the Borgo dei
Salinari, called Borgo Aurelio Saffi in 1890, was built during the
Italic kingdom between 1805 and 1813. The three characters linked to
this construction are the superintendent Cosimo Morelli, an architect
from Imola of fame that he was the author of several cathedrals; the
designer Francesco Navone a Roman architect, and the assistant Antonio
Farini previously remembered for having designed and directed several
building works. Navone had developed the project for two buildings of
four houses for a total of 96 rooms. The superintendent Morelli
purchased the necessary areas, chose the two builders Pietro Petrocchi
and Giacomo Bedeschi who signed the deed on 2 August 1788 with
completion expected by 1790. The raising of a floor is dated around
1865.
Walter Chiari Municipal Theatre
The municipal theater is
a typical example of minor nineteenth-century architecture. It was built
between 1860 and 1862, overcoming the difficulty of adapting the
previous building inserted within the city walls to the needs of a
theatre. The building is located in the southwest corner of the city's
quadrangle.
Hospital
The foundation of the hospital began on 9
August 1797 when the municipality of Cervia turned to the Central
Administration of Emilia proposing the construction of the place of
treatment. At the time, the former convent of San Giorgio degli
Agostiniani, from which the friars had been expelled on 14 June of the
same year, was identified as the building.
House of the Farmyards
The Casa delle Aie was built in 1790 based on the project of the
architect Camillo Morigia.
At the time the building was used as
offices for the farmers of the pine forest and the tenant, as a
warehouse and dormitories for the women and pignaroli. It maintained
these functions until 1917, then it was abandoned and in the second half
of the 20th century it became the seat of a cultural association and a
restaurant serving typical Romagna cuisine.
Spa
As early as
the 19th century, certain healing properties of the waters and muds of
the salt pans were empirically known, and people of all social classes
flocked there from the countryside and nearby cities to cure certain
ailments. In the 1920s, the therapeutic properties of mother liquors
began to be scientifically studied; in those years, every day, forty
people went for treatment in the period of July and August. In the
1930s, on the edge of Via Salara, a small temporary facility was built
capable of accommodating 120 people for treatment. In 1959, with the
transformation of production processes and the introduction of single or
industrial salt collection, it was discovered that mother liquors
contained salts and concentrated substances with important therapeutic
power. The current complex was built in 1961.
Villa Righini
Historic Art Nouveau villa.
San Michele Tower
Built by order of Michelangelo Maffei to defend
the headquarters of Cervia, it was equipped with two cannons and a bell
to announce attacks by Turkish pirates. The entrance to the building is
on the first floor and was reached via a drawbridge. Above the entrance
door is a bas-relief depicting St. Michael the Archangel.
Built
between 1689 and 1691, the tower was built on the canal port 50-60
meters away from the palata terminal in the sea. It has a square plan
and is 22.50 meters high and 13.50 meters thick on each side. Above the
resega the 3.80 meter high scarp wall started in elevation. Between the
cordon and the resega there were five cannon windows, protected by bars,
while today there are six. The central body of the tower has an external
side of 11.20 meters with walls 1.50 meters thick. Inside the tower
there were all the services to make it self-sufficient: fireplaces,
rainwater collector, showers, cesspools. Since 1981 it has been home to
the municipal library, then moved in 2004; today the building houses a
tourist information office and an exhibition of paintings by Giuseppe
Palanti.
Military airport
Cervia-Pisignano airport is a
military airport which has been home to the 15th Wing of the Italian Air
Force since 5 October 2010; it was previously home to the 5th Wing named
after Giuseppe Cenni (Gold Medal for Military Valor).
War
structures of the Second World War
During the Second World War the
British command built a military airport in the pine forest of Milano
Marittima (22 October 1944)'; the choice of the logo was dictated by the
short distance from the front, approximately 24 miles[36]. Once the war
was over, between May and June 1945 the structure was dismantled and the
area was then reclaimed with the help of the forestry command, allowing
that portion of the pine forest to be reopened to the public in 1987.
At the end of the 20th century some specialists began to search the
pine forest for war remnants left by the Allies. A map of the former
airport was created and a wealth of information was collected on the
squadrons that operated there. Over the years, among the most
interesting finds we can include numerous parts of airplanes, a grella
that made up the landing strip, tent pegs and then also rings, buttons,
fuzes of airplane bombs, grenades, hand grenades and K rations and much
more.
The research also led to the discovery of 16 German
bunkers: they are still visible in an area that extends from the Cervia
canal to Lido di Savio. Censused based on the construction model, they
appear to belong to the Tobruk and Regelbau category. These bunkers,
like others scattered along the Adriatic Riviera, were built by the Todt
Organization and served as coastal defense to counter a possible Allied
landing (on the model of what then happened in Normandy). An original
German painting[38] was also found inside the Regelbau 668 bunker,
located near the Canal Port of Cervia.
Salt pans
The "Salina di Cervia" natural animal population reserve
was established with a ministerial decree in 1979. Nearby are the Terme
di Cervia, which still uses its salt water to treat joint and
respiratory diseases.
The Cervia Salina Nature Reserve is
testimony to the city's connection to its Salinas. Inside the park there
is the industrially harvested salt production plant and the ancient
Salina Camillone where it continues to be harvested by hand using the
"Cervia method". Cervia salt is called the "sweet salt" due to a limited
presence of bitter components, such as magnesium, calcium, potassium
sulphates and magnesium chloride, which provide that aftertaste tending
towards bitterness.
Pine forest
A large pine forest, of
approximately 260 hectares, includes the areas of Milano Marittima,
Cervia, Pinarella and Tagliata.
The pine forest has always been
characteristic of these places, together with that of Classe. After the
Porto canal, in fact until quite recent times only the church of
Sant'Antonio existed with the adjacent convent of the Observant Minor
Friars. The pine forest began immediately after the church, and included
pines, junipers, oaks, ash trees and willows. The undergrowth was mostly
composed of brambles, olives, privet, plum trees, wild vines and roses.
Libraries
The Maria Goia Library, located in the central building
of the Giovanni Pascoli School since 2004, has around 85,000 works and
is named after Maria Goia, a trade unionist who proposed the first
circulating library in Italy. It coordinates a series of civic libraries
in other local public services, such as Informagiovani, the SeiDonna
Help Desk and the Cervese Resource Centre.
Schools
In the
municipal area there are eight nursery schools (as well as three other
private/private schools), eleven primary schools, two lower secondary
schools and the "Tonino Guerra" State Professional Institute for Food
and Wine and Hotel Hospitality Services. .
Museums
MUSA - Salt
Museum
Located inside the "Torre" salt warehouse, MUSA is an
ethnographic museum born from the activity of the cultural group Civiltà
Salinara for the memory of work in the salt pans, and collects
documents, tools and photos that testify to the environment and the
production of salt . Musa is recognized as a Quality Museum of the
Emilia-Romagna Region.
Ecomuseum of salt and the sea of Cervia
The ecomuseum is made up of 28 places called "Antennes". Documents,
photographs, tools used to produce salt are preserved there, as well as
a model of the Cervia salt pans. A salt crystal weighing approximately
15 kg is also preserved.
Cervia literary prize
It was created by the Cervia Autonomous
Tourist and Tourism Company, with the aim of enhancing the bathing
season (the awards ceremony, in fact, was set for August). Works of any
literary genre could be submitted (poetry, fiction, theatre, etc.). The
event was interrupted in 1940 due to Italy's entry into the Second World
War.
In 1956 the poetic Trebbo of Italian poetry was born in
Cervia. The idea of presenting the reading of poetic texts in contact
with the public came from two young poetry enthusiasts: Antonio (Toni)
Comello and Walter Della Monaca. The two were inspired by the Romagna
tradition of trebbo (treb in dialect). The event contributed to
spreading poetic culture at a national level.
The program
included an initial speech, in which the meaning of the poems on the
program was explained, a first part, dedicated to the reading of poems
from the past (from Dante to Giovanni Pascoli), and a second part,
dedicated to the reading of texts by contemporary poets . The initiative
immediately met with considerable success, so much so that the creators
managed to re-propose it in all regions of Italy and also abroad, where
the presence of Italian immigrants was significant. The initiative was
repeated until 1960, when the partnership between Comello and Della
Monica broke up.
Cervia Environment Award
It was established
by the Cervia Ambiente Foundation «in favor of scholars, researchers,
cities and scientific institutions that have distinguished themselves on
environmental issues». The first edition was held in 1973. The winners
include the names of: Jacques Cousteau (1976), Folco Quilici (1977),
Piero Angela (1981), Vandana Shiva (2006) and Jean-Paul Fitoussi (2010).
The last winner was, in 2022, Vincenzo Balzani.
International
Kite Festival
Born in 1981 from an idea by Claudio Capelli, the
festival takes place on the free beach of Lungomare Grazia Deledda in
the penultimate weekend of March and attracts numerous foreign guests.
Marriage of the sea
The tradition dates back to 1445, when the
bishop, returning from Venice, encountered a storm. Realizing that he
was about to sink, the bishop invoked God and threw the episcopal ring
into the water to calm the fury of the waters. And so it happened. Since
that year, every first Sunday of May the bishop repeats throwing the
ring into the sea as a gesture of good luck. Traditionally, lifeguards
and fishermen on the Riviera dive into the water to retrieve the ring.
The evening party on the port is dedicated to those who find it.
Cervia garden city - May in Bloom
Founded in 1973, it is one of the
largest open-air floral exhibitions in Europe.
Flavor of salt
Festival dedicated to the sweet salt of Cervia, which has been taking
place since 1998. The anniversary falls in the second weekend of
September. The re-enactment of the salt warehouse (Armèsa d'è Sel) is
the central moment of the festival, when on Saturday afternoon the
burchiella, the flat-bottomed boat used for transporting salt, arrives
from the salt pans at the canal port in front of the Magazzini del Halls
for the auspicious distribution of white gold to all those present.
Salt path
In 1440 Pietro Barbo was appointed bishop of Cervia by
Pope Eugene IV. To thank the pontiff, in 1444 he wanted to give him a
gift. In June he had the salfiore, or the "flower of the salt pan",
which is the most prized product of the salt pans, harvested. Then he
sent a delegation to the Vatican to donate it to the Pope. The mission
was repeated every year: the salfiore thus became "the Pope's salt". The
white gold arrived on the papal table until 1870, when the State of the
Church fell (of which Cervia was also part until 1859). The tradition of
Delivery was revived in 2003.
The oldest human discovery in the area took place in the
Montaletto hamlet: most likely it is a Bronze Age shepherds camp
dating back to about 3,000-1,000 years before Christ.
The
salt pans were probably already active in the Etruscan age, as the
remodeling during urban works carried out in recent years would
indicate. It is possible that there were lodgings, or perhaps
settlements, for the salt workers, even seasonal ones; the findings
indicate a certain population density as early as the 1st century
BC.
Until the whole Roman age the city kept the name of
Ficocle. It was destroyed by the exarch Theodore in 709 and later
built as a fortified city, exactly in the center of the salt pans.
The two toponyms Ficocle and Cervia, which initially indicated,
according to the most accredited hypothesis of the historian Guido
Achille, the city and its port, after the rebuilding merged into the
second.
From the dawn of Christianity to the eighth century
Christianity spread to Cervia from nearby Ravenna. Starting from the
fifth century, some written documents refer to the city of Ficocle,
even without providing descriptions. The acts of the synod called in
Rome in 499 by Pope Symmachus register Gerontius, bishop of Ficocle,
among the participants. He is the first bishop of the city mentioned
in a historical document. Gerontius, while returning to his own
diocese, was killed near Cagli, and subsequently declared a saint;
this death is mentioned in the martyrology. The Bollandists report
the life of San Geronzio, albeit with exclusive reference to Cagli.
Documents also show that on 11 January 595, when the Archbishop
of Ravenna died, his successor also boasted the title of Bishop of
Ficocle. In the same year, the chartularius Maurizio, supporting a
revolt of soldiers in Rome, entered the conflict with the Exarch of
Ravenna Isacio, was defeated, captured, taken to Romagna and
beheaded in the place where Ficundae nomen est (Ficocle), twelve
miles from Ravenna.
From that time until 649 there is no
other news except that Mauro, Archbishop of Ravenna, unable to
attend the Council of Rome, summoned by Pope Martin, sent in his
stead Mauro, Bishop of Cesena, and Diodato, a priest from Ravenna;
and at the same council there were many bishops subject to Ravenna,
among which Bono, Bishop of Ficocle is mentioned.
In 709
Ficocle suffered the fate usually destined for the vanquished. In
fact, historians narrate that the Byzantine emperor Justinian II
ordered the stratego of Sicily Theodore to go immediately to Ravenna
to submit Archbishop Felice, guilty of having rebelled, to the
Church of Rome. The archbishop and his entourage, having learned of
the matter, asked for help from all the cities of the Flaminia, and
all the Exarchate, and from the suffragan churches, among which the
following are named: the Ficoclese, the Comacchiese, the
Forlimpopoli and those of Cesena, Imola and Faenza. In 755 Pippin
gave the Pentapolis to Pope Zaccaria, which included Ravenna,
Cesena, Classe, Forlì and Forlimpopoli.
Tomaso Tomai,
historian of Ravenna, narrating about this event wrote:
"[...] that the leaders of the faction with every study endeavored
to call for help from all the cities of Romagna, as well as from
Ficocle, then a great city"
(Tomaso Tomai)
It was in this circumstance that Altobello Laschi, valiant
citizen of Ficocle, went with a militia to the rescue of Ravenna and
fought the army of Theodore making him lose many men, but this
effort was of little help against the number of imperial soldiers,
much higher. to its few strengths. The result that followed was the
sacking of the city of Ravenna.
Theodore, at this point,
turned against the town of Romagna and, since the inhabitants had
learned of the imminent extermination and had fled the city, finding
it empty, he raged against the walls and destroyed it from the
foundations.
This destruction did not sanction the end of the
small town of Ficocle, which gradually rose again thanks to the
surviving citizens, refugees in the center of the salt pans: over
time the new town was identified with the name of Cervia.
From the change of name to the 15th century
The first documents
on Cervia date back to the early Middle Ages, towards the 10th
century and mainly concern its salt pans, it is in fact in this
period that the transformation of the marsh into a salt basin
probably ends and the salt production is at full capacity. The
dependence of the bishopric of Cervia is towards that of Ravenna is
both patrimonial and ecclesiastical until at least the whole of the
eleventh century.
At the beginning of the 13th century Cervia changed hands several
times between Ravenna, Forlì and Bologna. In 1233 the powerful
Orsarola family, through the Bishop Giovanni Orsarolo, tried to take
over the lordship of Cervia by subtracting the people of Cervia from
the obligation of the tribute to the Archbishop of Ravenna but the
Ravenna people invaded Cervia, occupied the episcopal palace and
stole the archive bringing back Cervia under the control of Ravenna.
In 1241, being under the dominion of Forlì, Cervia called the
Venetians to free it and remained under their dominion until 1253
when it was occupied by the Bolognese and shortly thereafter taken
again by the Forlì people. In 1274 the people of Cervia, tired of
these quarrels between neighboring municipalities, offered
dedication to the nearby Venetian Republic, represented by the Doge
Lorenzo Tiepolo and therefore it was ruled by a praetor-captain
until 1316.
The 14th century it is a troubled period in which
we witness the passage of the Italian municipalities to the Lords.
In Cervia it is the local Leoni family who gives the control of the
city to the lords of Ravenna Da Polenta. In 1383 Cervia was taken by
the Malatesta, lords of Rimini and part of Romagna.
From 1441
with the deposition of Ostasio III da Polenta, Cervia like Ravenna
entered the Venetian domains even if for a few years a local Podestà
remained to hold it, in 1262 it was a Domenico Malatesta. Only from
1463 begins the presence of Venetian nobles with the office of
Podestà, Visdomino or Provveditore.
In 1509, overwhelmed by
the war against the League of Cambray, the Republic of Venice was
forced to surrender Romagna to the Pope in an attempt to break the
powerful opposing line-up and change the structure of the alliances.
Thus in May 1509 Cervia passes under the State of the Church.
The first images of Cervia are from some 15th-century maps in
which it appears as a fortified city surrounded by salt flats. It
has three entrances connected to the mainland by drawbridges, a
Palazzo Priorale, seven churches and a defensive fortress wanted,
according to legend, by Barbarossa.
From the 16th century to
1697
From the 16th century, the coasts of Cervia were threatened
by the raids of pirates stationed in the ports of North Africa (the
"pirates"), at the time the territory of the Ottoman Empire. The
raids were aimed at looting both material goods and human beings.
People taken prisoner were sold as slaves in the port of Algiers.
Cervia was attacked because it was famous above all for its salt
flats. The city suffered considerable damage. The first sighting of
a pirate ship overlooking the port of Cervia dates back to March
1573. In 1581 there was the first kidnapping of men, in the attack
on a ship returning from Venice. The crew, after the capture, was
taken to Valona (in Ottoman territory), then taken to Algiers. Even
during the seventeenth century the corsair threat loomed over
Cervia.
In that period the life of the people of Cervia
worsened also due to the disastrous environmental conditions. The
canals that crossed the city and fed the salt flats were brackish
and drinking water was scarce. The area surrounding the salt pans
was dominated by marshes, called "valleys", and the malaria-carrying
mosquito was widespread. The seventeenth century crisis hit Cervia
heavily, reducing its inhabitants to a few hundred. We began to
think about the transfer of the town near the coast, in a healthier
geographical position. Finally, in 1689 the political power made a
first decision. The Treasurer of the Legation of Romagna,
Michelangelo Maffei, had a tower built on the embankment of the
watercourse which today constitutes the port channel to defend the
port from pirate attacks. He himself had it named after San Michele.
On the top were placed two cannons and a bell to ring in case of
sighting of pirate ships. To ensure the stowage of the salt produced
in the salt pans, a salt warehouse ("Magazzino Torre") was built in
1691 adjacent to Torre San Michele. It was a massive brick building
with few entrances and particularly large internally, so that it
could hold huge quantities of salt, up to 13,000 tons.
Subsequently, on November 9, 1697, Pope Innocent XII signed the
decree for the construction of the new city, located to the east
towards the coast line, in a healthier place, away from the salt
flats but with the advantage of being adjacent to the port. The
document indicated exactly the number of houses to be built, the
position of the Cathedral, the Bishop's Palace and the prisons for a
total cost of 35-40,000 scudi. The city was built like a fortress:
it was entirely surrounded by defensive walls. There were only two
access doors, and they were closed every evening. Inside, ample
space was left for the Magazzino del Sale and the defensive Torre
San Michele.
The city is located on the coast of the Adriatic
Sea, 20 km south of Ravenna, at an altitude of 5 m a.s.l. Between
Milano Marittima, Cervia, Pinarella and Tagliata there is a pine
forest of about 260 hectares, of which 27 are part of the natural
park. Together with the natural reserve of the salt pans, which
occupies an area of 827 hectares, where avocets, black-winged
stilts, egrets and mallards nest and pink flamingos pass, it forms
the southern station of the Po Delta Regional Park. north of the
municipal area is washed by the river Savio which marks the border
with the municipality of Ravenna.
The sea and the coast
Cervia has more than 9 km of beaches. The periodic checks on the
purity of the water, carried out periodically by ARPA, have
guaranteed the city the Blue Flag of the Foundation for
Environmental Education, for the twenty-first time in 2016.
The levels of this waste water have always been optimal in recent
years, except for a few small surveys in 2002 and 2004 which
triggered the alarms; at the subsequent checks, the quality of the
water immediately returned to within the norm.
Lately, in the
summer the phenomenon of eutrophication has sometimes occurred, with
the consequent coming to the shore of the mucilage, which since 1729
(first historical documentation) has hit the waters of the Adriatic
Sea 26 times.
Based on the reference thirty-year
average (1982-2012), the average temperature of the coldest month,
January, is 3.1 ° C; that of the hottest month, 22.7 ° C.
Average annual rainfall, less than 700 mm and distributed on average
over 78 days, has a relative minimum in winter and late spring and a
moderate peak between summer and autumn, in a context of a rather
regular annual quantitative distribution.