Portico di Romagna

Portico was founded in ancient times along the road to Florence and came to be known first as a market place during the Roman times and later as a castle under the control of the Counts Guidi of Dovadola. From 1386 the Republic of Florence chose Portico as chief town of its Romagna territories. The village still retains its medieval appearance and is divided into three parts: the upper part with the castle and the parish church, the middle part facing Via Roma with the owners' and aristocratic houses from the 13th and 14th centuries inhabited by Romagna and Tuscan noble families who escaped here from political fights, and the lower part with the houses of craftsmen with their workshops and of common people built vertically (cellar, kitchen, bedroom and loft).


The name 'Portico' goes back to the Roman colonisation of Romagna (inhabited at that time by the Gauls) who built here the market gate.


The town belonged to the Holy See until 1164 when the emperor Frederick II of Swabia enfeoffed all the town to the Counts Guidi of Modigliana. The municipal coat of arms features an elm tree standing in the square under which the Podesta, from 1384 every year in the month of June, had by statute to read the laws to the people.


What to see: Palazzo Traversari with a memorial stone dedicated to Ambrogio dei Traversari, man of letter and prior of Camaldolite friars, who headed the Councils of Ferrara and Florence in the 15th century; Palazzo Portinari, from the 12th century, probably property of Folco, the father of Dante Alighieri's beloved Beatrice, built in Florentine style with a balcony and small loggias leading to the tower. On the remains of the castle stands the Portinari Tower, once known as the castle tower of the Counts Guidi, the Clock Tower from the 15th century and the parish church, and still in the upper part of the town is Palazzo del Podestà with the coats of arms of the Florentine Captains. In the lower part of the village a walk through the picturesque Borgo Piano is worth a mention and a bit further is the Ponte della Maestà (a humpbacked arch bridge built in the Middle Ages) on the river Montone. The area offers a wealth of excursions to be made, towards the Mount Busca, the Tramazzo Valley or through the Serra Pass towards Premilcuore in the Rabbi Valley or from Querciolano to Berleta in the Bidente valley.

Altitude: 333 mslm

How to get there

It is 38 km far from Forlì highway exit; it is 36 km far from Forlì railway station and airport.

To have tourist informations


Address: Comune di Portico - S. Benedetto - Via Marconi, 3
Telephone number: +39.0543.967047
Fax: +39.0543.967243

Sito WEB: http://www.comune.portico-e-san-benedetto.fc.it

Other news

The centre of the town is the starting point for a number of accessible trails and walks towards the ridges separating the Montone Valley from the Rabbi and Tramazzo Valleys.