Comune di Fanano

There are 7 outlying villages in the Fanano municipal area: Canevare, Fellicarolo, Ospitale, Serrazzone, Trignano, Trentino and Lotta. They are the end of roads radiating out from Fanano itself, which form a distinctive valley system.

Canevare takes its name from the hemp (“canapa”) which used to be grown here. The original core of the village was already well consolidated in the XVII Century; it stands on the southern slopes of Mount Calvanella, well into a valley on the side of Mount Cimone, to which it is linked by the single road which climbs up to Pian Cavallaro, where the Cimoncino ski resort is located. The vibrant tourist trade generated by this location has considerably boosted the local economy. The village stands around the central Piazza dei Falchi, also the site of the Parish Church of S. Michele, across which the road to Cimone runs.

Fellicarolo faces Canevare from the steep right bank of the Fellicarolo river; a bridge with a single large flattened arch leads across the river to the village. The village is somewhat unfocused; the Church of S. Pietro stands amongst a constellation of separate homesteads which fan out across the valley, mainly in its upper section. This scattered layout is the result of the rebuilding necessary after a disastrous landslide struck the area in 1779. Fellicarolo is on the way to the scenic Taburri picnic spot, the Doccione waterfall and Mount Libro Aperto.

In the early XX Century, in 1911, Ospitale was the most densely populated of Fanano’s outlying settlements, with 1365 inhabitants. The economy was based on the harvesting of woodland produce, timber, chestnut-growing, charcoal-making and, above all, sheep, grazed on the common pasture lands already in existence at the time of Saint Anselm, founder of the hospice dedicated to St James, which dates from 751 and was established to give shelter to those travelling the Via Romea Nonantolana to Tuscany over the Calanca - Croce Arcana pass (1669 metres above sea level), and for use as an outpost in the war between Lombards and Byzantines, a traditional function for such foundations. The hospice was still fully operational in the XV Century. The Parish Church of S. Giacomo stands on the site of the hospice, and marks the centre of the village, through which the road to the Pass to Tuscany still runs.

Serrazzone is a very ancient settlement, standing on the Via Romea Nonantolana, in a frontier zone above the Leo river, claimed by both Modena and Bologna. Next to the Parish Church, dedicated to the Nativity of the Virgin Mary, a track leads off up the steep hillside to Lake Pratignano, passing through ancient places including Monte Luzzo (the Parish of Monteluccio in the XIII Century), Val di Fredda and Pian della Farnia. Today’s small village retains nothing of significance from its past history; its centre is simply a small group of modern houses.

The name of Trentino probably derives from the milestones of a road which ran through the area in Roman times, confirming the age of the road linking the valley of Ospitale with that of the Lima river in Tuscany. Trentino belonged to the Province of Sestola until 1658; after that, it passed from one aristocratic family to another until the French Revolution. The centre of the village is a short distance from the Parish Church of S. Lorenzo, in an elevated position which gave a good view of the road leading from Valdisasso. Today’s village retains virtually nothing of the complex structure which records reveal to have stood on the site once; only the Chapel of S. Rocco remains in the centre of the small square, but facing it, a stone archway on a house is carved with the words “PRETORIUM TRENTINI 1803”: this was once the Town Hall.

Trignano’s importance, after the foundation of the Monastery at Fanano by St Anselm in 750, arose from its location on the route of the Via Romea Nonantolana which, in this section on the border with the Province of Bologna, was protected by fortified outposts such as Rocca Corneta in the Municipality of Lizzano in Belvedere, Trignano and Serrazzone, on the first high outcrops of the Apennines. The Parish Church of S. Pietro and S. Giusto now stands in isolation on the plateau, next to the old road which climbs up the left bank of the Dardagna river, where the old houses of Poggiolino and Osteria stand in line, before dropping down to Trignano Mill.

It appears that the name of this village derives from “lotta”, or wrestling, which apparently took place here. Placed under the jurisdiction of Sestola, the people of Lotta attempted to claim their independence, associating themselves partly with Serrazzone in 1314 and then with Fanano in 1322. After becoming an independent municipality in 1367, Lotta merged with Fanano in 1447. An independent town again in 1492, it is mentioned in many official documents of the XV Century as a flourishing hemp-growing centre. In 1590, a large landslide which started just below Sestola destroyed 109 houses at a Lotta, meaning almost the entire settlement, including the church. At present, the village’s centre is the square in front of the Parish Church of S. Margherita.