Comune di Fanano
dove mi trovo : Introduction - History
History
As time does not belong to me
Although I always tell it,
No certain time is yours, O traveller.
(Fanano Clock Tower, inscription dated October 20th, 1609)
The most mountainous sector of the Province of Modena has always been part of the Frignano area, which comprises almost all the southern part of the Province, from the Apennine foothills to the watershed ridge. Over the centuries this geographical area, its name perhaps derived from the Etruscan-Latin place-name Feronia or the name of its earliest inhabitants, the Friniantes Ligurians, has enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and acquired an independent spirit which still survives in the local culture today. The lie of the land, dominated by the highest peaks in the northern Apennines, with Mount Cimone (2165 metres) towering above them all, has enabled the local peoples to put up particularly effective resistance to occupation by enemy troops on more than one occasion.
The first traces of human activity date from around 4500 BC, but the earliest settlements of any significance can be traced to the III Century BC, when the Ligurian tribes of the Po Plain were driven back towards the Scoltenna river by Etruscans and Boii Gauls. During the centuries which followed the Romans only defeated the native peoples’ resistance after a war lasting more than fifty years, and they kept the region under separate administration from Mutina (present-day Modena).
Fanano, together with its sister municipalities of Sestola, Montecreto, Riolunato, Pievepelago and Fiumalbo, belongs to the Alto Frignano, or Upper Frignano area; all these towns lie around the base of Mount Cimone and they all, except Pievepelago, have territory which reaches up towards the mountain’s summit, underlining its centrality to their identity. And in history its nearness to Cimone has been key to the zone’s development, placing it at a commercial and cultural crossroads but also making it the target of wars of conquest.
The origins of Fanano itself are lost in time. Its name, recorded from the VIII Century, is thought to be a version of “Fannianus”, both the name of a person and referring to the presence of a “Fannius”, proven by a late-Roman funerary monument in Modena.
The town may thus have been founded in the period after 176 BC, when the Romans defeated the warlike, indomitable local peoples referred to by the historian Livy as the “Liguri Friniantes”, although local place names prove that the area had also been settled by Etruscans, for whom it was a frontier land.
In the Roman era the Frignano, and the Fanano area, were crossed by roads leaving up to passes over the mountains into Tuscany; lost after the barbarian invasions, these roads were slowly to be restored in the Middle Ages.
There are some indications that Saint Columbanus may have been in or near Fanano in the early VII Century, establishing a monastery which predated the famous foundation at Bobbio. There is still a church dedicated to him in the centre of the town.
In the VII Century, central-northern Italy was divided between the lands conquered by the Byzantines and those held by the Lombards; the Roman roads which had previously been the main communication routs (such as the Via Flaminia Emilia) were occupied in sectors by two opposing armed camps, and were thus unusable over long distances. The Lombards in the area around Modena, who had extended their territory to beyond the River Reno with Liutprand’s campaign in 727 AD, needed safe communications routes as far as possible from the Byzantine outposts. This reorganisation of the road network was undertaken by King Astolfus, who in 749 donated the lands of Fanano and Sestola to his brother-in-law Anselm (later to be Saint Anselm), previously Duke of Friuli. »After renouncing his dukedom for the monk’s habit, Anselm founded the Monastery of the Holy Saviour at Fanano, presumably in the area still known today as “Abà” and “Badiola” (which derive from “abbazia”), and a Benedictine hospice dedicated to St James in the Val di Lamola (now the Valley of Ospitale), essential to supply the needs of travellers crossing the Apennines. Few traces now remain of the buildings which once gave shelter to wayfarers and pilgrims, but their locations are known and make it possible to trace the routes of the old roads even today.
In the year 751, again on Astolfus’s invitation, Anselm moved to Nonantola and founded the Abbey (today a fine Romanesque building and a magnificent monument to the Benedictine tradition). The move was probably made not just on religious grounds but also for political and military reasons, due to the need to oversee the lands near Ferrara and Bologna where the Byzantines still posed a threat, and give the borders of the Lombard kingdom an air of inviolability by adding the sacred authority of a monastic foundation.
The Fanano monastery and all its endowments therefore passed under the jurisdiction of Nonantola, which became the central node of the new road network.
The road which linked the two Benedictine monasteries founded by Anselm - the Via Romea Nonantolana - continued past Fanano to link north-eastern Europe to Rome. It was of great strategic performance, as across the Calanca Pass it gave access to the Lombard dukedoms of Spoleto and Benevento, and it was travelled by armies, royal courts, wayfarers and pilgrims on their way to Rome.
Although I always tell it,
No certain time is yours, O traveller.
(Fanano Clock Tower, inscription dated October 20th, 1609)
The most mountainous sector of the Province of Modena has always been part of the Frignano area, which comprises almost all the southern part of the Province, from the Apennine foothills to the watershed ridge. Over the centuries this geographical area, its name perhaps derived from the Etruscan-Latin place-name Feronia or the name of its earliest inhabitants, the Friniantes Ligurians, has enjoyed a high degree of autonomy and acquired an independent spirit which still survives in the local culture today. The lie of the land, dominated by the highest peaks in the northern Apennines, with Mount Cimone (2165 metres) towering above them all, has enabled the local peoples to put up particularly effective resistance to occupation by enemy troops on more than one occasion.
The first traces of human activity date from around 4500 BC, but the earliest settlements of any significance can be traced to the III Century BC, when the Ligurian tribes of the Po Plain were driven back towards the Scoltenna river by Etruscans and Boii Gauls. During the centuries which followed the Romans only defeated the native peoples’ resistance after a war lasting more than fifty years, and they kept the region under separate administration from Mutina (present-day Modena).
Fanano, together with its sister municipalities of Sestola, Montecreto, Riolunato, Pievepelago and Fiumalbo, belongs to the Alto Frignano, or Upper Frignano area; all these towns lie around the base of Mount Cimone and they all, except Pievepelago, have territory which reaches up towards the mountain’s summit, underlining its centrality to their identity. And in history its nearness to Cimone has been key to the zone’s development, placing it at a commercial and cultural crossroads but also making it the target of wars of conquest.
The origins of Fanano itself are lost in time. Its name, recorded from the VIII Century, is thought to be a version of “Fannianus”, both the name of a person and referring to the presence of a “Fannius”, proven by a late-Roman funerary monument in Modena.
The town may thus have been founded in the period after 176 BC, when the Romans defeated the warlike, indomitable local peoples referred to by the historian Livy as the “Liguri Friniantes”, although local place names prove that the area had also been settled by Etruscans, for whom it was a frontier land.
In the Roman era the Frignano, and the Fanano area, were crossed by roads leaving up to passes over the mountains into Tuscany; lost after the barbarian invasions, these roads were slowly to be restored in the Middle Ages.
There are some indications that Saint Columbanus may have been in or near Fanano in the early VII Century, establishing a monastery which predated the famous foundation at Bobbio. There is still a church dedicated to him in the centre of the town.
In the VII Century, central-northern Italy was divided between the lands conquered by the Byzantines and those held by the Lombards; the Roman roads which had previously been the main communication routs (such as the Via Flaminia Emilia) were occupied in sectors by two opposing armed camps, and were thus unusable over long distances. The Lombards in the area around Modena, who had extended their territory to beyond the River Reno with Liutprand’s campaign in 727 AD, needed safe communications routes as far as possible from the Byzantine outposts. This reorganisation of the road network was undertaken by King Astolfus, who in 749 donated the lands of Fanano and Sestola to his brother-in-law Anselm (later to be Saint Anselm), previously Duke of Friuli. »After renouncing his dukedom for the monk’s habit, Anselm founded the Monastery of the Holy Saviour at Fanano, presumably in the area still known today as “Abà” and “Badiola” (which derive from “abbazia”), and a Benedictine hospice dedicated to St James in the Val di Lamola (now the Valley of Ospitale), essential to supply the needs of travellers crossing the Apennines. Few traces now remain of the buildings which once gave shelter to wayfarers and pilgrims, but their locations are known and make it possible to trace the routes of the old roads even today.
In the year 751, again on Astolfus’s invitation, Anselm moved to Nonantola and founded the Abbey (today a fine Romanesque building and a magnificent monument to the Benedictine tradition). The move was probably made not just on religious grounds but also for political and military reasons, due to the need to oversee the lands near Ferrara and Bologna where the Byzantines still posed a threat, and give the borders of the Lombard kingdom an air of inviolability by adding the sacred authority of a monastic foundation.
The Fanano monastery and all its endowments therefore passed under the jurisdiction of Nonantola, which became the central node of the new road network.
The road which linked the two Benedictine monasteries founded by Anselm - the Via Romea Nonantolana - continued past Fanano to link north-eastern Europe to Rome. It was of great strategic performance, as across the Calanca Pass it gave access to the Lombard dukedoms of Spoleto and Benevento, and it was travelled by armies, royal courts, wayfarers and pilgrims on their way to Rome.
However, the distances and the difficulties in communications made the effective government of the two monasteries impossible, and they were placed under the administration and superintendence of leading local laymen, who took the title of Rectors. The Hospice in today’s Valley of Ospitale continued to function until the XVII Century, providing charitable assistance to the pilgrims travelling the Via Romea Nonantolana.
As Nonantola’s power waned before the rise of the two rival cities of Modena and Bologna, the lands crossed by the Via Romea Nonantolana were no longer under unified rule. This led to the decline and fragmentation of the route, although an old road near Fanano is recorded throughout the feudal period and is referred to as the “Mutina Pistoria” in a treaty signed between the cities of Modena and Pistoia in 1225.
In the XI and early XII Centuries, during the feudal period of the faction-fighting between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, Fanano was assigned to the overlordship of the "milites de Feroniano”; organised in a single federation with the forces of Modena, in 1205 it became the largest constituent part of the Frignano Federation.
In the XIII Century, after the bloody conflicts between Modena and Bologna, the Frignano eventually submitted to the rule of the Este family.
Documented as a Commune in 1263 and again in 1321, Fanano still came under the domination of the Este, expressed through the imperial investiture of the local castles and membership of the Province of Sestola; in 1347 Fanano solemnly swore fealty to Obizzo Filippo Gonzaga (thus allying itself with the Ghibelline faction). Keeping its oath, it supported the Este side in the various battles of 1343 and in the rebellion against Papal rule in 1510 and 1597.
The many defensive buildings still scattered across the mountains date from this century. A large number of castles, protected by high ramparts and clinging to the steepest of rocks, were built on the ruins of older strongholds: this period also saw the construction of the Castle of Fanano with its walls known as the “Baraccane”, from which the Poggiolo Tower still survives today, even though Fanano already had fortifications as early as the end of the XI Century.
The periods of relative tranquillity under Este rule saw the start of the systematic exploitation of the area’s natural resources. The force of the many watercourses was used to turn millstones, and the many chestnut drying-barns (“metati”) in the area suggest that chestnuts were the main product for milling. But the economy of the mountain area was based above all on livestock, especially sheep: the excellent quality of the wool from the Modena area was already famous in Roman times. Place-names like Canevare, a village in the Fanano municipality, reminds us that hemp (“canapa”) was not only grown on the Po Plain but also in the mountains, where favourable conditions could be found. But the vast forests which clad the mountain slopes were the most important natural resource.
At the end of the XIII Century, the City of Modena granted Fanano the right to hold a monthly free market, which became a major centre of trade for the mountain area. With its good communications and trade with nearby Tuscany, Fanano enjoyed a period of economic growth.
However, with the construction of the Via Vandelli and later of the Via Giardini, the town lost its privileged position as a communications hub, and this began its slow decline, peaking in the early XX Century when emigration led to the depopulation of the mountainous zones.
In 1433 Fanano played host to Cosimo dé Medici after he was driven from Florence, and it also received Pope Eugene VI. It took part in the battles of the Este family, and the Flanders and Garfagnana and in 1642 it was present in the struggle against the Barberini. In 1707 it took part in the expulsion of the French from Sestola, from 1734 to 1738 in the War of Polish Succession and from 1742 to 1748 in the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1831, inspired by the Carbonari movement, it rebelled against Duke Francesco IV, who in 1833 handed down harsh punishment to the Fanano Carbonari and deprived the town of its public offices.
After sending its representatives to fight in the Wars of Independence and sacrificing more than 100 townspeople in the World War of 1915/18, from 1944 to the spring of 1945 Fanano was the scene of fierce struggle between the German occupying forces and the Liberation Movement. The Germans dug in on one side of the mountains with the Americans on the other. The fortified Gothic Line ran across the area.
As Nonantola’s power waned before the rise of the two rival cities of Modena and Bologna, the lands crossed by the Via Romea Nonantolana were no longer under unified rule. This led to the decline and fragmentation of the route, although an old road near Fanano is recorded throughout the feudal period and is referred to as the “Mutina Pistoria” in a treaty signed between the cities of Modena and Pistoia in 1225.
In the XI and early XII Centuries, during the feudal period of the faction-fighting between the Guelphs and Ghibellines, Fanano was assigned to the overlordship of the "milites de Feroniano”; organised in a single federation with the forces of Modena, in 1205 it became the largest constituent part of the Frignano Federation.
In the XIII Century, after the bloody conflicts between Modena and Bologna, the Frignano eventually submitted to the rule of the Este family.
Documented as a Commune in 1263 and again in 1321, Fanano still came under the domination of the Este, expressed through the imperial investiture of the local castles and membership of the Province of Sestola; in 1347 Fanano solemnly swore fealty to Obizzo Filippo Gonzaga (thus allying itself with the Ghibelline faction). Keeping its oath, it supported the Este side in the various battles of 1343 and in the rebellion against Papal rule in 1510 and 1597.
The many defensive buildings still scattered across the mountains date from this century. A large number of castles, protected by high ramparts and clinging to the steepest of rocks, were built on the ruins of older strongholds: this period also saw the construction of the Castle of Fanano with its walls known as the “Baraccane”, from which the Poggiolo Tower still survives today, even though Fanano already had fortifications as early as the end of the XI Century.
The periods of relative tranquillity under Este rule saw the start of the systematic exploitation of the area’s natural resources. The force of the many watercourses was used to turn millstones, and the many chestnut drying-barns (“metati”) in the area suggest that chestnuts were the main product for milling. But the economy of the mountain area was based above all on livestock, especially sheep: the excellent quality of the wool from the Modena area was already famous in Roman times. Place-names like Canevare, a village in the Fanano municipality, reminds us that hemp (“canapa”) was not only grown on the Po Plain but also in the mountains, where favourable conditions could be found. But the vast forests which clad the mountain slopes were the most important natural resource.
At the end of the XIII Century, the City of Modena granted Fanano the right to hold a monthly free market, which became a major centre of trade for the mountain area. With its good communications and trade with nearby Tuscany, Fanano enjoyed a period of economic growth.
However, with the construction of the Via Vandelli and later of the Via Giardini, the town lost its privileged position as a communications hub, and this began its slow decline, peaking in the early XX Century when emigration led to the depopulation of the mountainous zones.
In 1433 Fanano played host to Cosimo dé Medici after he was driven from Florence, and it also received Pope Eugene VI. It took part in the battles of the Este family, and the Flanders and Garfagnana and in 1642 it was present in the struggle against the Barberini. In 1707 it took part in the expulsion of the French from Sestola, from 1734 to 1738 in the War of Polish Succession and from 1742 to 1748 in the War of the Austrian Succession. In 1831, inspired by the Carbonari movement, it rebelled against Duke Francesco IV, who in 1833 handed down harsh punishment to the Fanano Carbonari and deprived the town of its public offices.
After sending its representatives to fight in the Wars of Independence and sacrificing more than 100 townspeople in the World War of 1915/18, from 1944 to the spring of 1945 Fanano was the scene of fierce struggle between the German occupying forces and the Liberation Movement. The Germans dug in on one side of the mountains with the Americans on the other. The fortified Gothic Line ran across the area.
Fanano however has retained a sort of religious primacy amongst the various towns of the Frignano area, reflected even today by its many religious buildings, deriving from the presence over the centuries of a large number of religious communities which founded schools and educated the local population. It must be thanks to their work that there have been an impressive number of illustrious men born in Fanano, who especially since the XVI Century have distinguished themselves in literature, philosophy, the sciences, inventions and discoveries, and generous philanthropic ventures. The main religious communities active in Fanano have been:
- The Benedictine Monks (749-753), who founded two schools: one for members of the order, called the “Scola claustri” and the other for lay students, the “Schola canonica o externa”, which closed, presumably in 753 when the monks moved to Nonantola;
- The Franciscan Friars Minor Conventual (1230-1768). In 1635, after a large donation, the Monastery was transformed into a Boarding School for the education of the sons of the bourgeoisie. The monastery ceased to exist in 1768 when it was merged with the foundation at Fiumalbo;
- The Poor Clares (from 1597 to the present day). Starting in 1599, this convent provided an education in reading, writing, arithmetic, needlework, drawing, embroidery and religion to wealthy girls and those from poorer families. The wealthier pupils paid higher fees to maintain their poorer fellow students. The school was closed in 1890;
- Chierici delle Scuole Pie, Scolopi Fathers (1619-1810). The school was opened on July 7th 1621, and accordance with the educational rule established by Saint Joseph Calasanzio, it fostered wisdom and the Christian virtues. In July 1621, to cater for the large number of pupils, an upper school providing teaching in the sciences and the humanities was established in addition to the primary school. Two years later, a noviciate with a formal course in grammar was opened. The school was closed by Napoleon I in 1810. The famous sons of Fanano who attended this school included O. Corsini, N. Pedrocchi and G. Sabbatini.
- The Capuchin Sisters (from 1702 to the present day). In 1707 Don Gian Battista Eugenio Lolli opened a day-school for girls teaching reading writing, arithmetic, drawing, embroidery and all other skills “suitable for women”; in addition, the most promising pupils received a classical education. This school was also suppressed by Napoleon I in 1810; however, it was reopened by 1816 on the advice of Francesco Maria d’Este, Bishop of Reggio.
- Finally, mention should be made of the Convitto degli Scolari di Legge (College of Law) founded in 1821 by Francesco IV. The Duke, worried by the Carbonari uprisings of 1821 and fearing that the concentration of young men at the University of Modena might encourage the spread of the Carbonari’s ideas, decided to move the law students outside the city to Colleges established at Fanano, Reggio and Mirandola. However, Fanano took part in the Carbonari uprisings of 1831 and 1833, and therefore in 1835 Francesco IV ordered the immediate closure of the College.