Duomo

The current appearance of the Cathedral is due to the reconstruction of 1970, following the damage caused by the Germans in '44, and that of 1841 by Giulio Zambianchi. The cathedral, however, which has origins before the twelfth century, has undergone extensive restorations even in the '500 with the removal of Romanesque and Gothic structures to give it a Renaissance appearance. Today it presents a brick façade characterized by a neo-classical pronaos crowned by a tympanum of monumental proportions resting on six brick columns. The interior of the cathedral is divided into three naves with marble Corinthian columns and cross vaults. The nineteenth-century decorations of the side aisles and of the counter-façade (Heraclius carries the cross) are by Pompeo Randi. In the left aisle, the Romanesque Crucifix (at the back) and the magnificent chapel of the Madonna del Fuoco, designed by Domenico Paganelli and completed in 1636 to host the fourteenth-century image of the Madonna and Child, one of the oldest known woodcuts. The Madonna del Fuoco, patron of Forli, has been venerated near the cathedral since 1428, following the miracle.