Piazza Cavour, Rimini edit

Piazza Cavour
Public square
Former name(s): Piazza del Fonte, Piazza della Fontana
 
Piazza Cavour in July 2019
LocationRimini, Italy
Coordinates: 44°03′38.66″N 12°33′57.51″E / 44.0607389°N 12.5659750°E / 44.0607389; 12.5659750

Piazza Cavour is a public square in the city of Rimini, in the region of Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy.

The square lies at the intersection of Via Gambalunga with the Corso d'Augusto,[1] Rimini's principal street and the ancient Roman decumanus maximus.

History edit

The square may stand on the site of a late Roman forum in Rimini.[2] It assumed a primary role in the city from the Middle Ages,[2][3] when it was Rimini's primary town square, hosting the fish and vegetable market.[4] By the mid-1830s, the square was known as Piazza della Fontana or Piazza del Fonte.[5][6][7]

 
Piazza della Fontana in an 1832 engraving by Bernardo Rosaspina, showing the public ovens where the Amintore Galli Theatre now lies

Since the end of the 16th century, Rimini's public ovens were sited at the end of Piazza Cavour,[5][6][7] now replaced by the Amintore Galli Theatre, which was constructed between 1843 and 1857.[8]

A municipal council motion in March 1913 added regulations to a small market in Piazza Cavour, which was reserved to "spectacle sellers, trinket sellers, umbrella sellers, booksellers, and postcard vendors". According to the new regulations, the market would only be permitted during three summer months.[9]

Several buildings in the square were damaged by the 1916 Rimini earthquakes. The reconstruction between 1919 and 1925 remodelled buildings in a neo-medieval style.[2] On 21 September 1924, Benito Mussolini's first visit to Rimini as Italy's fascist dictator, in honour of the poet Giovanni Pascoli, culminated with a speech delivered from the balcony of the city hall to crowds who had assembled in Piazza Cavour.[10]

During the Second World War, Rimini's branch of the National Liberation Committee (CLN) was founded at a hotel on Piazza Cavour, moving after a week to a restaurant adjacent to the Vecchia Pescheria. To some irony, Rimini fascio had been founded at the Vecchia Pescheria on 24 March 1921. The local CLN headquarters later moved to Villa Verrucchio.[11]

Features and buildings edit

Piazza Cavour contains shops and cafés on one side, while the other contains historical buildings.[3] The city's fish and vegetable market is still organised in the square.[4]

Fontana della Pigna edit

It used to be the only source of drinking water in the city.[1] The fountain was praised by Leonardo da Vinci on his visit to Rimini in August 1502.[12] It was originally topped with a statue of St Paul, replaced in the 19th century by a pine cone, leading to its present name.[2]

Statue of Pope Paul V edit

The bronze statue of Pope Paul V in Piazza Cavour was sculpted by Nicolas Cordier and Sebastian Sebastiani between 1611 and 1614.[13][14]

In 1797, to save it from destruction by the Cisalpine Republic, the monument was modified to resemble Gaudentius of Rimini.[13][14] The papal triregnum was swapped for a bishop's mitre, with the statue holding a crosier in its left hand and the palm of its right hand open.[13] After the Rimini earthquake on 17 May 1916, Il Resto del Carlino reported: "The bronze statue of S. Gaudenzo in Piazza Cavour has moved from its base and the crosier has broken".[15]

The sculpture was restored to its original appearance by sculptor Filogenio Fabbri in 1939,[13][14] restoring the three fingers of the right hand raised in an act of blessing, and the keys to the city in the left hand.[13] Restoration in the winter of 2003–04 discovered that the triregnum had been engraved with 'Year XVI of the Fascist Era'.[14]

Palazzo Garampi edit

To make room for the palace, an adjacent church dedicated to St Sylvester was demolished.[2]

Palazzo dell'Arengo edit

The building was built in 1204.[1] The municipal council met on the first floor, while the judiciary occupied the ground floor.[1]

Palazzo del Podestà edit

On 9 September 1972, the building became home to the Museum of Primitive Arts (Museo delle Arti Primitivi), inaugurated by explorer Delfino Dinz Rialto. The museum, now known as the Museum of Glances (Museo degli Sguardi), later moved to Villa Alvarado on the Covignano hill.[16][17] It is one of Italy's main museums on the cultures of Africa, Oceania, and the pre-Columbian Americas.[17]

Amintore Galli Theatre edit

 
The façade of the Amintore Galli Theatre, June 2016

Inaugurated as the New Municipal Theatre (Italian: Teatro Nuovo Comunale) on 11 July 1857,[18][19] the Amintore Galli Theatre was designed by Luigi Poletti, and is considered one of his architectural masterpieces, marking the transition from the purist neoclassical school of his training.[20][21][22] Notably, the theatre hosted the world premiere of Giuseppe Verdi's Aroldo on 16 August 1857.[20][22][19] It was renovated after being damaged by the 1916 Rimini earthquakes, and flourished in Fascist Italy following its reopening in 1923.[21][22] During the Second World War, the theatre was severely damaged by Allied bombardment.[20][21][19][23] In 1947, the semi-destroyed theatre was renamed after Amintore Galli, a Valmarecchian music journalist and composer.[21][22][24] Following a complete restoration in the 2010s,[19][23] the Galli Theatre reopened on 28 October 2018.[21][19]

The theatre is managed directly by Rimini's municipal government,[20] and hosts musical events and cultural festivals, such as the Sagra Musicale Malatestiana. The theatre's atrium is also used for weddings.[19] The theatre can accommodate 800 spectators in its three tiers of boxes and gallery.[21][19]

Vecchia Pescheria edit

Built in 1747,[1][2] the portico of the Vecchia Pescheria housed Rimini's fish market, with benches of Istrian stone where fish caught by local boats would be sold.[1] It was designed by Francesco Buonamici.[2]

On 24 March 1921, the Vecchia Pescheria hosted the inaugural foundation of the Rimini fascio.[11]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Piazza Cavour, Rimini: cosa vedere, storia e mappa". Romagna.net (in Italian). Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Fariselli, Elisa (8 June 2022). "Piazza Cavour a Rimini" [Piazza Cavour in Rimini]. Il Romagnolo (in Italian). Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Piazza Cavour". Rimini Turismo (in Italian). 19 June 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  4. ^ a b "Piazza Cavour". www.rimini.com (in Italian). Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  5. ^ a b Ceroni, Nadia; Bortolotti, Lidia (14 April 2020). "Teatro Amintore Galli (Ex Vittorio Emanuele II)" [Amintore Galli Theatre (formerly Victor Emmanuel II)]. Ministry of Culture (in Italian). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  6. ^ a b "15 gennaio 1847 - Si lavora al Teatro di Rimini: fra le polemiche" [15 January 1847 – Work is underway at the Rimini Theatre: amid controversy]. Chiamami Città (in Italian). 15 January 2024. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  7. ^ a b Zaghini, Paolo (5 August 2019). "Il teatro di Rimini dalle origini alla rinascita" [Rimini's theatre from its origins to its rebirth]. Chiamami Città (in Italian). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  8. ^ Ceroni, Nadia; Bortolotti, Lidia (14 April 2020). "Teatro Amintore Galli (Ex Vittorio Emanuele II)" [Amintore Galli Theatre (formerly Victor Emmanuel II)]. Ministry of Culture (in Italian). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  9. ^ Masini, Manlio (2017). "Lavoro e dignità" [Labour and dignity] (PDF). Ariminum. January–February 2017 (in Italian). Rimini Rotary Club: 5. Retrieved 9 March 2024.
  10. ^ Catrani, Alessandro (2013). "Mussolini onora Giovanni Pascoli" [Mussolini honours Giovanni Pascoli] (PDF). Ariminum. July–August 2013 (in Italian). Rimini Rotary Club: 20–23. Retrieved 8 March 2024.
  11. ^ a b "Piazza Cavour / Vecchia pescheria – Sede CLN" [Piazza Cavour / Vecchia pescheria – CLN Headquarters]. resistenzamappe.it (in Italian). 14 June 2014. Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  12. ^ Mambelli, Alessandro (4 October 2021). "Leonardo da Vinci in Romagna" [Leonardo da Vinci in Romagna]. Il Romagnolo (in Italian). Retrieved 28 January 2024.
  13. ^ a b c d e "La Gambalunga racconta: San Gaudenzio patrono di Rimini" [Gambalunga tells: Saint Gaudentius, patron saint of Rimini]. Biblioteca Civica Gambalunga (in Italian). Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  14. ^ a b c d "San Gaudenzo, un santo senza pace" [San Gaudenzo: A saint without peace]. Rimini Sparita (in Italian). 23 September 2016. Retrieved 11 January 2024.
  15. ^ "I principali edifizi lesionati" [The main buildings damaged]. Il Resto del Carlino (in Italian). 19 May 1916. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
  16. ^ Zaghini, Paolo (4 August 2019). "Niki Pagliarani, il sindaco che diede a Rimini i parchi e i Peep" [Niki Pagliarani, the mayor who gave Rimini parks and the Peep]. Chiamami Città (in Italian). Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  17. ^ a b "Museo degli Sguardi" [Museum of Glances]. Comune di Rimini (in Italian). 7 November 2023. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
  18. ^ Giovagnoli, Attile (15 October 2018). "Giuseppe Verdi, il teatro e l'estate memorabile del 1857 a Rimini" [Giuseppe Verdi, the theatre, and the memorable summer of 1857 in Rimini]. Riminiduepuntozero (in Italian). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g "Rimini – Teatro Nuovo Comunale" [Rimini: New Municipal Theatre]. www.verdi.san.beniculturali.it (in Italian). Retrieved 3 January 2024.
  20. ^ a b c d "Teatro Amintore Galli" [Amintore Galli Theatre]. Comune di Rimini (in Italian). Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  21. ^ a b c d e f "Storia del Teatro Amintore Galli" [History of the Amintore Galli Theatre]. www.riminicittadarte.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  22. ^ a b c d "Storia del Teatro" [History of the Theatre]. Teatro Amintore Galli (in Italian). Retrieved 2 January 2024.
  23. ^ a b "Amintore Galli Theatre reborn in Rimini after 75 years". AV Technology. 4 January 2019. Retrieved 1 April 2020.
  24. ^ "6 gennaio 1907 - Rimini festeggia i 50 anni del suo teatro con Amintore Galli" [6 January 1907 – Rimini celebrates 50 years of its theatre with Amintore Galli]. Chiamami Città (in Italian). 5 January 2023. Retrieved 3 January 2024.