Ex convent of the Jesuits

Description: This is a very large 1600’s complex built at the same time as the adjacent church of S.Maria Nuova. The Jesuits returned to Faenza in 1612 to open public schools and found their convent with the annexed new church of Jesus, thanks to the help of Alessandro Pasi who provided both money and the land next to the suppressed parish of S.Cassiano, today the home of S.Maria Nuova. The convent was extended many times and rebuilt in 1842 on the side on via Zanelli, after the death of Count Cesare Naldi who left his estate to the Jesuits for them to reopen the public schools upon their return to Faenza after papal suppression at the end of the 1700’s. In 1860 the public high school “Evangelista Torricelli” was opened dedicated to the Faentine inventor of the barometer, who had studied at this school. Another important student of this school was the poet from Marradi Dino Campana, although of a different era (early 1900’s).

Today the convent is presented in its 1800’s form, which is in respect of its pre-existing structure made of large corridors and small cells, now used as classrooms. The corridors are 1800’s copies in chalk of famous works of art, for example the Robbia altarpieces found in La Verna. On the left side of the building there is still the large 1600’s corridor that was once the main entrance. In the middle is the courtyard created from the old cloister that was completely changed in the 1900’s (in fact it was even turned into a car park), but it still has some trees: cedars and red pines.