Additional notes: In 1313 the new aristocrats of Faenza, Francesco Manfredi, contributed to the completion of the ponte delle Torri bridge (perhaps the most unique urban monument of mediaeval Faenza), which linked the city to the Borgo Durbecco zone: in 1842, however, the bridge was destroyed by the flooding of the Lamone river. The current bridge, the Ponte delle Grazie, joins corso Saffi to corso Europa, which is the main street of this area.Along the corso on the right there is the S. Antonino church, by the architect Giuseppe Soratini (1682-1762), it is connected to a Camaldolese monastery, whose brick façade has two tiers of the same width, whilst the lovely interior is of Roman times and has two side chapels featuring architraves.A little further on is the most ancient religious building of Borgo Durbecco, the church of S. Maria Maddalena, known as the “Commenda”. Its foundation, with the attached Santo Sepolcro Hospice, dates back to the first decades of the XII century. The church was a “Commenda” of the Cavalieri of the Order of S. Giovanni knights of Jerusalem, then of the knights of Malta, and its moment of greatest splendour came with the presence of the Lombard commendator fra Sabba of Castiglione who from 1518 onwards sought refuge in the Commenda, and had important mural and painting work done inside. Inside the church there is a single nave covered with a vault, in which it is possible to observe remains of fourteenth century frescoes: in the apse there is a fresco that was commissioned by fra Sabba in 1553 to the painter Girolamo da Treviso and it portrays the Madonna on the throne between S. Maria Maddalena and S. Caterina d’Alessandria and fra Sabba kneeling and above the Eternal Father in glory; to the left there is a fresco portraying the Madonna with Child of the XIV – XV century and the vestry of fra Sabba of 1545-50: above the tomb slab (with an epigraph dictated by fra Sabba), the painter Francesco Menzocchi portrayed fra Sabba kneeling between Battista and Maddalena in adoration of the Virgin and on each side the figures of Pity and of Silence. In the suggestive, recently restored cloister, is the seat of the Rione Bianco, one of the city’s five historic rioni. In the park near the church it is possible to observe the inside of a tower with a semicircular cupola roof and an arched structure that supports the walls. The walls around the village have characteristics similar to the city walls with several suggestive corners, such as the old hutches above the two towers that can be seen from via Mura Polveriera. The Porta delle Chiavi gate at the end of corso Europa is the only surviving gate of the city’s original five, even though it has been altered. Originally it was high and had battlement, but was then lowered changing also the windows. The name of the gate comes from the offering of the keys to the city on occasion of the visit of Pio IX to Faenza in 1857.
Directions: From the motorway exit follow the signs for the centre of Faenza along via Granarolo. At the roundabout after crossing the railway overpass turn left into viale IV Novembre. At the second set of traffic lights turn right into via Mura Mittarelli. At the next set of traffic lights turn left: after crossing the bridge that goes over the Lamone river you reach the Borgo Durbecco zone.
