Predappio Pieve e Cimitero di San Cassiano
About Pieve e Cimitero di San Cassiano
This cemetery is south of Predappio along the provincial road for Premilcuore.
A project to amplify the grounds was implemented by the architect Forestano di Fausto who sought to reunite the new complex with the ancient church to the old cemetery.
Inspired by the Romanic style these changes were completed in 1939 with the floor plan of the cemetery resembling the shape of a quadrangle.
This ancient church called San Cassiano in Pennino was also restored between 1930-1934 by the architects Icchia and Corsini. Another figure that carried out work relative to the internal space and the redesign of the garden was Cesare Bazzani but for some reason these changes were in due course removed.
Icchia and Corsini brought to the fore characteristics of the church which illustrates its neo-romantic style. The apse in particular was beautifully restored and remains one of the few original features. Round at the front bifora windows also draw attention to the otherwise plain façade.
The origins of the church can be traced back to XI century which makes it one of the oldest in this whole Romagna region. It was constructed with local stone referred to as ‘Pudinga’. Over time though it was damaged on various occasions from earthquakes and a consequence of one, it underwent major restoration in 1634. Of the original building only the apse, crypt and foundations remain.
In 1934 San Cassiano in Pennino was declared a national monument.
Internal features are just as fascinating. The high altar with an antique wooden cross, stone pulpit, crypt which is said to be originally byzantine and the baptismal font all reflect inherent characteristics highly valuable in both cultural and historic terms. Furthermore, the church did not escape the clutches of fascist influence as the letters EF referring to ‘Epoca Fascista’ are clearly evident on the steps leading to the high altar.
Due to the expansion of the original settlement of Predappio plans had been set aside to redesign this whole complex but there was no need to complete any restoration work quickly. However, this situation was impetuously reversed when Mussolini wanted to rejoin in one single burial place the corpses of his parents.
The tomb of Rosa Maltoni, his mother, had been earlier located in the old cemetery and had already been receiving visitors since the 1920s and subsequently those same pilgrims were also visiting her husband Alessandro who had been interred in the cemetery at Forlì. Therefore a need arose to create a place of pilgrimage whereby visitors could pay their respects under the one roof so to speak.
The front steps to the cemetery and this long path to the ‘famedio’ also recall a similar arrangement that used to connect Piazza Garibaldowith the family home.
On first impression, the mausoleum suffers from a lack of grandeur or beautification as one might expect, at least judging from other past dictators and leaders who calculated their significance in ‘godly’ realms. Perhaps this fact alone grants Mussolini a little humility he never deserved while alive since he purposely wanted to play down his importance in death by showing that he was an ordinary person, at heart still a local.
The other grey-stone tombs in this crypt contain two of the dictator’s children, his parents and other members of the Mussolini clan.
A bust of the fascist leader is depicted by this large marble sculpture which in turn is surrounded with various relics that marked his life and times seen behind glass windows. Again, it must be noted that for such an infamous leader the crypt has been decorated in relative moderation.
There’s a visitor’s book on a little stand in front of his tomb. Apparently, one is filled every week which indicates quite clearly how popular this divisive figure has once again become.
In the first decades after Mussolini’s corpse arrived here, most visitors were loyal ex-soldiers, whereas, now, they are a motley crew of tourists, students, the curious and – inevitably – large numbers of unrepentant Fascists. Surprisingly, more than 100,000 people a year make the pilgrimage here and it’s predicted that these numbers will rise.
Finally, this last piece of footage in the cemetery from the past up until the present illustrates how the memory of ‘Il Duce’ is continuing to live on lest he be forgotten.
References
Il Paese di Mussolini, storia architettura città, La Romagna del Duce in cartolina, Forlì, 2003, p95.
Predappio in Luce. Film documentario di Marco Bertozzi. Emila Romagna: Almafilm e Istitute Luce, 2008.