Predappio: Mussolini’s Birthplace and Fascist Architecture in Romagna

Predappio is a small town in the province of Forlì-Cesena, in the Apennine foothills of Romagna, about 15 km south of Forlì. It is the birthplace of Benito Mussolini, born in the hamlet of Dovia in 1883. That fact defines the town’s identity entirely: the architecture, the cemetery, and the tourist infrastructure all revolve around the Duce’s birth, life and death. It is an unusual and historically significant destination — confronting, in the way that all serious memorial tourism is confronting, and worth visiting precisely because it does not resolve the history into anything comfortable.

The Town: Two Predappios

There are in practice two Predappios. Predappio Nuova (New Predappio) is the town centre created in the 1920s when Mussolini redeveloped his native area — absorbing the hamlet of Dovia and building a new residential district in the rationalist architectural style of the regime. The result is a complete piece of fascist urban planning: the streets, the Casa del Fascio e dell’Ospitalità (the party headquarters, built to receive pilgrims visiting the Duce’s birthplace), the elementary school, the Palazzo Caproni and the barracks are all part of an integrated design by architects including Di Fausto, Bazzani and Giovannoni. Predappio Alta is the older medieval hill town, 2 km above the new town, with a fortified castle and a central square; a small wine museum here celebrates the local Sangiovese.

The Mussolini Sites

The main pilgrimage site is the cemetery of San Cassiano, where Mussolini was buried in the family crypt after his body was returned to Predappio in 1957. The cemetery is open to visitors; the crypt is in the lower section. The adjacent Romanesque Church of San Cassiano is where Mussolini was baptised. Piazza Garibaldi, the semi-circular central square of Predappio Nuova, faces what was Mussolini’s childhood home — now a documentary centre open to the public. The Rocca delle Camminate, a medieval fortress above the town renovated in 1927 as Mussolini’s summer residence, overlooks the Forlì plain and is visible from most of the surrounding area. The park around the castle is open to the public; the interior requires checking for current access.

The shops around the cemetery sell fascist memorabilia — busts, medals, replica uniforms. The trade is legal, the atmosphere peculiar. It is worth noting that Predappio also commemorates Adone Zoli, a prominent Catholic anti-fascist politician, who is buried in the same cemetery not far from Mussolini.

Food and Wine

Predappio is a typical Romagna town for food. Piadina — the flatbread of the Romagna coast — is eaten here as a wrap with prosciutto, squacquerone cheese or grilled vegetables. Crescione is the stuffed version, heavier and filled with tomato, mozzarella and potato. Fresh pasta — cappelletti in broth, hand-rolled tagliatelle, strozzapreti with porcini mushrooms — appears on every menu. The local wine is Sangiovese di Romagna, served in jugs in the osterie. The Strada dei Vini e dei Sapori (Wine and Flavours Road) links the producers of the Forlì-Cesena hills and is worth following for a half-day of tastings. The Emilia-Romagna food guide covers the wider regional cooking of Bologna, Modena and Parma. For history and art, Ravenna — 60 km north-east — is the natural companion destination in Romagna.