Faenza is a fascinating town best known as the centre for production of faience, a type of ceramic pottery that has been made here and exported worldwide for hundreds of years and is still produced and sold in the town, and the Ceramics Museum is the principal attraction.

Faenza is an Italian city and comune in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated 50 kilometres (31 miles) southeast of Bologna.

Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed earthenware pottery, known from the French name of the town as faience.

HIGHLIGHTS

Piazza del Popolo

Continuing along Corso Saffi you reach the Piazza del Popolo, surrounded by arcades dating back to the second half of the 15th century.

Of particular interest in this part of Faenza are the Palazzo Comunale and the 12th century Palazzo del Popolo. Accessed via an imposing staircase this is the former seat of the ‚Captain of the People‘ then was later home to the Manfredi Family.

Molinella Square

Follow the so-called ‚Voltone of the Molinella‘, built in the Manfredi period, to reach Molinella Square.

The famous ‚Galleria dei Cento Pacifici‘ is in this square and one of the highlights in Faenza: it is  an extraordinary work by Giuseppe Pistocchi (1785) with decorations by Serafino Barozzi (1735-1810) and numerous statues by Antonio Trentanove (1745-1812) visible in the niches.

Via Cavour

Following along Corso Mazzini you leave the ‚City of the Manfredi‘ to enter the other stylish Faenza neighbourhoods along Via Cavour. These are in a more eclectic style with baroque style palaces built between the 18th and 19th centuries such as the Conti Palace and the Zanelli Palace.

In these neighbourhoods of Faenza and along Via Cavour there are a whole series of buildings of extraordinary workmanship dating back to the 14th – 18th centuries, such as the 14th century ‚Great Hospital‘ and the Piani Pasi Palace.

Main sights

Faenza’s architectural attractions are concentrated in the two contiguous main squares: Piazza del Popolo, lined by two double order porticoed wings, and Piazza della Libertà.

Religious buildings

• Faenza Cathedral: located along the east side of Piazza della Libertà. Influenced by Tuscan style, it is one of the highest expressions of Renaissance art in Romagna. Built to Giuliano da Maiano’s design, it was begun in 1474 and completed in 1511. The marble decoration of the façade remained unfinished. The interior, a nave and two aisles with obvious references to Brunelleschi’s San Lorenzo in Florence, houses numerous works of Renaissance art, chiefly sculpture, among which are the tombs of St. Terence and St. Emilian (Tuscan school of the 15th century) and that of St. Savino, perhaps done in Florence by Benedetto da Maiano.
• Sant’Antonio
• San Bartolomeo
• Santa Maria del Carmine
• Church of the Commenda
• Santa Maria ad Nives
• Santa Maria dell’Angelo

Secular buildings

• Palazzo del Podestà and the Town Hall, both of medieval origin, stand in Piazza del Popolo. The former was largely restored in the early 20th century while the latter — radically transformed in the 18th century — was the Palazzo of the Captain of the People and later the residence of the governing Manfredi family.
• Goldsmiths‘ Portico opposite the Cathedral this open gallery and monumental fountain with bronzes were built in the first decade of the 17th century.
• Clock Tower, in front of the entrance to the Piazza, is a postwar rebuilding of the 17th century tower that stood at the crossroad of the cardo and the decumanus gate of the Roman Faventia.

Among the other monuments of the historic centre are Palazzo Milzetti, the richest and most significant Neoclassical building in the region, and the Teatro Masini (1780–1787). In the nearby, the Villa Case Grandi dei Ferniani has a collection of 18th and 19th century Faenza ceramics.

Natural sites

Grotta Tanaccia Karstic Park and the Carnè Natural Park, a vast green area with a visitor’s centre and refreshments, are also of great interest, characterized by a typical landscape of dolinas, ravines and swallow holes.An example of Faenza Majolica in the so-called Garofano style.

Majolica

Faenza is home to the International Museum of Ceramics. The museum houses pieces from all over the world and from every epoch, from classical amphoras to the works of Chagall and Picasso, and there is a rich section dedicated to Faenza pottery in the golden age of the Renaissance. Other interesting art collections are located in the Municipal Art Gallery, the Diocese Museum, the Bendandi Museum and the Manfredi Library. The historic production of Faenza majolica is recognized worldwide as one of the highest moments of artistic creativity expressed through pottery. The tradition was born from a convergence of favourable conditions: a territory rich in clay, a centuries-old history of political and commercial relations with nearby Tuscany (especially with Florence).

As a testament to the popularity of the city’s majolica through the ages, on 18 August 2006, Quebec Premier Jean Charest announced that Canadian archaeologists had discovered the precise location of Canada’s lost first colony of Charlesbourg-Royal, and that a fragment of a decorative Istoriato plate manufactured in Faenza between 1540 and 1550 was found there that could only have belonged to a member of the French aristocracy in the colony.

Culture

In September and October international contemporary and classical ceramic art events draw majolica amateurs, collectors and artists to Faenza from all over the world. In June the Palio del Niballo, a tournament between five horsemen from the districts of the town, re-evokes the magnificence and struggles of Faenza in the Manfredi epoch.

Faenza also houses the annual Mexi-talian Convention, in which Mexican and Italian food and drinks are served alike at the local market; this event usually occurs in May, as part of a Cinco de Mayo celebration.

Typical regional dishes include home-made tagliatelle, cappelletti, lasagna and strozzapreti with the Romagna meat sauce. Two of the best restaurants in Faenza are Spaghetti Notte and Casa Spadoni.

The Botanical Gardens, next to the Civic Natural Science Museum with its collections, houses more than 170 species of plants indigenous to Romagna. There is about 1 square kilometre (0.39 sq mi) of public urban green area. The Bucci Park, created in 1968, has an area of about 80,000 square metres (20 acres) of undulating land, green meadows and fish-rich waters, with species of birds including wild duck, storks and swans.