Chundred years ago, on June 10, 1946, Giacomo Matteotti, deputy, as well as one of the leading exponents of the socialist party, was killed after having opposed the growing power of Mussolini and his party in parliament.
That speech on 30 May 1924 was fateful, when Matteotti decided to speak in the Chamber of Deputies to contest the results of the elections of 6 April. The deputy in fact denounced the violence and abuses of power committed by the fascists to obtain votes in the elections. About eleven days later, Matteotti was kidnapped and murdered by members of the fascist party, but his body was found only two months later in the countryside of the municipality of Riano, just outside Rome.
After the end of the war, the name and courage of Giacomo Matteotti were not forgotten: throughout the country schools, roads, streets and squares were named after him. An example of this is the main square of Imola. Below we retrace its history up to its dedication to Matteotti.
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Piazza Matteotti, history
Located almost at the crossroads between the carde and the decumanus, it has been the main square of our city from Roman times to the present day, as stated in the book Passato Prossimo, history of the names and streets of Imolaby Andrea Ferri and Liliana Vivoli.
Since the 5th-6th century it was dominated by the parish church of S. Lorenzo, an ecclesiastical point of reference for Imola. It was located transversally to the square, with its front to the west, and divided it into two parts. The one to the south was intended as a cemetery area, the one to the north was the Campo di S. Lorenzo where the people of Imola gathered in public meetings to the sound of the bells. All the main activities of civil and economic life took place here. The first nucleus of the town hall was built in the thirteenth century between San Lorenzo, Via Petrosa or Emilia and the square. It took on its current appearance in the fifteenth century, when the Riario palace (today Sersanti) with the underlying portico called the garzolari, and the hospital of S. Maria della Scaletta, with the portico called the apothecaries were built. The harmony of the square was completed with the demolition of the ancient parish church of S. Lorenzo, commissioned by Girolamo Riario.
The square was called Piazza Vittorio Emanuele II in 1878, immediately after the death of the sovereign. In 1943, during the Italian Social Republic, it became Piazza della Repubblica. The city square was finally definitively named after Giacomo Matteotti (1885-1924) in 1946, 22 years after his death, through a resolution signed on May 25, 1946.
Among the places dedicated to Matteotti also the main square of Massa Lombarda, Corso Matteotti in Lugo and Via Matteotti in Castel San Pietro Terme, Dozza and many other municipalities in our area.
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