Palazzo Lardi
Palazzo Lardi is a ‘listed building’.
Restored towards the end of the 16th century by the Carletti family, the influence of the Florentine Renaissance style is evident in its architecture: the windows and the exquisite entrance portal are framed by radial ashlar stones, in contrast to the walls. When it became the seat of the gendarmerie in the 14th century, the underground rooms were used as a prison and equipped with a “razor well”, a well shaft lined with razor blades. At the beginning of the 15th century, the palace became a private residence; between the 16th and 17th centuries it was owned by Giovan Domenico Ottonelli, then by the Carletti family, the Cameroni family and, finally, from 1607, the Lardi family, who it is named after.
Cosimo dei Medici stayed there in 1433 during his exile from Florence, as did Pope Eugene IV, on his return journey to Rome from the Council of Ferrara in 1439.
The ancient clock was placed temporarily in the palace’s left-hand tower by Giovan Domenico Ottonelli, but was to be housed in its permanent location, in the right-hand tower, in 1609; from 20th October of that year, it ‘began to strike the hours (…) before, it struck only once’. At the beginning of the 19th century, Paolo Corsini, from the nearby hamlet of Fellicarolo, restored the mechanism of the public clock that still today marks the passing of the hours and days in Fanano
Clock Tower
The right-hand tower, at least the top part, dates back to a later period: it was in fact built at the beginning of the 17th century to replace an earlier tower which, having become a refuge for the Guelphs, had been demolished by the Duke of Ferrara in 1532, together with the castle and the town walls. The tower, which has almost always belonged to the local community, has housed the public clock since 1609; the clock was restored in the early 1800s by a resident of Fanano, Paolo Corsini, and is still working today. The chapel at the bottom of the tower was dedicated to St Roch by the people of Fanano in 1633, in thanks for protecting Fanano from the plague. The chapel used to house a painting of the Madonna and Child with Saints Roch and Sebastian, but this is now held inside Saint Joseph’s Church, alongside the original altarpiece adorning the first chapel on the left. Following decades of closure, the chapel was at last restored and reopened to the people of Fanano in 2005; it was then that the remains of interesting late Gothic frescoes, probably dating back to the 15th century, came to light. Inside the chapel, there is a beautiful statue of Saint Roch by the sculptor Giovan Battista Ballanti from Faenza, also known as ‘il Graziani’ (1762-1835).
Have you never been inside the Clock Tower? Click here and you will be able go inside and take a virtual tour!