Palazzo del Monte di Pietà

At number 45 in Corso Garibaldi is the historic Palazzo del Monte di Pietà, which today houses the Forlì's Fondazione Cassa dei Risparmi.
The dark brick building, considered of great artistic value, was erected where one of the Orsi palaces had been demolished in 1488, in the area called "guasto degli Orsi".
The construction began in 1549 on a project of an unknown builder and ended in 1646. The massive facade shows nine round keystone arches with baked rings, alternated by ten pilasters with Ionic capitals in sandstone in the first order. The second order starts from the architrave and is formed by sober openings divided by Corinthian pilasters.
On the first floor there is a magnificent fresco illustrating a Pietà with Saints Mercuriale and Valeriano, which can be attributed to the beginning of the 17th century, and a large room with a vaulted ceiling.
In the years between 1623 and 1646 the building was further raised and finished in the upper area. At the top, on the roof, a bell gable tower was later placed and is still present today. Other alterations were made at the end of the 19th century when it was decided to create an opening in the eastern facade.
In 1931 it was decided to open all the arches of the facade to use the spaces as stores.
During World War II, an air-raid shelter was created inside the building, and after the liberation of Forlì it became the headquarters of the Allied Command of the city.