After studying Fine Arts in Bologna, Montevecchi taught in Imola for some time. He never quit the Academy’s rich milieux by attending courses and keeping in contacts with his colleagues for most of his life. Owing to his troubled personal life he had to try his hand at several skills, depending on the clients’ requests, such as painting on ceramics, bas-rilief, interior decoration, poster designing, thus leaving aside portrait painting, in which is excelled thanks to his very elegant but incisive stroke.

Since a very young age he expressed his passion for colours and paintbrushes, even though he favoured humble handicrafts.

This strange beginning, along with his family origins – his parents were farmers – are the elements where his main themes can be traced back to – subjects related to the simple tasks of working the fields. Throughout his works the painter praises the sacrifices made by the farmers, the difficulties and hardships they had to face and the dignity and simplicity with which they faced life and how the beauty of nature was their reward.

He was a famous socialist political figure and since a young age was a protagonist of the struggles which eventually brought him in prison and to exile but nevertheless developed his political ideals and extended his contacts far beyond the town of Imola.

He was a charismatic leader, author of a text entitled “Letter to the friends of Romagna”, printed in 1879 where he urged to abandon armed fighting and to start democratic negotiations. In 1882 he won the elections as the first socialist member of the Italian Parliament and in 1889 he became the first socialist leader to head the town council. His remains are in the cemetery of Imola, with a dedication on a plaque by Giovanni Pascoli.

From the very start in 1946 Andrea Raccagni’s works were the result of a restless and non-conformist personality.

His first paintings were due to the influence of the pre-informal and later rational-geometric and finally surrealist currents; these experiences helped him develop his own personal artistic expression, aimed at exploring – by means of an endless variety of materials – the clash between rationality and irrationality, light and darkness, hence the great enigma of life.

He was a well-known doctor from Imola. An excellent student of the prominent Doctor Marcello Malpighi with whom he divided the curiosity and passion for the sciences during a period when the church imposed limits on these studies. He became a University professor of anatomy and surgery at the University of Bologna and today is remembered as the founder for the basic theories for the study of the anatomy and physiology of the ear.

Son of a notary of Imola, Rambaldi was a scholar who knew Boccaccio and listened to his lessons in Florence on the Divine Comedy of Dante. He wrote Romuleon, which is an outline of roman history, and a commentary to Bucoliche and to Georgiche, but he was especially famous for the commentary to the Divine Comedy of Dante (Comentum super Dantis Aligherii comoediam). This text is world renown because of its originality and depth.

He was an important person of great culture, between the Medieval and Humanistic period, who demonstrated in his famous comment of the Divine Comedy, a profound knowledge of the antique sources, critical spirit and expressiveness, thanks to the use of a Latin mixed with some local colloquial expressions, which rendered the text more realistic.

She was the young bride of Girolamo Riario, future lord of Imola and Forlì, and the legitimate daughter of Galeazzo Maria Sforza, Duke of Milan, born out of wedlock.
Caterina arrived in Imola for the first time 1st May 1477 and was welcomed with a great celebration. Here, at the age of 14 begins her long political career, which, mixed with legend, tells us the story of an audacious and passionate woman.

In 1488 Girolamo Riario was murdered, after having ruled during the prosperous era of the Renaissance. The years that followed were very tormented for Caterina who ruled alone, while fighting against conspiracies and murders, passionate love stories and new weddings, while still keeping control over Imola and Forlì, until she had to surrender to the troops of Cesare Borgia. This was her decline which led her to imprisonment and finally to a solitary life of isolation.

Her story has always been one of the most fascinating , and she has been portrayed as a strong, vigorous and independent woman and an expert of medicine as well as cosmetics which she herself prepared and experimented.

He was a brilliant student of Canova, and when his tutor died he took over his studio and continued producing works of art closely following the neo-classic style of his master. For the next thirty years he continued to win esteem and admiration both nationally and internationally. The Emperor of Russia, the King of Baviera, the Prince of Metternich and Carlo Alberto di Savoia were just a few of his illustrious regular customers. The new cultural fashions and the new political ideals which followed the unification of Italy marked the decline of the artist and the disappearance of his works of art. Of those left in Imola, there is a bust of Francesco Alberghetti which is on exhibit in the room of the Consiglio Comunale in the Municipal building, and the busts of Cornelio Silla and Luigi Valeriani in the Municipal Library.

Cosimo Morelli originally from Ticino, Switzerland, but born in Imola, was the most sought-after architect in the Papal States in the second half of the eighteenth century and was one of the most active exponents of the neoclassical movement in Italy. He was particularly active in Imola where he was responsible for the construction and renovation of many buildings, becoming an up-and-coming figure in the architectural field during a transformation process that changed the face of the city.
He was able to rely on a trusted group of artisans in his pay, as well as valuable partnerships with the painters Alessandro Dalla Nave, Antonio Villa and Angelo Gottarelli. Works by Cosimo Morelli include the final stages of the renovation of the town hall, the new hospital outside the city walls and the neoclassical refurbishment of the Church of Santa Maria in Regola.

He was ordained priest in the seminary of Imola. He devoted himself from a young age to educating the poor and the orphans, and he also founded a recreational centre dedicated to Silvio Pellico.

His endless work helping the young and unfortunate – never being discouraged by the economic difficulties – brought him eventually to create, in the area near the Church of St. Caterina – a home for poor students, young workers and orphans. It further developed with the creation of schools and workshops – in other words a craftsmanship orphanage.

A statue and plaque dedicated to Don Bughetti have been placed in front of the chapel were his remains have been laid to rest – next to the church of St. Caterina.

She was born in Naples, but her family was from the Romagna Region. She obtained her piano and singing diploma in Naples at the San Carlo in 1925.

Her splendid half soprano and contralto voice put her quickly into the spotlight, gathering triumphs in the theatres around the world. She moved to Imola and retired at the age of 55.

As a tribute, on the 20th December 1977, the town council of Imola decided to name the theatre in her honour.

She was the daughter of Giovanni Codronchi Argeli, Senator and Minister for Education, which enabled her to attend the most important literary groups of the time. She met such illustrious writers as Carducci and Pascoli, and she herself was a writer – under the pen name of “Sfinge”.

Among her conspicuous writings one must remember her short stories – often describing the area of the Romagna Region – her novels – rather autobiographical and usually set in aristocratic surroundings – and her feminist works, which categorised her among the most significant female writers of the beginning of the 20th century.

He was a doctor and philanthropist who is especially remembered because of his last will and testament which permitted the realisation of two of the most important professional schools in Imola: the School of Art and Crafts (today Istituto Tecnico Industriale – Technical Industrial College) and the Agricultural School (today Istituto Agrario – Agricultural College).
His will, influenced by the liberal ideals of the time, was intended to promote a boost for the local economy and an improvement of the poorer classes by developing schools accessible to all.
A statue, by the sculptor Giuseppe Bettelli, of Alberghetti seated and deep in thought is located at the entrance of the Istituto Tecnico Industriale.

Giovan Battista Zappi was born in Imola of a family whose talent in poetry had already been proved by Giovan Battista’s grandfather.
After graduating in Law in Bologna in 1685, he moved to Rome where he was among the founders of the Arcadian poetry school. His many sonnets, canzoni, madrigals gained him a long-lasting reputation.

Imola was one of the cities that benefited from the phenomenon known as the ‘Comacini Masters’: architects and master masons from Ticino, Switzerland – often related to one another – who were able to provide expert, close-knit teams and who exchanged techniques and commissions. In 1704, Imola offered Domenico Trifogli the important renovation of the cathedral’s crypt.
From that moment until the mid-1700s, he worked tirelessly in the city, completing high-profile religious and secular projects: Codronchi Palace near Sforza Castle, the refurbishment of the Carmelite church and monastery, Palazzo Tozzoni and the convent of the Poor Clares, located along present day via Cavour.