Adjacent to Ordelaffi square stands the Forlì Duomo or Cathedral of Santa Croce, so-called because of the sacred relic that is kept in it. The cathedral stands on the ruins of an ancient parish church dating back to the twelfth century, but its current appearance is the result of the impressive rebuilding carried out and completed in 1841. Inside the cathedral, from the right aisle, you enter the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, formerly the Sanctuary of the “Madonna della ferita”, built in 1490 at the behest of Caterina Sforza who commissioned the project to the architect Pace di Maso del Bombace.
This chapel was initially detached from the rest of the main structure and for this reason it is located in a slightly oblique position with respect to the central nave. On the left altar there is the Virgin of the Wound, a fifteenth-century fresco by an unknown artist, originally placed on an external wall of the cathedral and so named because, according to tradition, a soldier belonging to the Proud family, angry at having lost in the game, vibrated a blow to the sacred image, which miraculously began to bleed. On the left side of the church is the chapel of the Madonna del Fuoco, rich in marble and paintings, built between 1619 and 1636.
At the center of the chapel stands the woodcut depicting the Virgin and Child, dating back to the end of the fourteenth century. It is the image of the Madonna del Fuoco, protector of Forlì who on 4 February 1428 saved herself from the fire of the Lombardino school and whose cult was already widespread at the time of Caterina Sforza, who was particularly devoted to her. At the bottom of the left aisle there is a splendid example of a wooden crucifix, datable to the twelfth century, of the Lombard Romanesque school. It is a work of great historical value, so much so that it can be considered at the top of its kind in Italy.
