Romagna

Romagna is a region located in Italy, with Forlì as its main city. The area was ruled in the late 15th century by Caterina Sforza, an ally of the Italian Assassins.

During this era, Romagna was largely dominated by marshes, wetlands, and a number of scattered buildings. It also housed the Forlì docks, where ships from other areas stationed in its ports. Civilians could often be seen fishing from the wharves, or selling fish from market stalls nearby.

History

Caterina Sforza stranded on an islet

In 1480, Ezio Auditore rode into the area after being chased through the Apennine Mountains by Borgia soldiers. He traveled through Romagna to access a ferry, up the coast of the Adriatic Sea to Venice, alongside his friend Leonardo da Vinci. Initially he was held up due to his lack of paperwork, though the Countess of Forlì, Caterina Sforza, solved this problem when she took a shine to Ezio, following him rescuing her from an isolated rock on the Forlì docks.

In 1488, after recovering the Apple of Eden, Ezio and his fellow Assassin Niccolò Machiavelli decided to take the artifact to Forlì, where they met with Caterina in the wetlands outside the city. However, upon reaching Forlì, word spread that the forces of Checco and Ludovico Orsi had invaded and gained control of the majority of the city.

After discovering that the gates to the city were locked, Caterina instructed Ezio to infiltrate it via a secret entrance, which involved Ezio swimming under Forlì's moat and entering from there. While Caterina distracted the invaders with a volley of insults, Ezio dispatched any soldiers in his way and opened the gates to the city, allowing Caterina and her soldiers inside, where they swiftly retook it.

On entering Forlì, Ezio, Caterina, and Machiavelli made their way to the Rocca di Ravaldino to fight off the attacking invaders, defeating them and reaching the inner citadel. However, once there, Caterina discovered that her children, Bianca and Ottaviano Riario, were missing and that the Orsi brothers and their army of Borgia soldiers had begun breaching the citadel, forcing the Assassins and Caterina's forces to defend it. The assault was successfully pushed back, though the Orsi brothers themselves arrived and called out to Caterina.

The Orsi brothers taunting Caterina

The two revealed that they had kidnapped her children, explaining that they would only be returned once Caterina surrendered her husband's map detailing the locations of the Codex pages. In response, Caterina vehemently hurled insults at them, refusing to hand over the map. The Orsi brothers stated that she had one hour to hand over the map before they killed her children. On their departure, Caterina turned to Ezio for help, asking him to rescue her children. To this, Ezio agreed and gave her the Apple for safekeeping.

Ezio departed Forlì and headed for the Romagna countryside, where he defeated the guards imprisoning Bianca, who then directed him to the location of her brother, Ottaviano. Making his way through the marshes, the Assassin arrived at a nearby lighthouse, where he scaled the building, killed Ludovico, and rescued Ottaviano. However, upon dispatching Ludovico, Ezio learned that the captured siblings had been a distraction, allowing the Orsi's forces to steal the Apple. With this, the Assassin hurried back to the city, discovering that Checco had acquired the Apple.

Ezio tracked down and killed the last Orsi brother, recovering the Apple, though not before Checco managed to stab Ezio in the abdomen, causing him to pass out from blood loss and drop the artifact. As Ezio slipped into unconsciousness, he saw a black-robed monk with a missing finger pick up the Apple and walk away.

Savonarola taking the Apple

Afterwards, Ezio awoke inside the city, where he was being tended to by Caterina, after Forlì guards had discovered him in the countryside whilst scouting the area. Upon regaining consciousness, Ezio explained to Caterina what had happened, and she pointed him in the direction of a nearby abbey in the wetlands, where he could begin his search for the black-robed monk. Additionally, Caterina gave Ezio the Codex map, to which he thanked her and left, with the abbey as his objective.

Ezio traveled through the Romagna marshlands until he reached the abbey, where he saved an Irish priest, Brother O'Callahan, from Borgia thugs. Ezio questioned him about the monk with a missing finger, and O'Callahan directed him to an abbey inside the city of Forlì.

The Assassin returned to the city and headed for the abbey. However, once he arrived, one of the priests recognized him as the murderer of Stefano da Bagnone, a Templar that Ezio had assassinated nine years earlier. Fearful, the priest tried to flee, but Ezio caught up to him and tackled him. He quickly explained that Stefano's death was necessary, and managed to convince the priest of this before inquiring about the identity of the black-robed monk with the missing finger. The priest identified him as Girolamo Savonarola and mentioned that he might have returned to Florence, where he once studied, providing Ezio with his next lead.

Trivia

• Romagna is based on the Valli di Comacchio wetlands of the Emilia-Romagna province in northern Italy. However, Forli is depicted as being too close to the area, as in reality the city of Ravenna is situated between Forli and the wetlands.
• Before the release of Assassin's Creed II, the developers at Ubisoft Montreal referred to the area as the "Wetlands."
• Romagna was the poorest region in Assassin's Creed II, and its surrounding area was flooded with dirty water, ravaged buildings and overgrown with weeds. Very few civilians wore affluent clothing (such as feather hats and scarfs), nor did they possess a respectable amount of money to pickpocket.
• The Wetland Ebony and Wetland Ivory dyes for Ezio's robes were obtainable in Romagna from any tailor, and granted the "Perfect Harmony" achievement when worn together.
• By downloading the additional Battle of Forlì content, the Flying Machine was available to access at any time, on top of a lighthouse northeast of Forlì, where a feather was also located.

Gallery

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  Concept art of the wetlands
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  Concept art of the shores
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  Concept art of the countryside surrounding Forlì
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  Concept art of the wetlands
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  A settlement in Romagna
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  A small abbey in the Romagna wetlands
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  Caterina escorting Ezio and Machiavelli
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  Ezio racing through the Romagna countryside on horseback
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  A map of Romagna
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  An Animus map of Romagna

Appearances

• Assassin's Creed II (first appearance)
  • Battle of Forlì
• Assassin's Creed: Renaissance
• Assassin's Creed: Identity – Forlì – A Crimson Sunset (non-canon)