Forlì

"Take it to Forlì. The citadel's walls are protected by cannons and our ally controls it."

―Mario Auditore about Forlì, 1488.^[src]^-[m]

Forlì is an Italian city located in the region of Romagna and the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. During the Renaissance, it was the site of an eponymous battle, the Battle of Forlì.

History[edit | edit source]

Early development[edit | edit source]

Forlì's immediate surroundings contain evidence of early human habitation in the form of flint knapping fragments from the nearby Ca' Belvedere di Monte Poggiolo that date to around 798,000 BCE in the Paleolithic era,^[1] though this is hardly evidence of the later industrial city being properly "founded" as the Assassin historian Shaun Hastings once sarcastically commented.^[2]^[3]

Forlì's name is derived from the Romans, who built the city named "Forum Livii" in 188 BCE along the Via Aemilia, one of several roads they laid after pacifying the local Gauls as part of the regular Roman–Gallic wars. After the Roman rule, it went from Lombard hands into church control. It became an independent republic in 889, infuriating the Vatican, which spent the next 400 years trying to regain control over the city.^[2]

Middle Ages and early Renaissance[edit | edit source]

Along with Rome's constant machinations, Forlì faced a steady stream of Goth, Byzantine, Lombard, and Frank marauders for the next few centuries. In addition, it faced annual flooding, which was finally brought under control by diverting nearby rivers away from the city center in 1050.^[2]

Forlì became a military dictatorship at the end of the 13th century and power was then was passed to the Ordelaffi family. In 1480, with the Ordelaffi fighting amongst themselves over the chain of succession, Pope Sixtus IV stepped in and gave the city to his nephew, Girolamo Riario.^[2] In 1481, the Italian Assassin Ezio Auditore visited Forlì while en route to Venice with Leonardo da Vinci. During the visit, Ezio rescued the countess Caterina Sforza, Riario's wife, from a small island^[4] where Riario had intentionally stranded her after an argument.^[5]

Battle of Forlì[edit | edit source]

Main article: Battle of Forlì

In 1488, Caterina hired the Orsi brothers, Checco and Ludovico, to assassinate Riario. At the time, Riario had joined the Italian Templars and had been developing a map of the fabled Codex pages' purported locations.^[6]

Later, in July 1488, Ezio returned to Forlì along with Niccolò Machiavelli, intending to make the city's castle, the Rocca di Ravaldino, a safe haven for the Apple of Eden he had obtained from Rodrigo Borgia. However, before the Apple could be secured, the Orsi brothers, working on behalf of the Borgia, seized not only Forlì,^[6] but also Caterina's two young children, Bianca and Ottaviano. The Orsi brothers held them as hostages, intending to trade the children for the Apple.^[7]

During the battle, Caterina was forced to order the cannons to fire at Orsi troops inside the town walls. As a result, parts of the city were destroyed.^[5] Meanwhile, Ezio was able to save the Sforza children and slay Ludovico easily,^[7] but Checco used the distraction to launch another attack and steal the Apple. Ezio went to recover the artifact and was badly wounded when Checco stabbed him with a dagger.^[8]

Despite his injury, Ezio managed to kill Checco and reclaim the artifact, but later succumbed to blood loss and fainted on the roadside. In the confusion that ensued, a black-robed monk found and stole the Apple still clutched in Ezio's hand.^[8]

Following the battle, Caterina nursed Ezio back to health at the Palazzo Communale.^[8] Ezio learned from Darby O'Callahan and the monks of the Abbey of San Mercuriale that the man who had stolen the Apple was a Dominican friar by the name of Girolamo Savonarola,^[9] whom Ezio eventually tracked down and killed in Florence, allowing him to reclaim the artifact.^[10]

Papal rule[edit | edit source]

After the battle, Forlì fell solely in the hands of Caterina, who fought to prevent the Vatican from re-taking control.^[11] Ultimately, however, Cesare Borgia conquered Forli by taking the wider Romagna region,^[12] and had Caterina captured during the siege of Monteriggioni^[13] and brought to the Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome as a prisoner.^[14] With Ezio's help,^[15] the Countess escaped confinement,^[16] but she was exiled to Florence, where she died of pneumonia within the decade.^[11]

With Cesare having taken the land for the Papacy, his death in 1507 during his siege of the Spanish town Viana^[17] meant that Forlì returned to Church possession despite Ottaviano's attempts to reclaim it from Pope Julius II.^[18]

Modern times[edit | edit source]

In 2012, Abstergo Industries used Forlì as a simulated training location during the first stage of their Animi Training Program. The simulation depicted the Abbazia di San Mercuriale and the surrounding area, which contained mostly housing, some of it in poor state, as well as plenty of market stalls. Forlì's streets were mostly spacious and long, with little alleyways connecting the more open areas, of which one was dedicated to the keeping of horses, with several stables present, as well as haystacks and watering troughs. Due to the low tide, the city drains were empty of water, turning one of the city's wells into a possible escape route. Forlì was not programmed to have aesthetic variations. As a result, it could only be used during the day.^[19]

In 2016, Abstergo's subsidiary Abstergo Entertainment reused Forlì as a simulated location for their Identity Project. Like most of the simulated locations in the Project, Forlì had two aesthetic variations, and as such could be utilized during a siege or at dusk.^[20]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

In Assassin's Creed II, Forlì is depicted as being directly on the coastline. In reality, it is several kilometers away from any large bodies of water. Forlì also serves as the main setting of Assassin's Creed: Identity's downloadable expansion Forlì – A Crimson Sunset, which depicts an alternate version of the Battle of Forlì. However, since this version of the conflict is set after the Siege of Monteriggioni and is drastically different from the one seen in Assassin's Creed II, it is considered non-canon.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Concept art of Forlì
Concept art of Forlì
Concept art of Forlì
Concept art of Forlì
Concept art of Forlì
Concept art of an Assassin in Forlì
Concept art of the Battle of Forlì

Map of Forlì in Assassin's Creed II
An Animus map of Forlì
Map of Forlì in Assassin's Creed: Identity
Forlì's outer walls
Forlì being invaded by enemy troops
A simulation of Forlì
An aerial view of the Forlì map used in the Animi Training Program, with chase breakers marked
The Prowler shooting the Barber from afar with the Hidden Gun
The Captain, having thrown down a smoke bomb, attempts to escape the Harlequin
Database image of Forlì in Assassin's Creed II
Database image of Forlì in Identity