HISTORY

In the 7th century the North - central part of Italy was divided into Byzantine and Longobard territories. Sections of the great routes ( including the Flaminia Emilia ) were occupied by forces of one side or the other , thus becoming impracticable for their whole length.
In the Modenese territory the Longobards who, during the military campaign of Liutprand in 727, had extended their estates further east, over the river Reno, needed safe routes, if possible away from the Byzantine garrisons. In 749 king Astolpho started to re-organize the existing network of roads, donating the territory of Fanano and Sestola to his brother-in-law Anselmo.
Anselmo later abdicated from his Duchy, became a monk and founded a monastery and a hospice, necessary structures for hosting travellers along the Apennine ridge.

As time does not belong to me
Although I always tell it
No certain time is yours, o traveller
(Clock tower in Fanano - inscription dated October 20th, 1609)

Three years later, in 752, Anselmo founded another monastery in Nonantola.This foundation was certainly due to religious fervour, but it can also be seen, on the other hand, as a political and military act for the control of the territory (in the area of Bologna and Ferrara). Since the Byzantines still had ambitions over those lands, it was necessary to confer a sacred inviolability upon them by establishing monastic foundations. Nonantola soon became the centre of a network of new roads, and the road connecting the two Benedictine monasteries founded by Anselmo - the Romea Nonantolana Route - grew in military importance, connecting the Abbey to the Longobard dukedoms of Spoleto and Benevento, across the Passo della Calanca. The route was trodden by armies and royal processions, travellers and pilgrims on their way to Rome. Structures for accommodating the travellers were built, such as the hospice of Val di Lamola (nowadays Ospitale) that was consacrated to St. James and that was dependent on the monastery of Fanano, as well as other stages, whose toponyms still suggest their function ( Ospitale and Ospitaletto at Marano).
The power of the Abbey dissolved when the rival centres of Modena and Bologna became independent city-states. The territory which the Romea Nonantolana Route ran across lost its unity, thus leading to the decline and fragmentation of the old route. An old track near Fanano however was used in feudal times; its name “ Mutina - Pistoria” is mentioned in a treaty signed by the city-states of Modena and Pistoia in 1225.