Forli. I. A province of Italy, formerly part of the Papal States, bordering on the Adriatic, the republic of San Marino, and the provinces of Pesaro ed Urbino, Florence, and Ravenna; area, 716 sq. m.; pop. in 1872, 233,969. It comprises the three districts of Cesena, Forli, and Rimini. On the coast and for some distance inland the surface is low and level, but the W. part is traversed by branches of the Apennines. The principal productions are wine, grain, hemp, flax, madder, saffron, anise, bees, and silk. No mineral of much value is found except sulphur, which is abundant. Earthquakes happen frequently. The interior suffers much from drought, while the inhabitants of the N. E. part are perhaps equally afflicted by unwholesome marshes, which occupy a large proportion of the land, especially near the coast. Manufactures have made more progress than in any other part of the former Papal States.

II. A city (anc. Forum Livii), capital of the province, on the ancient Aemil-ian way, and on the railway between Bologna and Rimini, 38 m. S. E. of the former, and 30 m. N. W. of the latter; pop. of the commune in 1871, 38,480; of the city proper, about 18,000. It is a handsome town, surrounded by walls, and situated in a fertile plain at the foot of the Apennines, between the rivers Ronco and Montone. It is the seat of a bishop and of the prefect. It has a gymnasium and other schools, and a public library. Its cathedral contains the tomb of Torricelli. Of the nine other churches, the most interesting is that of San Girolamo, where rests the body of King Manfred. The town hall is remarkable for its council chamber, decorated with frescoes by Raphael. There are several handsome palaces, one of which, the Palazzo Guersini, is built after designs by Michel Angelo. The gallery of paintings contains many fine works. The manufactures are silk ribbons, silk twist, oil cloth, woollen goods, wax, nitre, and refined sulphur. The city is said to have been founded in 207 B. C. by the consul M. Livius Salina-tor, and to have been named in his honor.

It constituted a republic at one period in the middle ages, changed masters frequently during the wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, was added to the Papal States by Pope Julius II., taken by the French and made the capital of the department of the Rubicon in 1797, restored to the Roman see in 1814, and merged in the kingdom of Italy in 1860.