The patron saint of Formigine is Saint Bartholomew the Apostle, celebrated on 24 August in the parish church dedicated to him.
The castle of Formigine, whose fortification was decided in 1200, was entrusted in 1318 to a family of the Modenese aristocracy; in the summer of 1335 it was sacked by the Este, who devastated its territory. In 1394 the castle passed to Azzo da Castello and, after his death, to the lord of Carpi Marco I Pio, who obtained its grant in 1395 from Niccolò III d'Este: during the period of the Pio family's greatest power, between the late 15th and early 16th centuries, Formigine was chosen as a podestà seat together with Sassuolo, Spezzano, Brandola and Soliera. In 1524 a clock was placed on the castle's main tower, from which it took its name; in 1648 Francesco I d'Este ceded the fief to Marquis Mario Calcagnini, whose family held it until 1946, when, after the 1945 bombing, the heirs decided to sell the castle, purchased by the municipality to become its seat.
