Emilia-Romagna
Art, Gastronomy, Historic Citiesand the Italian Countryside
Private journeys
The journey can move from the architecture and cooking of Bologna, Modena and Parma to castles, medieval villages and producers in the countryside, and on to Ferrara and Ravenna.
The region
Food, art and the historic cities
Emilia-Romagna brings together food, art, craft and history. Bologna, Modena and Parma are known for their architecture and their cooking. The countryside has historic castles, medieval villages and producers whose methods are protected by law.
Further east, Ferrara is a Renaissance city and Ravenna holds the Byzantine mosaics. Between the cities are the attics where traditional balsamic vinegar matures, the workshops of Motor Valley, and the rooms where Parmigiano Reggiano ages. Beyond them are fortresses and hill towns, in farmland and on higher ground.
The Via Emilia, the Roman road along the plain, still links the historic cities to the country around them. Ferrara, Ravenna, the Apennine valleys and the smaller towns lie off that road. OHH! ITALY designs a private journey through these places according to your interests, with a selected house, a local guide and a car with a driver. Any of them can be included. The journey does not need to include them all.
Orientation
OHH! ITALY designs a private journey from this geography.
Bologna
History, architecture and food.
Bologna is the usual place to begin. The historic centre has medieval towers, broad squares and a long network of brick porticoes, so much of the city can be walked under cover.
The Porticoes of Bologna were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2021. The property is twelve ensembles, chosen from a citywide system of about 62 kilometres, the longest run of porticoes of its kind. The university, conventionally dated to 1088, still stands in that part of the city.
A private day can include Piazza Maggiore, the Basilica of San Petronio, the university quarter and the food markets. The streets, historic shops and restaurants are best taken at an easy pace. A private guide can be included.
Modena
Balsamic vinegar and Motor Valley.
Modena brings together traditional food production and automotive engineering. Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP is cooked grape must aged for years in a sequence of wooden barrels, each smaller than the last, in an attic that follows the seasons. Aceto Balsamico di Modena IGP is a different product, made by another method. The traditional vinegar leaves the attic in the consortium’s 100 ml bottle, designed by Giorgetto Giugiaro and sealed only after tasting. A visit to a traditional producer can be arranged when the attic can receive guests.
Ferrari is in Maranello, Maserati in Modena, Lamborghini in Sant’Agata Bolognese, Pagani in San Cesario sul Panaro, and Ducati in Bologna’s Borgo Panigale. Museum visits and specialist experiences are included only when they are available. A driving day can be arranged separately: the Ferrari and Lamborghini driving experience.
The workrooms
Dairies and curing houses.
Between Modena and Parma, the plain and the first hills are organised around products with a protected origin. Parmigiano Reggiano may be made only in the provinces of Parma, Reggio Emilia and Modena, in the part of the province of Bologna to the left of the Reno, and in the part of the province of Mantua to the right of the Po. The wheels are salted in brine and aged for at least twelve months. Prosciutto di Parma is cured in the hills south of the city. Langhirano is one of the towns where the curing houses stand.
A visit to a dairy, a traditional balsamic producer or a curing house is arranged for the dates, when the producer can receive guests.
Parma
Art, music and gastronomy.
Parma is known for Parmigiano Reggiano and Prosciutto di Parma. The city also has a Romanesque cathedral, a baptistery in pink Verona marble, and the Palazzo della Pilotta, with paintings and a theatre inside one complex. Music belongs to the city’s history, from the Farnese court to Verdi. Immediately south, the hills begin: prosciutto country, then castles, then the first rise of the Apennines.
Visits to cheese dairies and curing houses can be combined with time in the historic centre and a drive into the hills, where there are villages, castles and country estates. UNESCO named Parma a Creative City of Gastronomy in 2015. Parma is a quieter day after Modena, before the road rises toward the Apennines.
Western Emilia
Piacenza and its valleys.
West of Parma, the journey leaves the towns known for cheese and ham. Piacenza stands at the western head of the Via Emilia: Piazza dei Cavalli, the Gothic Palazzo del Comune, and Palazzo Farnese, now home to the civic museums. From the city the land rises into Val Trebbia and Val d’Arda.
Bobbio sits on the Trebbia, an abbey town shaped by San Colombano and by the river road. Castell’Arquato stands in the Arda hills, with a Visconti rocca and a Romanesque collegiate church. Vigoleno, above Vernasca, is a walled borgo with a walk along the ramparts and the Piacentino plain below. Bobbio, Castell’Arquato and Vigoleno need days of their own. They are more than a short stop from Parma.
A journey is usually 8 to 14 nights. Eight to ten nights usually cover Bologna, Modena and Parma. The west needs more time, toward the longer end of that range, or it can be the journey on its own.
The castles
Castles off the Via Emilia.
The Via Emilia runs through the plain. The castles stand away from it, on the approach roads and in the valleys. Torrechiara, Bardi, Castell’Arquato, Vigoleno and Bobbio are chosen according to the valley and the time available.
Fortresses
The Castle Atlas
The region holds an unusual number of fortresses, rocche and ducal houses. OHH! ITALY uses this atlas when designing a journey. Opening hours are checked for the dates, and an interior is included only when visitors are admitted. The wider castle atlas continues in the Journal.
Parmense
Fontanellato
Rocca Sanvitale stands in a moat on the Parmense plain, a fortress that became a residence. The painted rooms, including Parmigianino’s frescoes, are why the house is known. They are included only when the rooms are open to visitors.
Piacentino
Castell’Arquato
A hill town and a castle together, above the Arda. The Romanesque apse, the Visconti rocca and the square are one place.
Romagna
San Leo
The fortress stands on a sandstone spur above the Marecchia. San Leo is in Romagna, in the older territory of Montefeltro.
Castello Estense is described with Ferrara. Bardi belongs with the western valleys. Palazzo Farnese, Rivalta and Vigoleno are named below.
Also in this geography
Palazzo Farnese — Piacenza’s ducal palace, now the Musei Civici, at the head of the Via Emilia.
Rivalta — at Gazzola, on the Trebbia. An inhabited castle in the Piacentino.
Vigoleno — A walled borgo-castle above Vernasca. The walk along the walls is the visit.
Named in the atlas
Parmense
Compiano · Montechiarugolo · Soragna · San Secondo · Sala Baganza · Scipione · Tabiano · Varano · Rocca Pallavicina · Roccabianca · Colorno
Piacentino
Agazzano · Gropparello · Paderna · San Pietro in Cerro · Rocca d’Olgisio · Bobbio, Malaspina
Modenese · Bolognese · Estense · Malatesta
Vignola · Dozza · Verucchio · Montefiore Conca · Castel Sismondo, Rimini
A longer index
Formigine · Spezzano · Imola · Cesena · Castrocaro / Terra del Sole · Bianello · Guastalla · Castellarano · Mesola and other Delizie · San Martino in Soverzano · Noceto · Contignaco · Castelnuovo Fogliani · Sissa-Trecasali. Grazzano Visconti was rebuilt between 1905 and 1930, and is not a medieval castle. Pontremoli and Sabbioneta lie outside the region.
Hill towns
Towns in the hills
Beyond the famous cities there is a second geography of hill towns that have stayed small. Membership in I Borghi più belli d’Italia is one verified list. The portraits below are a selection. The other towns are listed afterwards.
Brisighella
Gypsum hills, a skyline of three towers, and the Via degli Asini running through the upper town. Brisighella is inland from Ravenna, in the gypsum hills above the coast. It can be the last stop of an eastern journey.
Castelvetro di Modena
The Lambrusco Grasparossa hills above the Modenese plain. The town sits near Motor Valley and the acetaie. The day is spent in the town and in the Grasparossa vineyards around it.
Bobbio
The abbey of San Colombano, the Trebbia, and the humpbacked Ponte Gobbo. Bobbio also belongs to the western journey.
Castell’Arquato
Castle and town are the same day: the rocca, the church and the square.
Vigoleno
The walls, the lanes within them, and the Piacentino countryside below. The walk along the ramparts is the point of the visit.
San Leo
A fortress on a spur, a Romanesque piazza, and the Marecchia below. San Leo stands above the Marecchia, in the hills of Montefeltro.
Also named
West
Compiano · Montechiarugolo · Fontanellato as a castle-town · Grazzano Visconti, reconstructed, 1905–30
Centre
Gualtieri · Fiumalbo · Castelvetro di Modena
East
Bertinoro · Verucchio · Montefiore Conca · Montegridolfo · San Giovanni in Marignano · Bagnara di Romagna · Bagno di Romagna
Ferrara and Ravenna
Toward Ferrara and Ravenna.
The architecture changes, from Este brick in Ferrara to the gold mosaics of Ravenna, and then to the gypsum hills and a fortress on a spur. These places belong to the same region, and are usually planned apart from Bologna, Modena and Parma.
Ferrara
An Este city.
North of the Via Emilia, the Este shaped Ferrara as a Renaissance city. Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta were inscribed by UNESCO in 1995, with a major boundary change in 1999. The walls, the waterways, Biagio Rossetti’s Addizione Erculea and the Castello Estense in the middle of the city are the centre of a day in Ferrara. Ferrara is included when the interest is the Este city.
A journey that has already turned west, toward Parma, does not usually return for Ferrara. When the interest is the Este city, Ferrara can be a day from Bologna, or a night on a longer stay in the east. A visit to the Castello Estense is arranged when the castle is open to visitors.
Ravenna
Byzantine mosaics.
Eight Early Christian monuments in Ravenna were inscribed by UNESCO in 1996, among them San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Sant’Apollinare Nuovo and Sant’Apollinare in Classe. The mosaics are the reason to come: glass, gold leaf, and interiors that need time.
On a journey of eight to ten nights already given to Bologna, Modena and Parma, Ravenna needs time of its own. It fits when the route turns east, and when there is time to be inside the monuments. Visits are arranged when the buildings are open.
Romagna
Inland Romagna.
South-west of Ravenna the land rises toward the Apennines. Brisighella sits in the gypsum hills. Bertinoro stands on a ridge with a long tradition of hospitality. Further south, San Leo, Verucchio and Montefiore Conca belong to Malatesta and Montefeltro country: a rock, a spur, a fortress. The Adriatic lies east of Ravenna, and the coast is included only when that is the purpose of the journey.
The food towns of Emilia and the hill towns of Romagna belong to one region, and are usually planned in different weeks.
Houses
Where you stay.
A Bologna address
For the first night or two: arrival, the porticoes, and a hotel or a private residence with the right number of rooms. The house is confirmed for the dates.
A countryside house
Often between Modena and Parma, within reach of producers and the first castles. On a journey of about eight to ten nights, this is usually the second base.
A western or eastern house
Added when the route needs it: the Piacentino valleys, or a hill in Romagna.
The house depends on who is travelling, the dates, the need for privacy, and where the days are. OHH! ITALY proposes houses it can confirm.
Planning the journey
More than one journey.
Emilia-Romagna is larger than any one journey. Bologna, the workshops of Modena, and Parma with its hills may form one. Another continues west, through Castell’Arquato, Bobbio and the valleys beyond Piacenza. Another turns east, toward Ferrara, Ravenna and the hill towns of Romagna.
The length follows the geography and the reason for travelling. Some places belong in the same week. Others are better kept for another visit. A private guide, a meal along the way, a producer visit or a car with a driver is added when it suits the journey.
The route follows who is travelling, and what they want to see.
The table
At the table.
The cooking changes with the city and the product: tagliatelle and mortadella in Bologna, traditional balsamic when a producer is part of the day, prosciutto and Parmigiano when the route is Parma, a kitchen in the hills if that is where the house is. Tables and producer visits are arranged for the journey, according to the season and what can be reserved.
Practical planning
Arriving in the region
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Bologna Guglielmo Marconi
A private arrival, and a car with a driver for the days on the road, can be arranged as part of the journey.
OHH! ITALY
Tell us your plans.
Tell us who is travelling, how many nights you have, and whether you are most interested in the cities, the producers, the castles, the mosaics or the road. OHH! ITALY will propose the journey, the houses and the way you travel. A Motor Valley driving day can be added separately. Other Italian chapters sit beside this one — Italy, designed privately.
Photographs: Wikimedia Commons.