★ History and art · Bologna and the ApenninesMarzabottoAn Etruscan town with a grid of streets in the Reno valley and, on the hills above, the Monte Sole memorial park.
The storyIn the 6th century BC the Etruscans founded Kainua here, a planned city with streets at right angles, temples and workshops: it is one of the few Etruscan cities whose layout can still be read. On the hills of Monte Sole, between 29 September and 5 October 1944, the SS killed about 770 civilians, most of them women, children and elderly people: one of the worst massacres of civilians in Western Europe during the war. Today the historic park preserves the ruins of the hamlets and churches.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Bologna and the ApenninesGrizzana MorandiA fantasy castle in the Apennine hills, with onion domes, towers and a courtyard inspired by the Alhambra in Granada.
The storyCount Cesare Mattei began building it in 1850 on the ruins of a medieval fortress. Here he invented and practised electrohomeopathy, a cure of his own devising based on herbs and «vegetable electricity» that became hugely famous: patients came from all over Europe, and Dostoevsky mentions it in «The Brothers Karamazov». The castle was extended for decades in different styles, from Moorish to Gothic.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Modena and Reggio EmiliaFiorano ModeneseLittle mud volcanoes bubbling away in a clay basin in the hills above Fiorano, in a nature reserve.
The storyThe salse are cones of cold mud pushed to the surface by gas, mainly methane, rising from deep pockets together with salt water. The landscape is constantly changing: cones grow, die out and new ones appear. They are among the largest phenomena of this kind in Europe, and the area has been a nature reserve since 1982.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Modena and Reggio EmiliaCanossaThe ruins of a castle on a white sandstone crag in the hills of Reggio Emilia, with a small museum.
The storyIn January 1077 Emperor Henry IV, excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII, waited three days outside the castle, barefoot in the snow and dressed as a penitent, to obtain forgiveness. The pope was the guest of Countess Matilda of Canossa, one of the most powerful women of the Middle Ages. Ever since, «going to Canossa» has meant humbling yourself and asking for forgiveness.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Nature · Modena and Reggio EmiliaCastelnovo ne' MontiA huge ship-shaped sandstone outcrop rising alone in the Reggio Apennines, with sheer walls and a plateau on top.
The storyDante mentions it in the fourth canto of Purgatorio, comparing the effort of the climb to that of reaching the top of Bismantova; in the same tercet he names San Leo and Noli. Below the wall there is a hermitage, and climbers have been scaling the rock for decades.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ History and art · Ferrara and the deltaCodigoroA Benedictine abbey standing alone on the delta plain, with a Romanesque bell tower almost fifty metres high and a church covered in frescoes.
The storyIn the 11th century the monk Guido of Arezzo lived here; he developed the system of staff lines and gave the notes names taken from the syllables of a hymn to St John: ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la. In practice, the way music is written and read was born here. When malaria arrived, the abbey was abandoned.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Ravenna, Rimini and RomagnaSantarcangelo di RomagnaA hilltop village with the Malatesta fortress and, beneath the houses, a network of more than a hundred caves carved into the sandstone.
The storyNobody knows for sure who dug them or when: some have a circular plan and niches that suggest places of worship, others were used for centuries as cellars and ice houses. The largest, the monumental cave, can be visited with a guide. The village is also home to the poet and screenwriter Tonino Guerra, Fellini's collaborator, and to an old rust-print textile workshop.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Ravenna, Rimini and RomagnaSan LeoA village on a huge block of rock with sheer walls, dominated by a Renaissance fortress.
The storyThe fortress, redesigned by Francesco di Giorgio Martini for the dukes of Montefeltro, later became a prison of the Papal States. Its most famous prisoner was Count Cagliostro, the adventurer and alchemist condemned for heresy, who died there in 1795 in the cell known as «the well». Dante mentions San Leo in Purgatorio, and the village only passed from the Marche to Emilia-Romagna in 2009.
Full page, why go and what's nearby →★ Town · Ravenna, Rimini and RomagnaBrisighellaA village at the foot of three gypsum pinnacles, with a fortress, a clock tower and a sanctuary on top, and a raised, covered medieval street.
The storyThe Via degli Asini (Donkeys' Way) is a covered medieval street lit by half-moon arches that formed part of the village defences: it was home to the carters who carried gypsum from the hillside quarries on their donkeys. The Vena del Gesso, a long ridge of gypsum crystals, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2023 for its karst caves.
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