Catastrophic Flooding in Emilia-Romagna

They have also canceled the Grand Prix race to reduce adding a burden to local emergency teams and keep people out of the area.

I was just about to book lodging for Bologna and Ravenna for Sept/Oct. Now, I'm not sure if we should change our plans and go elsewhere. It looks like it might be quite a while before they will be in a position to accept tourists. Thoughts/advice from our Italian posters and from those who might have had experience with something similar?

Lola, I wonder if you would link to your reference that the area won't be ready for tourists 'for some time', and what that timeline looks like.
There were floods in 2022 and tourism returned, so I am interested in with a comparison or new data.
I was making plans for the area, and I am sure others also want something to refer to.

As I read Lola's post, she said, "They may not be ready for tourists for some time."

According to the president of the Emilia-Romagna region, ""We are facing catastrophic events that have probably not been seen before," so it sounds like they don't know how long recovery will take 'cause they've never dealt with a flooding of this magnitude, it's still raining, and the rivers are still rising. :O(

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/two-dead-thousands-evacuated-floods-hit-northern-italy-2023-05-17/
May 17, 20238:14 PM CDTLast Updated 43 min ago at the time I linked it.

I am sad for all who've lost loved ones and homes as well.

The photos are so sad seeing people on their roof, farmland & homes ruined, and city scenes of rescues. My heart goes out to them!

Thoughts/advice from our Italian posters and from those who might have had experience with something similar?

Sometimes recovery is fairly quick and other times it's a long road back - it all depends on how it plays out. And sometimes having tourist dollars coming in as soon as possible after a catastrophic event like this is wanted. Personally, for now, I would probably go ahead and book for Fall but be sure to only book refundable hotels and get good trip insurance. If you're the type that needs things locked down and iron clad far in advance (or risk stress) then you might want to go ahead and change your plans for this year and put this location off until next year.

The biggest help you can give in these circumstances is to visit and use your tourist dollars to support the economy,. Obviously you can’t go now, but I’m confident rains will have stopped by June or July, the driest month in Italy, and many places will have recovered by then. Also not every place in town is flooded. Some spots are far enough from the rivers or high enough not to be affected.

Ironically northern Italy suffered the worst drought in decades this winter, just a few months ago.

Ironically northern Italy suffered the worst drought in decades this winter, just a few months ago.

That's the reason these rains have had such a catastrophic effect.

Local farmers have complained for months that the surface of their fields seemed turned into concrete pavement. Especially the public fields flanking the rivers that they use as emergency, man-made floodplains.

Personally, for now, I would probably go ahead and book for Fall but be sure to only book refundable hotels and get good trip insurance. If you're the type that needs things locked down and iron clad far in advance (or risk stress) then you might want to go ahead and change your plans for this year and put this location off until next year.

Yes, the things we've booked so far are all cancelable, something we do whenever possible. Over the next several weeks, we hope to better understand the scope of the storms' effect on the cities, the infrastructure, and the sites we were planning to visit, then decide whether to go ahead with bookings in the area for this trip or wait for another. My heart just breaks for the people and the region. In the meantime, we're looking at possible alternatives for the six nights we had planned to spend in E-R, specifically in Bologna and Ravenna.

I'm flying to Bologna on Monday and was planning to spend a week visiting the Emilia-Romagna region. Obviously, some or most of that may not be possible. I'm going to message my Airbnb host and get his advice about what things are like locally before making a final decision about what to do. I can't change my plans because I'm flying from the US to Bologna to start my summer travels. I may need to focus on places north of Bologna instead of southeast to avoid the flood damaged areas. I'll post next week when I'm there to let everyone know what is going on.

Thank you Bill! Will appreciate hearing your updates. Sorry your trip has likely been very concerning for you! It sounds as if you can do a plan B if needed. Most of all though…we hope this region….earlier so “parched” can make a comeback from flooding and the rain subsides! News sadly sounds like lives have been lost and cities/villages near rivers and underwater!
Hoping you can enjoy your travel and stays wherever you end up!

So sorry for the victims. We're heading on the Village Italy tour next week (leaving for Venice today), and I heard about this yesterday.

The tour visits Ravenna, which was hard hit, but doesn't sleep there. I have a feeling that we will have to bypass Ravenna. Fortunately RS guides are flexible, and I'm sure that if we can't go there, we'll visit somewhere else in its place.

Is there flooding in Lucca and Pisa, as well? What about Tuscany?

The flooding is happening on the eastern side of the Apennines.

Is there flooding in Lucca and Pisa, as well?

Maybe in Pisa

Joking aside, train and car travel has been affected nationwide since Bologna is a major communication hub for rail and freeways connecting the north with the south.

just saw Europe weather (thx BBC) for the weekend and the named storm, Nino I think, isn't going anywhere for the weekend. Expect plenty more water.

I noticed that the latest BBC video talks about Nino hitting the Piedmont region hard this weekend. Something to keep an eye on for those traveling in that area.

MariaF, I I cannot provide a specific link with respect to how long it will take to re-open. I don’t think anyone knows even yet. My comment that it would “take some time” was based on this earlier thread by Lachera, where they said train service in the are would not resume until May 22 at the earliest. And various comments I read by town leaders in the various towns in Italian and other news articles.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/italy/travel-notice-may-17th

After train service is restored it could take more time to bring in needed supplies for repair and restocking. So I was thinking not days, but weeks, before normal tourism could be resumed.

But if you look at the photo on Facebook in lachera’s post of today, you will get an idea of the level of destruction in some areas. It is not a simple matter of cleaning up the mess.

Lola, I asked because 'some time' means different things to different people. As you see in this thread, people were considering cancelling travel for September because in their context, 'some time' meant months. Often, 'some time' really only means days or weeks for infrastructure to get moving again.
I know in the major Venice flooding, homes took months to dry out and repair, but not all the city was impacted the same so tourism still happened fairly shortly afterwards.
I can't even imagine what may have happened to Ravenna mosaics, and so many locals will feel the impact for a long time, but the realities for travel planning may be a much shortened timeline. A selfish thought perhaps, but just trying to put it into context.
Less related, I was interested to see Google Maps on my PC identifies the current areas affected by the flooding.

I don’t think one can compare what is going on in E-M with Venice flooding. The latter is tidal and wind related, and they are totally prepared for it. It last hours, not days or weeks, and it does not destroy the transport infrastructure.

One look at the photos I linked above tells you this is different. Train tracks spanning a huge washout beneath will take time to repair.

My one experience with this sort of flood disaster was as a student in 1967. We visited Florence in early February, 3 months after the November 1966 Arno flood. Our hotel was open, as were most others, but all the art was still safely in storage or being cleaned, and most museums were still closed.

In Emilia-Romagna we are usually very fast to recover after a catastrophe, but some days/weeks are necessary.
In general in the last 2 days the rain is just very much softer, so the rivers are back in their bed and in flooded areas the water is pouring out.
To have an idea of the affected areas this map is very helpful: https://rapidmapping.emergency.copernicus.eu/EMSR664
Of course damages has been suffered even outside the flooded area, but in a smaller magnitude so doesn't appear on the map.
Some updates:
- highway A14 is opened, but will be closed during the night until 05/23 for recovery between Forlì and Faenza.
- Highway A1 between Bologna and Firenze is opened again (there was a landslides near Sasso Marconi), but yesterday there were still queue.
- railways around Ravenna (from Bologna, Ferrara and Rimini) are closed. Not known when will be opened again.
- Several flooded roads are still closed.
- huge problems in the hillside due to landslides. Are counted hundred of landslides everywhere in Emilia-Romagna. Some villages cannot be reached by car. This recover will take a long time: at least months for some roads destroyed for hundreds of meters.
- Ravenna: the city itself has not been flooded, so no damages to the monuments. Has been built a temporary dam to save the city. I am not sure of the museums and monuments are still closed: probably will be opened again next week. The Classis museum is used now has a temporary hub to host evacuated people, like some churches and other museums.
- Monuments: in general the most important monuments and museums in Romagna has not been damaged, as far as I know. Anyway minor libraries, museums and monuments have been flooded and damaged (mainly in Faenza, Lugo and Forlì).
- At the moment are counted 14 deaths and more than 36'000 people abandoned the house.
- The CER (Emilia-Romagna canal) who usually flow from the Po river to Romagna to water the countryside, has been inverted! Thanks to water pumps now is flowing from the countryside TO the Po river, to help reduce the water level.
- West of Bologna there have been only landslides in the mountains, so visit the most of touristic places is still possible. I have had for the whole week tours in Modena and Parma without problems (except the rain, of course).
- The regional government opened a public rise of donations to help (go to the "protezione civile", the National Emergency system): https://protezionecivile.regione.emilia-romagna.it/notizie/attualita/conto-corrente-alluvioni-maggio-2023

In general, if you have planned an holiday from June the status (at touristic level) will be OK. Is possible some hotels could have suffered damages, but will be recovered soon. So don't worry about it.
Different will be the agriculture recovery: we are talking of an area where is cultivated a great amount of Italian vegetables, cereals and fruits. Several ones have been completely destroyed, but is too soon to know the magnitude of it.

thanks for the comprehensive update, ricky

Thank you, Ricky, for the explanations. I understand the drought/ rain has made the countryside extremely vulnerable. I am sympathetic to the locals and those with livelihoods outside the tourist sector.

Lola, 2019 Venice floods were not your normal acqua alta, and the worst in 50 years. Those were on my mind when mentioning them. People died and suffered acutely.

That is true, but that tide at 187 cm above normal was a 50-year event, caused by an unprecedented combination of wind, tides, and other factors. It covered areas of the city that are not normally affected by acqua alta. Since 2019 the MOSE system has been activated, and thus far it has worked well in spite of all the initial skepticism.

I have been concerned about Ravenna, but glad to hear from Ricky that the city itself was not actually flooded, and the mosaics are unharmed.

In any case, no one knows how long it will take for the region to recover. It will vary by city or town. People with travel plans will have to follow the progress and make their own decision about when and where to visit, balancing concern for the damage and difficulties faced by residents with the local need for tourist €€€ to return (which was mentioned above by Roberto).

If I had reservations in any of the cities in the affected area for June or July, I would definitely be in touch with my lodging host to ask for guidance. If I were planning to visit in August or September I might wait a bit to see how things are going, and then ask for advice, before canceling my plans.

We have been in Bologna Centrale for a month. Central Bologna is not affected by the floods. We have been to Lucca, Modena, and Verona and all have been fine to travel to.

Ricky is right to stress that the flooding was limited to specific areas. Springsteen had a concert for 50,000 fans at Ferrara on 5/18, just days after the flood surge - only 25 miles from Faenza. A large part of Italy did not experience any unusual rain events - in Liguria Levante, not far from Pisa, we hardly had any rain in that time period. So don't jump to any conclusions about specific cities without specific information.

We are a group of 4, just arrived in Parma. Had been Bologna for 3 nights prior. Florence before that. All train travel. Nothing has affected us. Some sandbags seen, no real damage. We did not travel East. Just an FYI.