I'm hashing out a trip to Emiglia-Romagna for late January. We'll mostly be seeing/spending time in the cities, eg Bologna, Parma, Modena, Ravenna, etc and covering those areas by train. We're coming from Bolzano so we'll have a car for two days at the beginning before we drop it off in Bologna. Any recs for small towns, castles, fortifications, etc to see out in the countryside? Heck, is there a town in the countryside that we could spend one or two nights at (maybe on the east side) from which we could do a day trip into Ravenna as well as see the countryside?
Posted by
Vignola, MO, IT
830 posts
Lots of small towns. Near Modena - Castelvetro, Vignola, Spilamberto. They all have castles. Imola is on the other side of Bologna, Brisighella is in the province of Ravenna and is great to walk around. These are all small towns that most tourists don't visit.
Posted by
Saint Paul, Minnesota
2369 posts
We loved visiting Torrechiara castle with its views and its many frescoed rooms --- it's just outside of Parma and can be reached by bus or taxi.
We stayed in Ravenna for a week and enjoyed the town itself, although it might be different now with the cruise ships. We had a car at that point and visited the nearby small towns of Comacchio (bridges and canals) and Cesenatico (boat museum in the canal). Comacchio is kind of in the Po Delta Regional Park, which we were eager to drive around in, but on the December day we visited there was such dense fog that we couldn't see anything!
Posted by
back in the Americas
865 posts
Here are a few to consider on your general route: Trento, Bassano del Grappa, Vittorio Veneto, Monselice
Posted by
San Diego, California, USA
2257 posts
You might look at Ferrara - 30 minutes from Bologna - which may not be a "small town" in the countryside but has a huge castle in the center of the old town. Also houses with ancient frescos and much more. Easily reachable from Bologna by train.
Enjoy,
=Tod
Posted by
North Italy
667 posts
Stop a night or two in Mantova between Bolzano and Bologna. It's well worth two or three days and is complicated and long to reach by train but right on your route by car
https://slowtravelitalyspain.blogspot.com/2022/07/mantova-in-may-palazzo-te.html?m=1
By the way, all the places you plan on visiting will be cold and damp end January - warm footwear and clothes are essential
Posted by
San Francisco Bay Area (USA)
18280 posts