Region
Emilia-Romagna
Italy's food heartland — Parma, Modena, Bologna, Reggio — and a flat, prosperous corridor of Roman roads, Renaissance cities, and mosaics. The eating is unmatched; the sightseeing is more rewarding than the international fame suggests.
The verdict
If food is the point of your trip, Emilia-Romagna is the best region in Italy. Bologna is the eating capital, Parma and Modena give you ham, cheese, and balsamic, Ravenna holds world-class mosaics, and Ferrara is a perfect cycleable Renaissance city. It's flat, train-friendly, cheaper than Tuscany, and less crowded. The art-trip traveler underrates it; the food-trip traveler should not.
Why go
To eat. Parma ham, Parmigiano, balsamic, tortellini, and the best ragù in Italy — plus Ravenna's mosaics and a string of underrated Renaissance cities.
Skip if
You came for dramatic landscape; this is flat farmland and cities.
Where to go in Emilia-Romagna
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Things to do in Emilia-Romagna
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