Bologna

TheEmilia-Romagna brings together two historical regions, Emilia for the most part, and Romagna to the south-east. It stretches along the fertile plain of the Po, the great Italian river that borders the north of the region, and the chain of the Apennines to the south.
It is one of the richest regions in Europe, with its agri-food industries, such as pasta, Parma ham or parmesan, and the legendary cars of Ferrari, Ducati and Lamborghini.

Its historical heritage is considerable, where along the Via Aemilia urban centres developed from Roman times, today with art cities marked by the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, Romanesque religious architecture, but also the many castles such as those of the Duchy of Parma and the fortified medieval villages.
The southern part is instead formed by the Apennines, with its nature parks, forests and lakes.
These cultural cities are not lacking; first with Bologna, the regional capital and important student city, whose university is one of the oldest in the West; then the provincial capitals Modena, Parma and Ferrara. Piacenza and Reggio Emilia are the other two provinces of Emilia.
The coastline on the Adriatic Sea, in the east of the region, stretches between the Po delta in the north, and the seaside resorts with the long beaches of Romagna in the south, such as Cattolica and Rimini.
In Romagna, Ravenna is a city whose exceptional heritage dates back to the time when it was capital of the Western Empire, then capital of the Ostrogoths. This region extends with the provinces of Rimini and Forlì-Cesena, and over part of that of Bologna with Imola, and historically Romagna extended a little into Tuscany and the Marche.

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