Emilia-Romagna is a region in northeastern Italy. The duality of the region is already evident from the name, which is expressed not so much in the orography as in the history and character of its people. The Emilians properly so called have a lively, sociable character, always ready for a joke and sometimes fulminating, with a well-concealed melancholy vein in the foggy areas along the Po, with a little more reserve in the mountains, with a certain dose of snobbery in the cities . The people of Romagna are also endowed with a sagacious spirit, but with greater fieryness - Romagna blood is proverbial -; people of great passions, for better or for worse; land of brigands (the Passatore), of extreme political passions (of Romagna origins he was Mussolini); with great working capacity (family-run tourism in Romagna was born out of nowhere and has become a leading sector in the region).
The region is bordered to the north by the river Po (except for a
stretch bordering the Mantuan Oltrepò), to the south by the crest of the
Apennines, to the west by the Oltrepò Pavese and finally to the east by
the Adriatic Sea. As regards the conformation of the territory, the
region is diversified between the chain of Apennine hills, the flat area
of the Po Valley and the Adriatic coast, together with the marshy area
called Valli di Comacchio.
The plain is intensely cultivated
thanks to the abundance of rivers and streams. The Apennine mountains
are characterized by numerous valleys that run perpendicular to the
ridge. In Emilia in the Frignano area there are peaks that exceed 2000
meters and there are numerous excursion activities; in the Romagna part,
on the other hand, the reliefs soften and offer beautiful panoramic
views.
This variety of landscapes makes the region a destination
of particular interest not only for visitors who want to get to know and
appreciate the cities of art, but also for all those attracted by the
naturalistic and seaside sites, as well as by the wide range of food and
wine.
The region has a tradition of industriousness and efficiency, and is
often referred to as one of Italy's red regions due to both its role
during the resistance and political leanings. Added to this is an
excellent character of the inhabitants, very open and courteous with all
people.
Carnival: The Hundred Carnival of Europe in Cento, the
Carnival of Fantaveicoli in Imola, the Carnival of Busseto and the
Historical Carnival of Persiceto in San Giovanni in Persiceto.
Emilian bank of the Po — The Bassa dell'Emilia is an area of fertile
land bordering the Po and the Po and its tributaries draw the wealth of
water that makes them fertile. It is a countryside of vast and boundless
horizons, dotted with hundreds and hundreds of farmhouses, many of which
are now uninhabited. Piacenza is the largest city; the other,
non-industrialised, smaller centres, nonetheless have a significant
artistic importance, a legacy of their past as small capitals. It is
above all an area of castles, linked to the memory of the families who
made them refined courts: the Rossis, the Pallavicinos, the Torellis,
the Meli Lupis, the Sanvitales, who left us their residences and their
small towns: Soragna, San Second Parmense, Sissa, Fontanellato,
Roccabianca, Polesine Parmense, Busseto, Colorno and, after Piacenza,
the other ducal city of Guastalla. There are also the beautiful villages
of Zibello and Caorso.
Emilian Po Valley - This huge flat
expanse, which excels for agri-food production - Parmigiano Reggiano,
cured meats, Lambrusco, Fortana come from these countrysides, includes
the presence of important cities, for the most part located along the
great road axis of the via Emilia: the capitals Parma and Modena, as
well as Piacenza on the bank of the Po, the regional capital Bologna but
also Fidenza and Reggio Emilia. More isolated, to the north-east, the
ducal Ferrara which boasts the title of World Heritage Site as a
wonderful Renaissance city. And then, on the border with the Lombard
Oltrepò of Mantua, still capitals of the Po Valley Principalities:
Carpi, Correggio, Novellara, Reggiolo, Rolo, Mirandola.
Emilian
Apennines - Area for summer climatic stays, winter sports, mushroom
picking, hunting, it also includes towns and cities of good scenic and
historical interest. Bobbio sui Colli Piacentini was a very important
medieval cultural center with its Abbey of San Colombano; Bardi,
Torrechiara, Corniglio, retain their castles - like many other towns in
the Parma Apennines; Pievepelago, Porretta Terme, Sestola are tourist
centers of Frignano and the Bolognese Apennines. It is home to the
Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park, part of UNESCO's "Man and the
Biosphere" project which includes the extravagant and characteristic
flat mountain Pietra di Bismantova.
Valleys and shores of
Comacchio - This plain of Comacchio is a land of water, bordered to the
north by the southern branches of the Po Delta, to the east by the
Adriatic Sea with its seaside resorts: Lido di Volano, Lido di Spina,
Lido degli Estensi, Porto Garibaldi, Lido degli Scacchi, Lido di
Pomposa, Lido delle Nazioni; in the inland plain the Valli di Comacchio,
marshes where intense fishing activity took place. Comacchio with its
lagoon atmosphere and Pomposa with its Abbey are its art centres.
Romagna plain — Ravenna is the main city of Romagna and the richest
center in history and in important monuments which fortunately have
survived the wear and tear of time and man's tampering intact. Its
Byzantine mosaics have reserved a place for it on the list of Unesco
World Heritage monuments. Imola, Faenza, Forlì, Cesena with their
fortresses recall the past of Lordships defeated one by one by Cesare
Borgia, after whose death they were then incorporated into the State of
the Church.
Tuscan-Marche Romagna Apennines — The Romagna
Apennine reliefs contrast with the Tuscan and Marche mountains. Until
contemporary times, the mountains south of Forlì constituted the Tuscan
Romagna, that is, that part of the Apennine territory which reached up
to 10 kilometers from Forlì and which had been the domain of the Medici
and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, remaining Tuscan territory even after
the Unification until 1923. Terra del Sole was a city built from scratch
and fortified by the Medici, who made it the capital of Tuscan Romagna.
Castrocaro Terme is a famous thermal center as well as Bagno di Romagna.
Valmarecchia, on the other hand, has often changed its territorial
affiliation: it was from the Marches, Romagna, Urbino, Rimini; finally
divided between Romagna and Marche. Following a popular referendum in
2009, almost all of its territory was reunited within the borders of
Romagna. Its important centers are Novafeltria, Pennabilli, San Leo,
Verucchio, Santarcangelo di Romagna.
Romagna Riviera — The first
timid attempts at seaside tourism made their appearance in the first
decades of the 19th century in this seaside land populated by fishermen
and farmers in the countryside behind it; land to tell the truth a
little backward and economically not really thriving. Welfare made it
explode with mass tourism; the proliferation of bathing establishments,
hotel settlements and second homes and has created an uninterrupted
conurbation for tens of kilometers from the coast of Ravenna, Cesena and
Rimini to well beyond the Marche border. Above all, Rimini benefited,
the true capital of the entire Adriatic coast, but also Cattolica,
Riccione, Cervia, Cesenatico and many other coastal towns.
Bologna — Bologna the Learned, because it
is the seat of the oldest and for a long time the most prestigious
university in Europe; but also Bologna the fat, because hunger is not a
good ally of study. So then the renown of its mortadella and its
tortellini goes hand in hand with its cultural traditions, the beauty of
its arcades and its monumental streets, of San Petronio and the Madonna
di San Luca which from the top of a hill dominates and watches over the
city.
Ferrara — The city and the
Estensi are an inseparable pair. The house of Este had Ferrara from the
early thirteenth century until the end of the sixteenth century, when it
returned to papal possessions. Such and so great was the imprint given
to it by the Este family, that the long papal period is not mentioned,
except to indicate it as a period of its decline. Some industry and much
agricultural production are the sources of its economy; the tourist
activity in this city of art is also good, due somewhat to its
peripheral position.
Modena - It was the
capital of the Duchy when the Este family moved there after losing
Ferrara. An important road and railway junction, it is an industrial
city between the Secchia and Panaro rivers. Its Cathedral is a
magnificent Romanesque work of art mentioned in all art history manuals.
Of its rich gastronomy, the famous zampone di Modena is known
nationwide.
Parma — the city of Parma ham
and violets, of Maria Luigia and Verdi, of Parmigiano Reggiano and of
the University, of the beautiful Romanesque cathedral and of Correggio,
of the Farnese and of Parmigianino, of the Bourbons and of the Certosa
di Parma Stendhaliana memory: there are many excellences and beauties,
the charm and myths of this city that still lives as if it were always a
capital.
Piacenza — Younger sister in the
Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, it was for a short time the first capital.
On the western edge of the region, it looks more towards Milan than
Bologna, it is Emilian but also a little Lombard. Road and railway
junction, on the right bank of the Po, it retains a beautiful historic
center with considerable monuments and an elegant urban layout.
Reggio Emilia - It was a city of Roman
foundation along the Via Emilia. Free Municipality, it was then part of
the Duchy of Modena until the unification. It was the center of fervent
Risorgimento activity, which led it to be the cradle of the Tricolore.
It has a solid economy based on agricultural trade and a good industrial
structure. Its historic center has a medieval urban layout.
Ravenna - It is the triumph of Byzantine
art in Italy. It was the capital of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th
and 6th centuries, then of the Kingdom of the Ostrogoths and of the
Byzantine Exarchate, and has preserved the splendid monuments with which
Galla Placidia, Odoacre, Theodoric embellished it. The amazing mosaics
of its churches immortalize the art and architecture that marks the
moment of transition and mingling between the Byzantine and Roman
worlds. Its Christian monumental complex has been a World Heritage Site
since 1996. Dante Alighieri died in Ravenna in 1321, of which it
preserves the monumental Tomb in the shape of a temple.
Cesena — Industrial agricultural center and
commercial center located on the Via Emilia, the city developed at the
foot of its fortress, bulwark and symbol of the power of the Malatestas
who held the lordship in the 15th century; its historic center retains
many traces of that period. The city is also famous for its racecourse.
.
Faenza — In the 15th and 16th centuries
Faenza reached the peak of the artistic production of majolica, which
made its name known throughout the world to such an extent that faience
is the term used to indicate majolica in many European languages.
Situated, like many other cities, along the Via Emilia, it has a notable
historic center dating mainly from the 17th and 18th centuries.
Forlì - It is the Forum Livii of the Romans. It
was then a Municipality, then a Lordship of the Ordelaffi. Its historic
center has a structure dating back to the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries.
Imola - has beautiful Renaissance palaces and a Rocca. It
is a city of commerce and industry, which was grafted onto an original
agricultural economy. It marks the transition from Emilia to Romagna.
Rimini - It is the symbol of seaside holidays
especially for families with children, but it also has countless
entertainment centers for young people. Begun in the 19th century,
seaside tourism found an irrepressible development here, which made the
city spread along the entire coast, equipped with deep sandy beaches.
Rimini has now created a conurbation with seaside resorts to the north
and south of the city, which extends for dozens of kilometres. Its
historic centre, quiet and unrelated to the teeming confusion of the
modern city, is characterized above all by the Roman Arch of Augustus
and from the Malatesta Temple.
Cattolica — the last strip of land
before the Marche Region, is a seaside town with a beach just over 2 km
long from east to west. The bathing establishments are well equipped and
provide services for the enjoyment of families with children. Animation,
kindergarten, swimming pools, whirlpools, beach volleyball courts, etc.
The city of Cattolica has very distant origins, when Ravenna was the
capital of the Byzantine possessions (6th and 8th centuries). From the
seafaring tradition of fishing and shipyards, it has transformed over
time into a tourist resort. Its main attractions are the aquarium, the
marina, the tourist dock, the pedestrian centre, the square of the
sirens with the dancing fountains.
Cattolica, known as the Queen of
the Adriatic, is the ideal destination for families with children, young
people and sports enthusiasts, being very small and everything close at
hand. A curiosity: it is the only city that has a Teatro della Regina in
Piazza Repubblica.
Cesenatico
Maranello
Novafeltria
Canossa Castle
Castello di
Compiano
Rocca
Malatestiana
Rocca Sanvitale
Castel Sismondo
Torrechiara
Castle
National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines
How to get
By plane
The following are airports in the region,
in Emilia:
1 Bologna Airport (Guglielmo Marconi Airport), Via
Triumvirato 84, ☎ +39 051 6479615.
2 Parma Airport (Giuseppe Verdi
Airport), Via Emilia - Golese, ☎ +39 0521 951511.
In Romagna:
3 Forlì Airport (Luigi Ridolfi), Via Carlo Seganti 103, ☎ +39 0543
783411, fax: +39 0543 783421.
4 Rimini Airport (Federico Fellini
Airport).
By car
Emilia-Romagna is connected through:
the
A1 (passing through Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena and Bologna)
with Lombardy and Tuscany
the A13 (plus the Ferrara - Porto Garibaldi
branch) with the Veneto region
the A14 (plus the branch for Ravenna)
with the Marches
the A22 with Lombardy and Veneto
the A15 with
Liguria
the A21 (plus the Fiorenzuola d'Arda branch) with Lombardy
and Piedmont
Emilia-Romagna has, for each period of the history of art, notable
excellences, among which we can mention:
Pre-Roman era
Excavations of Marzabotto (at Marzabotto). Remains of an ancient
Etruscan city, Kainua.
Roman times
Arch of Augustus (in
Rimini).
Excavations of Velleia. from 9:00 to one hour before sunset.
The village, located in the Piacentino Apennines, is known for its
archaeological excavations which in 1747 brought to light important
finds from ancient Veleia from the Roman era. It was a Roman municipium
at the head of a vast Apennine area; flourishing in the 1st century AD,
it was inhabited until the 5th century.
Early Christian and Byzantine
art
San Vitale (in Ravenna). edit
Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (in
Ravenna).
Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (in Ravenna).
Sant'Apollinare in
Classe (in Ravenna).
Neonian Baptistery (in Ravenna).
Mausoleum of
Theodoric (in Ravenna).
Romanesque art
Modena Cathedral (in
Modena).
Parma Cathedral (in Parma).
Cathedral of Fidenza (in
Fidenza).
Cathedral of Piacenza (in Piacenza).
Gothic art
Church of S. Francesco (in Bologna).
Church of San Petronio (in
Bologna).
Town Hall (The Gothic) (in Piacenza).
Ferrara Cathedral
(in Ferrara).
Renaissance art
Palazzo dei Diamanti (in
Ferrara).
Palazzo Schifanoia (in Ferrara).
Palace of Lodovico il
Moro (in Ferrara).
Tempio Malatestiano (in Rimini).
Cathedral of
Faenza (in Faenza).
Other monuments
Palazzo Ducale di
Sassuolo, Piazzale della Rosa (By car Motorway exit: Modena Nord - A1,
ring road, following the signs for Sassuolo. By train from Modena: from
Central Station FFSS. From Reggio Emilia: from Central Station FFSS. By
bus the connections are insured by public transport with several
journeys a day), ☎ +39 0536 184 4853. Full price: Euro 4.00 Reduced
price: Euro 2.00 Combined ticket with Galleria Estense: Euro 6.00
Discount and free admission as required by museum regulations state. The
Este "delight" of Sassuolo, the summer residence of the Ferrara dukes.
Malatestiana Library, Piazza Bufalini 1 (in Cesena), ☎ +39 0547 610892,
biblioteca.moderna@comune.cesena.fc.it. It is one of the oldest
humanistic convent libraries and has the particularity of having come
down to us intact with its heritage of codes, manuscripts, books; It is
the first public library in Italy and Europe, and was included by UNESCO
in the Register of Memory in the World.
Via Carolingia — European itinerary that crosses the places traveled
by the court of Charlemagne between the eighth and ninth centuries to go
from Aachen to Rome, where Pope Leo III crowned the Carolingian
sovereign emperor of the Holy Roman Empire on Christmas night in the
1800s .
Street of the Gods. Path of 130 km from Bologna to Florence,
which can be traveled on foot or by mountain bike.
It is probably the Italian region with the most specialties known
abroad: lasagne, tortellini, tagliatelle, cappelletti, various sausages
(Parma ham, mortadella, culatello di Zibello, Felino salami, cooked ham,
etc.).
In short, a real place for gourmands!
Emilia-Romagna boasts two DOCG wines, the Colli Bolognesi Classico Pignoletto and the Albana di Romagna, furthermore in its territory just under twenty other DOC wines are produced: Bosco Eliceo, Colli Bolognesi, Colli d'Imola, Colli of Faenza, Parma Hills, Rimini Hills, Scandiano and Canossa Hills, Piacentini Hills, Central Romagna Hills, Gutturnio, Lambrusco di Sorbara, Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro, Lambrusco Salamino di Santacroce, Modena, Ortrugo dei Colli Piacentini, Reggiano, Reno, Romagna.
Emilia Romagna is generally a safe region, however, exercising common sense is always necessary, such as when leaving personal and valuable items on the beach.
The Via Emilia, built by the Roman consul Marco Emilio Lepido, with its route which roughly follows the foothills line in a north-west/south-east direction (from Rimini to Piacenza) divides the territory of the region into two parts (areas) having almost equivalent extensions: the northern-eastern one (47.8% of the total area, all flat) and the southern-western one (hilly for 27.1% of the territory and mountainous for 25.1%).
Emilia-Romagna is divided orographically almost symmetrically between
the Po Valley and the hills, with the eastern portion of the northern
Apennines (Tuscan-Emilian and Tuscan-Romagna) which constitutes the
hinterland of every province except Ferrara. The flat part of the region
(central-southern area of the Po Valley), between the foothills and the
Po, gradually widens from west to east, while the mountainous-hilly area
maintains an almost constant width throughout its development. The
projection of the Via Emilia on the territory coincides almost perfectly
with the exact transition line between the plain and the first adjacent
hills.
The highest altitudes are found in the central Apennine
sector: Mount Cimone (2165 m) is the highest peak in Emilia-Romagna and
in the northern Apennines, falling entirely within the regional
administrative boundaries (province of Modena). The plain is the result
of alluvial deposits brought by the Po and other rivers over the course
of thousands of years: coarser materials such as gravel, sand and small
rocks have been deposited in the upper Emilia-Romagna Po Valley,
therefore the soil is very permeable and free from water stagnation; in
the lower plain the deposits are instead more minute (silt and clay) and
therefore less permeable. Between the two areas is the band of
resurgences. In the eastern part of the region, facing the Adriatic, we
pass from an internal sector of land that has long since been
consolidated and cultivated to the vast areas of recent hydraulic
reclamation, such as the shores and valleys of Ferrara and Ravenna.
The Po Valley overlooks the sea with a low and very uniform sandy
coast; the wide beaches and the shallow sea lend themselves very well to
the seaside tourist activity.
The hydrographic network is extensive and developed and is made up,
in the western half of the region, of a series of more or less parallel
watercourses which run through the valleys and then digress in the plain
until they flow into the river Po or in the main bodies water. In the
eastern part, starting with the Rhine, the rivers flow directly into the
Adriatic in estuaries with little or no elevation on the coast profile.
Apart from the Po, all the rivers in the region have irregular flow
rates with torrential flow. Also noteworthy is the network of artificial
derivation canals which draw water for civil and industrial uses and for
the irrigation of vast areas of the Po Valley, first of all the
Emiliano-Romagnolo canal (one of the most important agricultural
hydraulic works in the region and Italy) and the Romagna Aqueduct (the
most expensive public work built in Romagna in the 20th century). Thus,
thanks above all to the CER, there is an irrigated "low plain" dedicated
to breeding for the production of milk and cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano
and Grana Padano), then the reclaimed "valleys" (largely invested in
cereals), then the non-irrigated plain cultivated with specialized fruit
growing (Cesenate) and finally the hills used as vineyards or mixed
crops. Beyond these (going up towards the interior of the region) we
have the meadows, pastures and woods of the high hills and the
Apennines, which develop on the heads of the hydrographic network.
The rivers present in the territory can be classified into four
orders:
Main order: Po (the most important in the region. Its course
also marks part of the northern regional administrative border).
Second tier: Enza, Panaro, Parma, Reno, Secchia, Taro, Trebbia.
Third
order: Arda, Baganza, Bidente, Ceno, Conca, Crostolo, Diversivo del
Volano, Fiorillo, Fiumi Uniti, Idice, Lamone, Marecchia, Montone,
Nocerino, Nure, Po di Goro, Po di Volano, Rabbi, Ronco, Samoggia ,
Santerno, Savio, Senio, Setta, Sillaro, Tidone.
Fourth tier:
Acerreta, Ausa, Aveto, Bevano, Bidente di Corniolo, Bidente di
Pietrapazza, Bidente di Ridràcoli, Borello, Brasimone, Canale Bianco
(north of Ferrara), right reclamation canal of the Reno, Canale della
Botte, branch canal, canal di Burana, Diversion channel,
Emiliano-Romagnolo channel, Morozzo channel, Naviglio channel, Navile
channel, Poatello channel, Cavo Fiuma, Cavo Lama, Cedra, Chero,
Chiavenna, Modenese shallow water collector, Reggio Emilia shallow water
collector, Dolo, Dragone, Fossa di Spezzano, Fossa Zena, Gaiana, Ghiaia
di Serravalle, Guerro, Lavino, Leo, Limentra di Treppio, Luretta,
Marano, Marzeno, Ongina, Para, Parola, Pisciatello, Po morto di Primaro,
Quaderna, Recchio, Riglio, Rigossa, Rossenna , Rovacchia, Rubicone,
Samoggia, Sàvena, Scoltenna, Secchiello, Sellustra, Silla, Sintria,
Stirone, Tassobbio, Tavollo, Termina, Tepido, Tramazzo, Tresinaro, Uso,
Ventena, Voltre, Zena. Almost all of them flow into the Adriatic or are
tributaries of the Po.
The prevailing climate of Emilia-Romagna is of the temperate
subcontinental type, with hot and humid summers followed by cold and
harsh winters. This assumes markedly oceanic characteristics in the
Apennines, while it tends towards the sub-Mediterranean (transition
towards the Mediterranean climate as found starting from Mount Conero
towards the south) only along the coastal strip. In fact, the Adriatic
is too narrow a sea to significantly influence the thermal conditions of
the region. The basic characteristics of this climate are the strong
temperature difference between summer and winter, with very hot and
muggy summers and cold and prolonged winters. Autumn is wet, foggy and
cool until mid-November. As the season progresses, temperatures drop
until they can border on, and often exceed, the value of 0 °C during
December and the winter months. Spring represents the transition season
par excellence, and overall it is mild and rainy.
Precipitation
in the plain generally ranges from 650 to 800 mm on average per year. As
we move on to the hills and mountains, they increase rapidly and become
decidedly more abundant: in fact, they exceed 1500 mm in almost all
internal reliefs and even 2000 mm in the areas close to the ridge of the
central Emilian Apennines. western. Here there is abundant snow, which
falls mainly in the months between November and March, although minor
snowfalls often occur in April as well. Even the plain is often visited
(during the winter) by snow, in quantity which generally increases
moving towards the foothills and proceeding from east to west. The
general regime of rainfall is characterized by two maxima, one in spring
and one in autumn, which do not differ much from each other in terms of
millimeters fallen, but mark the prevalence of the latter almost
everywhere; on the contrary, the driest seasons (but not dry, as the
Emilia-Romagna region is a temperate climate without a dry season, as
defined by the Köppen world classification of climates) are winter and
summer, which mark the two minimum annual rainfall. On average, neither
season prevails over the other in terms of accumulations, given that
about half of the region has slightly higher accumulations in summer
than in winter and the other half vice versa, without a precise and
uniform pattern of distinction between the two zones; it is a
precipitation regime fully typical of continental climates, which in
Italy is present only in this region and between lower Piedmont and
lower Lombardy-lower Veneto. As a result of this rainfall pattern, the
watercourse regime is distinctly torrential, with sudden strong floods
alternating with periods of great low water. Emilia-Romagna therefore
basically has three climates, which can be roughly divided into the Po
Valley (temperate semi-continental), the Apennine mountain (oceanic) and
the temperate sublittoral maritime one.
Since the beginning of
the nineties, the region, like all of Italy and Europe, has undergone a
rather drastic change in its climate, with significant increases in
average temperatures (+1.1 °C) and extremes (particularly during the
summer season, +2 °C) combined with changes in the seasonal regimes and
intensity of rainfall, with a rapid decrease in rainfall especially in
the Apennines. The Hydrometeorological Service of ARPA Emilia-Romagna is
the regional body in charge of carrying out operational activities
relating to hydrology, meteorology and climatology.
Emilia-Romagna includes two national parks, both in common with Tuscany: the Casentinesi Forests, Monte Falterona and Campigna National Park and the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines National Park. The territory of the region also includes fourteen regional parks as well as numerous other protected natural areas. The main environmental problems encountered both in Emilia and (to a lesser extent) in Romagna reside in the freedom left to the municipalities in the field of urbanization, which is seen as the main cause of soil consumption, and in the air pollution of large urban centers due to vehicles and industrial activities.
Spontaneous vegetation has been reduced over time by human
intervention, particularly in the plains. Some significant wooded areas
survive here such as the Bosco della Mesola, which has become a nature
reserve, and the pine forest of Ravenna (albeit of artificial origin).
Quite different is the Apennines, where the woods are much more
widespread and rich in species.
Even the fauna has been greatly
impoverished by man-made modifications of the environment: in the fields
there are hares, hedgehogs, pheasants and many other animals, while in
the coastal wetlands (especially in the Po Delta) we find pink flamingos
(Phoenicopterus roseus ) herons, ducks, seagulls and also otters. Most
of the recorded species live in the woods of the Apennines, such as
numerous birds, foxes, badgers, porcupines, deer, roe deer, fallow deer,
moufflons, wild boars, wolves and squirrels. Today the regional forest
area is increasing, due to reforestation and the abandonment of crops in
less profitable areas which is leading to a recolonization of
vegetation.
The plain falls within the range of the typical average European climate, a factor which can also be found in the flora present: the most common trees here are deciduous broad-leaved trees such as black poplar, white poplar, alders, willows, English oak, elm and hornbeam white. All of these are mesophilic species, typical of many areas of Central and Eastern Europe. The Po Valley is in fact one of the southernmost areas of the continent where these forest typologies are found, of which the oak-hornbeam forest with Quercus robur and Carpinus betulus is the most representative and predominant association (also in Emilia-Romagna). The only strips of residual Mediterranean vegetation are located along the Adriatic coast in the Bosco della Mesola (province of Ferrara, where we find relicts of holm oak plants) and in the Pineta di Ravenna (where, however, stone pine was introduced by the Etruscans and Romans) .
The portion of the regional territory which extends from the first
hills overlooking the plain to the lower mountain plain (700-800 metres)
is characterized by the presence of mixed deciduous broad-leaved woods.
This large sector is the natural site of formations made up of oaks,
chestnuts and other deciduous tree species such as maples, lindens,
hornbeams, cherries, rowan trees and ash trees. It is a
meso-thermophilous vegetation which is well adapted to the
temperate-mild climate typical of these lower Apennine areas. Extensive
wooded areas of this strip appear today as chestnut groves and no longer
as oak groves: in fact, it was man who in the past gradually spread the
chestnut (Castanea sativa) replacing it with oaks and other spontaneous
tree species. Many of the floristic components of the chestnut and oak
woods of Emilia-Romagna belong to the flora of the deciduous
broad-leaved forests of central Europe (for example oak, field maple and
linden) while others are part of the deciduous woods of mesotherm
south-eastern Europe ( Turkey oak, hop hornbeam, manna ash).
In
the Apennines there are also numerous reforestations of exotic and
European conifers, especially in former abandoned crops and old
pastures. In the properly hilly part of the region (for the valley and
lower areas up to about 500 meters above sea level) some thermophilic
species are found in the woods which are absent at higher altitudes.
Among the southern Europeans, the butcher's broom and the pyracantha
stand out, while among those that differentiate the upper part of the
oak woods (high-hilly plain) the whitebeam should be mentioned. This
band of hills is characterized by mesophilous, thermophilic and
xerophilous species differentiated and arranged on the basis of the
exposure of the slopes and the altitude. Typical Mediterranean species
are found here very rarely, only on cliffs well exposed to the sun on
the southern slopes and in particular conditions.
In the Emilian
Apennines, in high-hilly and sub-mountainous areas, live the populations
of Scots pine further south in Italy: large specimens of this tree
typical of the Alpine and boreal areas can be found in the Parma area
and also in the Bologna area (Parco storico di Mount Sun). These
formations are relicts from colder times that have been preserved in
areas where the climate is more suitable for them. Since the hilly area
is characterized by thermophilic deciduous broad-leaved forests, various
discussions have concerned the vegetation classification of these areas,
ie whether to insert them in the mesophilic Mediterranean horizon or in
the properly temperate one. There are many contradictory theses but
generally, given the continental climatic framework and the different
floristic retinues compared to those of the forests of central-southern
Italy, most botanists today tend to insert these formations among the
temperate central European[16] . Going up in the purely mountainous belt
of the Apennines, between 800 and 1800 m, we find extensive and
widespread beech woods (over 100,000 hectares in the whole of
Emilia-Romagna) often with conifers: in fact, the silver fir remains ,
which can be found in mixed or pure fir forests from 800 m to 1700 m and
is now protected in various reserves and in the two national parks of
the region. There is also spruce in spontaneous relict nuclei along the
border with Tuscany. At over 1,800 meters above sea level we have the
upper limit of the tree vegetation, with the dominance of blueberry
moors, meadows and pastures.
The vegetation present in the coastal environments of Emilia-Romagna is characterized by psammophilous and halophilous plant species. Psammophilous species are able to survive on sandy soils with low water retention and characterize beach and dune environments which usually have low salinity values thanks to runoff by rainwater. The halophilous species, on the other hand, are tolerant of high salinity values and are therefore typical of brackish wetlands. The Po delta area is very important, especially as regards the flora and the rich and rare birdlife present here (pink flamingos).
In Emilia-Romagna we find two important national parks located in the
Apennines, various state and regional reserves as well as numerous other
areas protected by the Natura 2000 network and beyond. The province of
Ferrara is the one with the highest percentage of area subject to
conservation. The main protected areas are:
Foreste Casentinesi,
Monte Falterona and Campigna National Park
Sasso Fratino integral
nature reserve: located entirely within the Foreste Casentinesi national
park (in the province of Forlì-Cesena, on the Romagna side) this
integral nature reserve managed by the state is today a World Heritage
Site among the ancient European beech woods in the interior of the
serial site "Primal beech forests of the Carpathians and other regions
of Europe".
National Park of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines
Corno
alle Scale Regional Park
Regional Park of the High Modenese Apennines
Regional Park of the Vena del Gesso Romagnola
Regional Park of the Po
Delta in Emilia-Romagna: of considerable biological importance as it
hosts the only nesting population of pink flamingos in central-northern
Italy and many plant species typical of wetlands.
Emilia-Romagna includes two distinct historical-geographical
realities: Emilia and Romagna, which correspond respectively to the
ancient Longobard Ducal area and to the ancient Byzantine and then Papal
area. In ancient times the entire Po Valley had the name of Longobardia
(or Lombardy) for more than 1,200 years, as shown by the example of the
city of Reggio Emilia called "Reggio di Lombardia" until the Unification
of Italy or the same locality of Massa Lombarda (RA) which still today
reports it in the municipal toponym. The territories of the Po Valley
had vicissitudes and intertwined destinies starting from the Gallic
settlement (Cisalpine Gaul) and subsequent Roman conquest (as a
senatorial province) up to the end of the Lombard Kingdom. It was only
from the 9th century that things began to change: Romagna became subject
to papal theocratic rule while Emilia to municipal and ducal authority.
From that period onwards, the two areas, as well as the entire plain,
were for centuries the scene of bloody wars between pro-papal (Guelph)
and pro-imperial (Ghibelline) factions. After the brief Napoleonic
period of the Cisalpine Republic, the Duchies existed until the
unification of Italy, when the Ducal authority was replaced by that of
the new King. At the same time, the papal territory of Romagna was taken
away from the Pope. Emilia and Romagna finally entered into part of the
new Italian state simultaneously, at the behest of the then dictator
Carlo Farini who unified them with the Kingdom of Sardinia, then the
Kingdom of Italy, on November 30, 1859.
History of Emilia
The
main Italic populations that settled in Emilia in ancient times were
that of the Etruscans, as evidenced by the numerous cities they founded,
including Felsina (Bologna), Parma, Spina and that of the Celts, who
also settled in numerous other areas of Northern Italy . Starting from
the 3rd century BC. the Romans took possession of the territory,
imposing themselves on the Celtic tribes. Already in the first period of
Roman domination, the via Emilia was built (187 BC), by the will of the
consul Marco Emilio Lepido, from which today the region takes its name.
This arterial road was important for the intensification of trade and
flourishing urban centers such as Mutina (Modena, already of Etruscan
origin), Placentia (Piacenza), Fidentia (Fidenza) and Regium Lepidi
(Reggio Emilia) arose along its route.
With the fall of the
Western Roman Empire in 476 AD, the entire Italian peninsula was at the
mercy of the invasions of the various barbarian populations, coming from
northern Europe. During the sixth century AD. Emilia, like a large part
of the Italian territory, was subjected to the Lombards, while nearby
Romagna remained, however, for a long time under Byzantine control.
Following the Lombard administrative model, a series of duchies were
also created in the region, among which those of Parma, Piacenza,
Modena, Reggio Emilia and Persiceto stood out. Bologna, on the other
hand, will only come under Lombard control in 728.
The Lombards
were subsequently followed by the Franks, called to Italy by Pope
Stephen II. In this period Emilia entered the orbit of the Holy Roman
Empire and its territory was divided into a series of fiefdoms.
Particularly extensive in the region were the possessions of the Canossa
family, which from 1076 became the patrimony of the Grand Countess
Matilde. During the Investiture Controversy of the 11th century, which
involved the papacy and the empire, the castle of Canossa was the site
of one of the main and most significant events of this historical phase:
the humiliation of Henry IV. In fact, the emperor, excommunicated in
1076 by Pope Gregory VII, went to the latter in January 1077, as a guest
of Matilda, to ask for the revocation of that provision. The
reconciliation between the two took place after numerous negotiations
(mediated by various political and clergy exponents, including the
countess herself) and Enrico's stay in front of the castle for three
days, dressed in penitent's clothes.
From the 12th century
onwards, many Emilian citizens established themselves as municipalities
which gradually replaced the previous feudal administrative systems. The
municipality that had the most prestige and power in the area was
Bologna, where, in 1088, the famous University, the oldest in Europe,
was founded. Again in this period, many Emilian municipalities were
annexed to the Lombard League which opposed the plan of Emperor
Frederick Barbarossa to restore a strong central power in northern
Italy.
Over the next few centuries, many cities moved from
communal to seigneurial forms of government. An example is Ferrara
which, under the rule of the Estensi, acquired considerable prestige,
also becoming one of the most important cultural centers of Humanism and
the Italian Renaissance (in fact, intellectuals of the caliber of Matteo
Maria Boiardo, Ludovico Ariosto and Torquato Tasso).
The whole of
Emilia, over the course of the following centuries, maintained a
political structure in which the political powers of the Duchies of
Ferrara, Modena and Reggio and Parma and Piacenza mainly stood out.
Starting from 1796, with the arrival of Napoleon Bonaparte's French
troops, a series of republics were created in northern Italy, dependent
on the French one, which among the various territories also included the
Emilian one, included in the Cispadana Republic (formed by the Duchy of
Modena with the city of Reggio Emilia and the Bolognese Republic).
Subsequently it was united with the Transpadana one (corresponding to
the previous duchy of Milan), thus forming the Cisalpine Republic which
had the Tricolor as its flag, born precisely in Reggio in 1796.
Following the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the ancient administrative
system was re-established in the region, which fell only in 1860 with
the annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia following plebiscites.
A particularly relevant event in the history of Emilia in the Second
World War was the massacre of Marzabotto, in which 1,830 civilians were
killed by German troops, in the repression of partisan guerrilla
warfare, in 1944, by which time the allied troops were preparing to
definitively liberate the 'Northern Italy.
In 1947 Emilia became,
together with Romagna, the Emilia-Romagna region.
Among the first populations that settled in the area appear Umbrians
and Etruscans. In a second moment, the territory corresponding to the
current Romagna was then conquered by some Celtic tribes from northern
Europe, including the Lingoni, the Senoni and the Boi (4th century BC).
In the third century BC, following a series of clashes, the Celtic
populations who occupied the region were defeated by the Romans who
began to exercise their dominion over the region. There are numerous
signs of Roman domination, including the foundation of various cities,
among which we can mention Ariminum, Faventia, Forum Livii, Forum
Cornelii, Forum Popili, respectively today's Rimini, Faenza, Forlì,
Imola and Forlimpopoli.
In the late Republican era, the Rubicon
River was used as a reference point to sanction the border between Italy
and the province of Gallia Cisalpina. An important historical event that
consecrated this waterway was its crossing by Julius Caesar and his army
on 10 January 49 BC, at the end of the Gallic campaigns. This event
sanctioned the beginning of the second Roman civil war. It is said that
on that very occasion the famous Roman leader pronounced the phrase,
which has by now become proverbial, "Alea iacta est".
In the
first century BC, in the imperial age, Octavian Augustus placed the main
military naval garrison in the Adriatic near Ravenna. This went to
increase the prestige and wealth of the city. Precisely by virtue of the
fact that the port of Ravenna in late antiquity had become the major
point of contact with the new capital of the Eastern Empire,
Constantinople, Ravenna, in 402 AD, became the capital of the Western
Roman Empire, by order of Emperor Honorius. The presence of marshes
around the city also made it a safer place to defend against attacks by
the Visigoths of Alaric, compared to the previous capital Milan.
In 476, again in Ravenna, the young Romulus Augustus, considered the
last Western Roman emperor, was deposed by Odoacer, king of the Heruli.
Odoacer was followed by Theodoric's Ostrogoths.
During the sixth
century, the Eastern Emperor Justinian launched a series of military
campaigns to regain possession of numerous territories of the Western
Empire which had fallen into the hands of various barbarian populations
(Gothic War (535-553)). Among the various territories that the
Byzantines managed to take also part of Romagna and the northern
Marches. These domains were thus united in a protectorate called
Exarchate, with Ravenna as its capital. Furthermore, it was precisely in
this period that the region acquired the name of Romagna, from the Latin
(and Greek) Romania (at the time an informal designation of the empire).
In fact, this term differentiated the possessions of the Eastern Roman
Empire from the territories occupied by the Longobards, who held control
of a large part of the Italian peninsula. The Exarchate will finally
fall in 751, precisely at the hands of this last population.
In
the same period, Pope Stephen II, fearing that the Lombards might take
possession of Rome, called to his aid the Franks of Pepin the Short, who
defeated the Lombards and ceded the territories belonging to the Eastern
Empire to the Papal State, including which, precisely Romagna.
From the 12th century, similarly to what happened in numerous towns in
central-northern Italy, municipal institutions were also adopted in
various areas of Romagna, which later, after a few centuries, would
change into lordships or principalities. In 1499, thanks to a series of
military actions, the son of Pope Alexander VI, Cesare Borgia, managed
to take possession of the region, defeating the local lords, who had
been fighting each other for some time, thus becoming duke of Romagna.
Upon his father's death, however, Borgia will no longer be able to
maintain control of the conquered territories which in 1507 will be
re-annexed to the Papal State.
The Romagna territory will remain
in the hands of the Pope until 1796, the year of the Napoleonic
invasion. With the fall of Napoleon and with the Congress of Vienna in
1815, however, the region will return to the State of the Church.
With the plebiscites of 11 and 12 March 1860, the territories of
Romagna were officially annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia which would
become the Kingdom of Italy the following year.
During the Second
World War, in the spring of 1944, the German army established a line of
defense in the territory of Romagna which constituted the frontier
between Italy, by then liberated by the allies, and the Po Valley: the
Gothic Line, which from Rimini reached as far as La Spezia.
Subsequently, after the Gothic Line was broken, numerous cities were
liberated. The last cities to be definitively liberated were those
located north of the Senio river, where the allies arrived only in the
spring of 1945.