Must see attractions in Emilia-Romagna

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    Battistero

    Overshadowing even the cathedral, the octagonal pink-marble baptistery on the south side of the piazza is one of the most important such structures in…

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    Basilica di San Vitale

    Sometimes, after weeks of strolling around dark Italian churches, you can lose your sense of wonder. Not here! The lucid mosaics that adorn the altar of…

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    Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo

    An old legend states that Pope Gregory the Great once ordered the Apollinare's mosaics to be blackened as they were distracting worshippers from prayer. A…

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    Via degli Asini

    Hidden behind a colourful patchwork of warped homes, this low-slung, wood-beamed, delightfully uneven medieval walkway dates to 1290. It's unique in Italy…

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    Mausoleo di Galla Placidia

    In the same complex as Basilica di San Vitale, the small but equally incandescent Mausoleo di Galla Placidia was constructed for Galla Placidia, the half…

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    Museu Horacio Pagani

    If peeking at the assembly lines at Ferrari and Lamborghini is like glimpsing inside a well-oiled machine, a day behind the scenes at Pagani is like…

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    Castello Estense

    Complete with moat and drawbridge, Ferrara's towering castle was commissioned by Nicolò II d'Este in 1385. Initially it was intended to protect him and…

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    Basilica di Santo Stefano

    Bologna's most unique religious site is this atmospheric labyrinth of interlocking ecclesiastical structures, whose architecture spans centuries of…

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    Basilica di San Petronio

    Bologna's hulking Gothic basilica is Europe's sixth-largest church, measuring 132m by 66m by 47m. Work began on it in 1390, but it was never finished, and…

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    Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe

    This signature early Christian basilica, lighter than Ravenna's other churches, is situated 5km southeast of town in the former Roman port of Classe. Its…

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    La Rocchetta Mattei

    You'll find one of Emilia-Romagna's most fascinating and curious sights at this captivating hilltop castle 50km southwest of Bologna. La Rocchetta Mattei…

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    Duomo

    Another daring Romanesque beauty? Well, yes and no. Consecrated in 1106, Parma has a classic Lombard-Romanesque facade, but inside, the gilded pulpit and…

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    Casa di Lucio Dalla

    The 15th-century Palazzo Casa Fontana poi Gamberini – the fascinating, pricier-than-the-Colosseum home of eccentric Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla …

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    Museo Ferrari

    Each year, hundreds of thousands of petrolheads make the pilgrimage to this museum in Maranello, Ferrari's home town. They come here to obsess over the…

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    Duomo

    Modena's celebrated duomo combines the austerity of the Dark Ages with throwback traditions from the Romans in a style known as Romanesque. The church…

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    Labirinto della Masone

    The opening of the world's largest maze in 2015 fulfilled a lifetime dream of art publisher Franco Maria Ricci, who once published what many considered to…

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    Museo Archeologico Nazionale

    Housed within what is arguably Ferrara's most beautifully preserved palace – the 1505 Palazzo Costabili – the city's national archaeological museum is…

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    Rocca di Brisighella

    Standing sentinel high above town on a gypsum hilltop, this medieval fortress, along with the Torre dell'Orologio and Santuario del Monticino on…