Italy: Emilia-Romagna: Including Bologna

The new, extensively updated second edition of Bradt’s Emilia-Romagna is the most thorough and in-depth guidebook available to this entire north Italian region (not just Bologna and the main cities). This region blends the best of Italy: a gastronomic hub, elegant cities with vibrant cultural offerings and a coastline favoured by the Italians themselves.

Emilia-Romagna combines the rich farmlands of the Po plain with dazzling cities strung like pearls along the straight-as-a-die Via Emilia. The regional capital, Bologna, is home to the world’s oldest university, while the smaller cities are strikingly different, year-round destinations. Parma (the town of Correggio) has opera at its heart and prosciutto to delight the palate; Modena, with its stupendous medieval cathedral and world-famous balsamic vinegar, once home to Pavarotti and still to Ferrari; Ferrara boasts the House of Este’s spectacular Renaissance architecture; Ravenna glitters with Byzantine mosaics; and Rimini - immortalised by Fellini in Amarcord - offers the hedonistic attractions of the coast.

Then there are the Apennines along the Tuscan border, where you can venture beyond the flatlands of the Po to go trekking, cycling and skiing. Here lie some of the region’s prettiest villages and towns, including Vignola, famous for cherries, and lovely medieval Castell’Arquato and the beautifully preserved Brisighella (famed for its olive oil and Moretto artichokes). Meanwhile, to the east, Romagna holds long sandy Adriatic beaches, wildlife-filled lagoons around the Po Delta, and the world’s smallest republic, San Marino.

Written by expert authors Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls, possibly the world’s most experienced travel writers on Italy, and updated by Italy aficionados Andrew and Suzanne Edwards, Bradt’s Emilia-Romagna is the definitive guide to this diverse, authentic area. A strong focus on historical context, art and culture is complemented by extensive practical detail for travelling around - from restaurants and accommodation to shopping and the FICO Eataly food theme park. New coverage in this edition includes literary tourism near Rimini and Ferrara, the Fellini Museum, the Fondazione MAST technology museum, the Via Romagna cycle path, birdwatching in the Po Delta, and Po Grande Reserve. With Bradt’s Emilia-Romagna you can discover all of this and more.

Dana Facaros and Michael Pauls (facarospauls.com) are possibly the world’s most experienced travel writers on Italy. They first visited Emilia-Romagna in 1981, when they were living for three years in Umbria and exploring the country from Trieste to Lampedusa while researching several Cadogan guidebooks to Italy. For Bradt they have written the Emilia-Romagna guidebook, which was informed and inspired by their Cadogan Guide to Bologna and Emilia-Romagna, a title that ran to four editions. They have also produced a city guide, Bologna and Modena, as an app. Now living in France, one of the couple’s prize possessions is a small, well-thumbed cookery book on Emilia-Romagna’s traditional cuisine: one of Michael’s star turns as a chef is a decent rendition of tagliatelle al ragù that he makes when they aren’t able to get back to eat the real McCoy.