What is Bagnara di Romagna known for?

Late-fifteenth-century Riario-Sforza fortress on Visconti foundations from 1354, with four corner towers and a central keep. The only fully preserved medieval castrum on the Romagna plain, with circuit walls, moats, gate and raised pathways still in place. Used the Rocca as a residence during her years ruling Imola and Forlì for the Riario, between 1480 and her 1500 capture by Cesare Borgia.

Where is Bagnara di Romagna?

Bagnara di Romagna is a comune in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, about 36 kilometers from Ravenna.

Emilia-Romagna · Ravenna

Bagnara di Romagna

A 22-meter plain commune in the Bassa Romagna, the only fully preserved medieval castrum surviving in the Romagna lowlands.

36 km / 22 mi

Nearest hub (Ravenna)

2,392

Population

Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best time to visit

Recognised as

Borghi più belli d'Italia

Why come

Bagnara di Romagna sitson the plain between Imola and Faenza, forty kilometers southeast of Bologna in the Bassa Romagna. The borgo is the only castrum surviving intact in the Romagna lowlands, with its full circuit of medieval walls, moats, civic gate, raised pathways and the Rocca Sforzesca at the centre. Barnabò Visconti raised the first stone castle here in 1354; the Riario-Sforza lords of Imola rebuilt it in the late fifteenth century on the older foundations, giving the fortress its current Renaissance form. Caterina Sforza, who ruled Imola and Forlì for the Riario, used the rocca as a residence. The municipality joined Borghi più belli d'Italia on the strength of the intact castrum layout, the only one of its kind on the Romagna plain. Beyond the walls, the commune is given over to fruit orchards and Sangiovese vineyards under the Romagna DOC.

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Gallery

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Known for

Rocca Sforzesca
Late-fifteenth-century Riario-Sforza fortress built on the foundations of a 1354 Visconti castle, with a central keep and four corner towers in Renaissance form.
Castrum medievale
Intact medieval walled nucleus with circuit walls, moats, civic gate and raised pathways, the only fully preserved castrum on the Romagna plain.
Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
Parish church inside the walls, rebuilt in the eighteenth century on the site of the earlier pieve, with a fifteenth-century terracotta relief.
Museo del Castello
Civic museum inside the Rocca, displaying weapons, ceramics, and finds from the fortress and the surrounding territory across the medieval and Renaissance centuries.

When to visit

Best months · Apr–Jun, Sep–Oct

Best
Hot or crowded
Quiet
Mostly closed

Bagnara di Romagna runs on the Po-plain calendar. April through June and September through October are the working months, with mild air and clear days over the orchards. July and August can touch thirty-six degrees on the flat; the walled nucleus holds the heat into the evening. November through February brings the long Romagna fog, sealing the borgo for days at a time, and many of the small trattorie close from December into February. The Rocca opens weekends year-round and daily from April through October. The Festa del Castrum in mid-September, with medieval reenactors filling the gate and the inner streets, is the date that brings the surrounding communes into the borgo.