Charming and romantic Emilia Romagna hotels, rural retreats, boutique hotels, luxury hotels, romantic getaways, small hotels, bed & breakfasts in northern Italy.
Choose from our romantic and charming hotels and accommodation in Emilia Romagna by clicking on the map or list on the right. These will highlight a wide selection of Emilia Romagna hotels, including romantic Bologna hotels, design Hotels, bed & breakfasts, Parma hotels amongst others. Whatever your taste, we’ll help you find that perfect getaway.
As mentioned above, the name comes from the Aemilian Way, which reflects the area’s strategic importance to the Roman Empire. By the 5th Century AD, however, the region had been conquered by the Lombards. In many respects, Emila and Romagna then went their separate ways for several centuries, with the latter falling under Byzantine rule and divided into numerous duchies and individual cities. By the 17th century, the duchy of Parma and Piacenza and the duchy of Modena, together held virtually all of Emilia. That is, until the end of the 18th century, when Emilia passed into French hands until 1814, Modena to Austria and Parma and Piacenza under Marie Louise, the wife of deposed Napoleon I. This cutting up of the region into separate areas finally came to a close in 1860, when all of Emilia-Romagna was added to the kingdom of Sardinia. By the end of the century it had become part of the newly evolved kingdom of Italy. Emilia-Romagna is today a prosperous region, combining farming along the productive Po valley with a diversified industry.
Important Roman traces can be found in Rimini and in Ravenna, capital of the Western Roman Empire in the fifth and sixth centuries A.D., with its magnificent monuments of the Christian-Byzantine period (the exquisite mosaics). Examples of the Romanesque Longobard style can be found in the Cathedrals of Modena, Piacenza e Ferrara; the Baptistery of Parma offers the visitors some important sculptural works. Piacenza and Bologna have valuable examples of Gothic style, but also of the Renaissance and Baroque styles. Museums: In Bologna: the Pinacoteca Nazionale, with three sections devoted to painting, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century; the Museum of Industrial Art, which exhibits furniture, objects and sacred relics, from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century; the Civic Archaeologic Museum, which houses very interesting prehistoric and Etruscan relics. Ferrara has the Cathedral’s Museum, which holds sacred relics, paintings and sculptures; the Civic Museum, which displays bronze, ceramics and frescoes; the National Archaeologic Museum, that houses precious ceramics (Attic vases with red figures); the Pinacoteca Nazionale with pictorial works from the fourteenth century to the present day. Ravenna, ancient link between the Roman and the Byzantine worlds, has the National Museum with many relics of the Roman and Early Christian Age; the Archiepiscopal Museum with an interesting collection of works from the Ancient Cathedral. In Modena there are the famous Estense Gallery, where marvelous paintings can be admired; the Estense Museum, the Museum of Risorgimento and the Estense Epigraphic Museum.
Emilia-Romagna is famous for its cuisine and is considered by some to be the gastronomic capital of Italy. Parma ham and Parmesan cheese are just some of the delicacies this interesting region has offered the world.
