The Emilia-Romagna Mistake We See Most Often

Most people treat Emilia-Romagna as a day trip from somewhere else, usually Florence, usually just Bologna, usually just long enough for one plate of tortellini and a train back.

That undersells the region badly. Parma, Modena, and Ravenna each deserve real time, not a rushed afternoon squeezed between train connections. Modena alone holds a working balsamic acetaia where barrels have aged in the same attic for decades, plus the Ferrari and Lamborghini museums if that's more your speed. Ravenna has some of the best preserved Byzantine mosaics outside Istanbul, tucked into churches that don't announce themselves from the outside.

Basing here for four or five nights, rather than passing through, is what turns "we saw Bologna" into "we understood why people who care about food talk about this region the way they do."