To the world Imola is the racetrack: the Enzo e Dino Ferrari circuit in the park along the Santerno, where Formula One wrote pages of glory and the tragedy of Ayrton Senna in 1994 — his memorial, inside the Acque Minerali park, is a place of silent pilgrimage. But the city beyond the track deserves attention: the Sforza fortress, perfect and open to visitors, housed Caterina Sforza and keeps entire armouries.
Imola is the largest comune in the metropolitan city of Bologna by area and the second by population, and it considers itself the western gateway to Romagna: from here on, culturally, you are no longer in Emilia. Roman in origin, on the Via Aemilia, it was fought over for centuries by the free comune, the Alidosi, the Sforza and the Papal States. Palazzo Tozzoni lays out an intact noble house; the pharmacy of the old hospital lines up eighteenth-century jars. And the piadina here marries the sangiovese of Romagna.
Museo diocesano Pio IX · Palazzo Tozzoni · Teatro comunale Ebe Stignani and 1 more
Tagliatelle al Ragù
Compare hotels, B&Bs and holiday homes on Booking.com for your dates.
Next up: Saint Cassian, patron whose death was the founding event of the Christian community of Imola, Friday 13 August
Nearest airport: Bologna Marconi, 39 km away
No events match these filters.
📅 Every year, on 13 August, for Saint Cassian
Imola celebrates Saint Cassian on 13 August, in the cathedral dedicated to him, which also holds the sarcophagus of Saint Peter Chrysologus, bishop of Ravenna born in Imola and buried in his home town; the town's patron also includes the Blessed Virgin of Piratello.
Museo diocesano Pio IX Diocesan museum of Imola in the Bishop's Palace, in the apartments of Pius VII and Pius IX, opened in 1962. Palazzo Tozzoni House museum in Imola built from 1726, with furnishings, three apartments and the Tozzoni counts' library. Teatro comunale Ebe Stignani Imola's theatre, made in 1812 from the former church of San Francesco, named after Ebe Stignani. Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
