The name is the memory of an arrival. The village was called Massa San Paolo, and it changed its name after 1251, when it took in a great number of Guelph families who had fled from Marmirolo, near Mantua, to escape Ezzelino III da Romano: from then on it was Massa dei Lombardi, and later Massa Lombarda. It passed to the Este of Ferrara in 1440, who gave it its best season, and returned to the Papal State in 1598, when that house died out.
Then came the fruit. The Romagna lowland around the town became one of the centres of Italian fruit growing, so much so that in 1927 the second national exhibition of the sector was held here. The year before, the first Italian fruit-juice company had been founded in the town, the Fabbrica Marmellate Massalombarda, which invented a brand known throughout Italy by people who never knew where it came from: Yoga.
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📅 Every year, on 25 January; since 1976, the Festa della Ripresa and Palio del Timone in September
Massa Lombarda celebrates Saint Paul on 25 January, in the parish dedicated to his conversion. At the start of September, since 1976, the Festa della Ripresa is held, lasting a full week and culminating in the Palio del Timone, a team competition reserved for the town's four districts.
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.
Outside Massa Lombarda, but an easy day trip away.
