On 7 January 1797, in a hall of the town hall, the delegates of the Cispadane Republic adopted the tricolour for the first time, on a proposal by Giuseppe Compagnoni: Reggio Emilia is the city of the flag, and the Sala del Tricolore remembers it with measured, very Emilian pride. The city had been founded by the consul Marcus Aemilius Lepidus along the road that bears his name, the Via Aemilia, and after him it was called Regium Lepidi. The fact that catches you off guard is another one: until Italian unity its official name was Reggio di Lombardia, changed only in 1861.
All around, a city of arcades and bicycles that the world of education knows well: the «Reggio Approach» of its nursery schools is studied everywhere. It is also a capital of the cooperative movement, born here at the end of the nineteenth century, and it carries a gold medal of the Resistance. At the table it plays at home: Parmigiano Reggiano, lambrusco and erbazzone. And the theatres facing the square — the Valli above all — keep a serious musical tradition alive.
Galleria Parmeggiani · Museo del Tricolore
Tagliatelle al Ragù · Aceto Balsamico di Modena
22 places to stay · top rated: Mulino di Casa Sforza Suites and Spa 9.5 · Hotel Posta 9.1
Next up: Saint Prosper, patron of the town where the Italian tricolour was born, Tuesday 24 November
Nearest airport: Parma, 30 km away
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📅 Every year, on 24 November
Reggio nell'Emilia celebrates Bishop Saint Prosper on 24 November in the Renaissance basilica dedicated to him, on the square of the same name; the town can boast the title of City of the Tricolour, whose flag was born and first shown here on 7 January 1797.
Cooked grape must and wine vinegar aged in wooden barrels: Aceto Balsamico di Modena has held Protected Geographical Indication status since 2009.
Read more →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 Reggio nell'Emilia, but an easy day trip away.
