The Most Beautiful Places in Emilia-Romagna
14 places · updated 14 October 2026
In short: By our ranking, the most beautiful places in Emilia-Romagna are Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, Fortress of San Leo and Teatro Farnese. The list covers 14 places. Last updated 14 October 2026.
Emilia-Romagna lies between the Apennines and the Po, a flat and fertile plain that has long fed rich cities. Its greatest treasure comes from a brief moment in late antiquity, when Ravenna served as capital of the Western Roman Empire, then of the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, and then as the seat of Byzantine rule in Italy. Each of them commissioned churches lined with mosaics that survived when Rome's own were lost. Later, ducal courts in Parma, Modena and Ferrara added their own palaces and theatres.
In Ravenna the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia glows with a deep blue vault scattered with gold stars, and the Baptistry of Neon shows the baptism of Christ ringed by the apostles. San Vitale holds the famous panels of Justinian and Theodora with their courts, Sant'Apollinare Nuovo lines its nave with processions of saints, and the Mausoleum of Theodoric is roofed by a single enormous block of Istrian stone.
Parma adds the octagonal Baptistery of pink Verona marble, begun by Benedetto Antelami, and the Teatro Farnese, a great wooden theatre from the early seventeenth century. In Bologna the Portico di San Luca climbs a hill to the sanctuary under a continuous arcade, the fortress of San Leo sits on a sheer rock outcrop, and the Rocchetta Mattei mixes Moorish and medieval fantasy in the Apennine hills.
In this list
| # | Place | Type | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mausoleum of Galla Placidia | Mausoleum | ✓ |
| 2 | Fortress of San Leo | Fortress | |
| 3 | Teatro Farnese | Theatre building | |
| 4 | Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna | Church building | ✓ |
| 5 | Portico di San Luca | Covered passageway | |
| 6 | Rocchetta Mattei | Castle | |
| 7 | Baptistery of Parma | Church building | |
| 8 | Baptistry of Neon | Church building | ✓ |
| 9 | Modena Cathedral | Cathedral | ✓ |
| 10 | Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca | Church building | ✓ |
| 11 | Mausoleum of Theodoric | Mausoleum | ✓ |
| 12 | Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna | Church building | ✓ |
| 13 | Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe | Church building | ✓ |
| 14 | Archbishop's Chapel, Ravenna | Church building | ✓ |
01 Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
Mausoleo di Galla Placidia
Italy · 1.8 km from Ravenna44.421° N 12.197° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by chatst2 from Pixabay From the outside there is almost nothing to prepare you. The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia is a small, low building of plain brick in the shape of a cross, its dome hidden inside a square tower, the walls relieved only by blind arcades.
Did you know? The art historian Gillian Mackie argues that the saint beside the burning gridiron is Vincent of Saragossa rather than Lawrence, pointing to the cupboard of Gospel books.
02 Fortress of San Leo
Forte di San Leo
Italy · 8.9 km from San Marino43.896° N 12.346° E
Image by Ermi_Jack from Pixabay San Leo rises from the hills between Romagna and the Marche on a sheer slab of rock, and its fortress looks as though it has grown out of the cliff edge. Seen from the plain, the whole outcrop resembles a ship, with the town huddled on its deck and the castle at the stern.
Did you know? In his cell Cagliostro painted religious scenes on the walls, including a penitent self-portrait holding a crucifix, and later images his jailers called blasphemous.
03 Teatro Farnese
Italy · 0.8 km from Parma44.805° N 10.326° E
www.bestofcinqueterre.com · CC BY-SA 4.0 Hidden on the first floor of the Palazzo della Pilotta, the vast brick complex built for the Farnese dukes of Parma, is one of the strangest and most beautiful rooms in Italy. The Teatro Farnese fills a hall about 87 metres long and 22 metres high.
Did you know? The last performance of the Farnese era, in 1732, celebrated the arrival in Parma of the young Charles of Bourbon, the future King of Spain.
04 Basilica of San Vitale, Ravenna
Basilica di San Vitale
Italy · 1.9 km from Ravenna44.421° N 12.196° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Terragio67 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Two processions face each other across the apse of San Vitale. On one side the emperor Justinian, dressed in imperial purple and wearing a halo, stands among courtiers, soldiers, clergy and Bishop Maximian.
Did you know? Bishop Maximian's name was added above his head later, suggesting his portrait may have replaced that of his predecessor, Bishop Victor.
05 Portico di San Luca
Italy · 1.4 km from Bologna44.491° N 11.329° E
BARBARA ZOLI · CC BY-SA 4.0 From the edge of Bologna's old town a continuous covered arcade sets off across the plain and climbs a wooded hill to a domed sanctuary on the summit.
Did you know? The flat stretch to the Meloncello arch has 316 arches over about 1.5 km, while the climb to the sanctuary has 350 arches and fifteen chapels of the Rosary.
06 Rocchetta Mattei
Italy · 38 km from Bologna44.224° N 11.060° E
Paolo Monti · CC BY-SA 4.0 Crenellated towers, domes and horseshoe arches crowd together on a rocky spur above the Reno valley in the Bolognese Apennines, as if a medieval fortress and a Moorish palace had been fused into one.
Did you know? The castle mixes styles room by room: an English room crowns the main tower, while elsewhere there is a Turkish chamber and an oriental-style loggia named after Carolina.
07 Baptistery of Parma
Battistero di Parma
Italy · 1.2 km from Parma44.803° N 10.330° E
Image by valtercirillo from Pixabay An octagonal tower of pink Verona marble rises beside Parma Cathedral, its tiers of open loggias stacked one above another as if the building were a truncated tower rather than a place of baptism.
Did you know? Scholars still disagree over who painted the dome: Byzantine-trained masters of the 1260s or a later workshop led by Grisopolo, who signed as a painter of Parma.
08 Baptistry of Neon
Battistero Neoniano
Italy · 1.9 km from Ravenna44.416° N 12.197° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Clodette662000 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Ravenna, a quiet city in north-eastern Italy that rose to power in the last century of the Western Roman Empire and under the Ostrogothic king Theodoric, holds eight early Christian monuments on the UNESCO list, and the Baptistery of Neon is the oldest of them.
Did you know? The river god beside Christ is identified by a mosaic inscription spelling out the Jordan's name, a labelling habit borrowed from Hellenistic art.
09 Modena Cathedral
Duomo di Modena
Italy · 0.6 km from Modena44.646° N 10.925° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by Ermaf62 from Pixabay Modena Cathedral is one of the key buildings of European Romanesque, and it is unusual in that we know the names of the two men who made it: the architect Lanfranco and the sculptor Wiligelmus.
10 Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca
Santuario della Madonna di San Luca
Italy · 4.1 km from Bologna44.479° N 11.298° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Image by alex1965 from Pixabay Bologna is famous for its porticoes, and the most remarkable of them leads to this church. The Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca crowns the wooded Colle della Guardia, about 300 m above the plain just south-west of the historic centre. Its dome is visible from far across the plain. 8 km to the church.
11 Mausoleum of Theodoric
Mausoleo di Teodorico
Italy · 1 km from Ravenna44.425° N 12.209° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Marcospinelli1959 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths, had this tomb built for himself around 520, and it looks like no other building of its time.
Did you know? The name of the architect has not come down to us, and the building was apparently still unfinished when Theodoric died in 526.
12 Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo, Ravenna
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare Nuovo
Italy · 1.3 km from Ravenna44.417° N 12.205° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Simo.Albo80 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Along both walls of the nave of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna run three tiers of mosaics on a ground of gold, among the most complete cycles to survive from the early 6th century.
Did you know? The thirteen Passion scenes in the upper tier leave out both the flagellation and the crucifixion itself.
13 Basilica of Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Italy · 4.6 km from Ravenna44.380° N 12.232° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
Marek Śliwecki · CC BY-SA 4.0 Standing alone in open country south of Ravenna, Sant'Apollinare in Classe looks from outside like a plain brick barn with a round tower beside it.
Did you know? The apse mosaic shows Saint Apollinaris with arms raised among twelve white sheep in a green landscape.
14 Archbishop's Chapel, Ravenna
Cappella Arcivescovile
Italy · 1.9 km from Ravenna44.416° N 12.198° E
- UNESCO World Heritage
GFreihalter · CC BY-SA 3.0 Ravenna is famous for its mosaics, and this is the smallest of its great mosaic interiors, a private oratory tucked into the first floor of the archbishop's palace.
Did you know? Four archangels on the vault hold up a medallion bearing the monogram of Christ.
How this list is ranked
Places are chosen for how they look, not for how famous they are: each one has its own description and a photograph credited to its author. The order is a single world ranking that weighs the beauty of the place in curated photography together with how widely it is documented — the number of language editions of its encyclopedia article and how often that article is read in a year. The list is rebuilt as places are added, so the order and the counts on this page are always current.
Questions people ask
- What are the most beautiful places in Emilia-Romagna?
- On our list, Mausoleum of Galla Placidia ranks first, followed by Fortress of San Leo and Teatro Farnese.
- Why does Ravenna have so many early Christian mosaics?
- Ravenna was capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402, then of the Ostrogoths, then of Byzantine Italy, and each ruler built richly decorated churches. Eight of its monuments are inscribed together as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
- How long is the Portico di San Luca?
- The Portico di San Luca runs for nearly four kilometres from the edge of Bologna up to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, with 666 arches. It is often described as the longest portico in the world.
- What kinds of places are there to see in Emilia-Romagna?
- In our collection, the places in Emilia-Romagna are most often churches (8), mausoleums (2), cathedrals (1) and temples (1).
- How many places are on this list in Emilia-Romagna?
- The list covers 14 places.