RIVIERA ROMAGNOLA
(c) 2005 Novella di Mauro - Travelling Italy
The Riviera Romagnola is the coast area of the Northern-Italian region Emilia-Romagna, on the Adriatic sea. It is considered the european capital of tourism and it is also the homeland of Federico Fellini.
Its beautiful, huge fine-golden-sandy beaches offer all sorts of comforts and entertaining activities, people enjoy the many kilometres of beaches from early in the morning till late at night. You can just relax and tan, or play sports (beach-volley, beach-soccer, swimming, sailing, fishing, surfing, water-skying, paraflying, tennis, bicycle, workout), do all sorts of activities and join beach parties under the moonlight, dancing on the sand!
The Riviera Romagnola is famous worldwide for its gorgeous nightlife and discos (the best in Europe!) and for its great vocation for tourist industry. Tourists there find a great offer of comfortable accomodations – campings, bed&breakfasts and hotels from very cheap to great luxury level.
Pleasure-seekers will also be amazed by the delicious –and still cheap!- traditional food and by the still genuine and welcoming tradition of the place.
But the Riviera Romagnola is not just about beaches and nightlife. The cultural life is rich as well. The hinterland has hidden treasures for people who want to get lost in romantic, out of time medieval little towns. It’s also an ideal place for hikes, bike rides and for horseback riding.
Romagnoli people are famous all over Italy for their warmth and friendliness.
A typical feature that must be mentioned about the Riviera beaches is the “bagnino romagnolo”, the typical native handsome lifeguard with an impressive reputation of success with tourist women!
HISTORY
The area was in ancient times populated by celtic people, then came the Romans for many centuries, and after them the region was part of the Byzantine Empire, when Ravenna became a capital. Before the unification of Italy in mid 1800, Romagna was part of the Church State.
Mussolini was born in Romagna, and during the 1920s, the fascist years, he promoted the tourist industry on the coast. It is possible to visit Mussolini’s villa in Riccione, on the Lungomare.
There was an elite kind of tourism until the 1950s, when the boom of mass tourism started and became a huge business, until nowadays.
BEST TIME TO GO
From April to September. The most crowded period for beach-timeis August, especially the two middle weeks, where most Italians have their summer vacations and there’s the main Italian summer holiday, “Ferragosto”, on the 15th of August.
Village fairs, beach parties and many other celebrations are mostly in June, July and August.
FOOD & WINE
The typical, delicious street food in the Riviera Romagnola is the “piadina”, a kind of Italian tortilla that is filled in many fashions – worth to taste them all!
The region has one of Italy’s best traditional cuisines, excellent in pasta, meat and fish: visitors must taste lasagne, cappelletti, tagliatelle al ragù, tagliolini allo scoglio, brodetto di pesce, formaggio di Fossa, prosciutto, grilled meat, grilled fish, fried fish. There’s a huge variety of fresh fish from the Adriatic sea, and lots of good restaurants where you can taste it, cooked in delicious ways!
The typical red wine of the region is Sangiovese, while among white wines the best known is Albana.
RIVIERA ROMAGNOLA BY NIGHT
All the towns in the Riviera Romagnola shine at night. There are very cool pubs and clubs everywhere. For people who like to stay oudoors at night, the best place for beach parties is Marina di Ravenna.
The most famous discos in the Riviera Romagnola are:
“Pineta”, in Milano Marittima, where lots of VIPS like to go (http://www.pinetadisco.com)
“Peter Pan” and “Cocoricò” in Riccione (http://www.peterpanclub.com and http://www.cocorico.net)
“Paradiso”, in the Rimini hills (http://www.paradisoclub.com)
BEST TOWNS ON THE COAST
Cesenatico
Rimini
Riccione
ART TOWNS
RIMINI – Fellini's town
Founded in 268 B.C., still conserves traces of the roman town (Ariminum): the Tiberio Bridge, the Anfitheatre, the elegant August’s Arch. In 13 th and 14th centuries the Malatestas turned it into a centre of arts and culture, and the Malatesta temple testifies this: projected as an external shell over a gothic church by Leon Battista Alberti, it is an archetyp of the Reinassance architecture and contains sculpures by Agostino di Duccio, a Piero della Francesca’s fresco and a Giotto’s Crucified.
RAVENNA
UNESCO declared Ravenna “World Artistical Patrimony”, for its Byzantine, gothic and Roman monuments; for the stupendous basilicas with the exquisite marble relief work and fascinating cycles of mosaics.
Tourist buses weekly leave for Bologna, Ferrara, Florence, Venice and Rome.
HINTERLAND AND ART
Two main valleys cross the Rimini hinterland: Valmarecchia and Valconca. Every hill in these countrysides still keeps the ruins of the impressive castles erected by Malatestas.
The Valmarecchia – Miocene-old land still keeping the remains of the Etruscan civilization splendour – was the Malatestas’ land; very interesting tows are:
Santarcangelo di Romagna, town of fairs and traditions. With its marvellous and misterious grottos, the ancient downtown is dominated by the old fort, well preserved in a panoramical and suggestive position.
Verucchio, with its castle pefectely furnished in 16th century-style, in a beautiful Renaissance setting.
Torriana, with its architectural jewels: Montebello and Saiano.
The Valconca – sweet land between Romagna and Marche – brings the signs of ancient battles between Malatestas and Montefeltros. Some remarkable towns are:
Saludecio, with its Reinassance downtown;
Mondaino, with prehistorical fossils con i fossili preserved in the Paleontology Museum;
Montegridolfo, rich of beautiful natural sights, with its castle completely surrounded by medieval walls;
Montefiore Conca, with its impressive fortress, wich is one of the most interesting of the region;
Gemmano, with its natural reserve: the Onferno Grottes.
In the hinterland of Cesena, delightful towns are Longiano, with its precious medieval fort containing a prestigious art collection, and the Petrella theatre, a little masterpiece, Sarsina, birthplace of latin playwriter Plauto, Poggio Berni and San Giovanni in Galilea.
The REPUBLIC OF SAN MARINO is daily visited by thousands of tourists attracted by fancy shopping, medieval atmosphere, forts on the top of dizzy crag and panoramic terraces dominating Romagna valleys and Adriatic Sea.
GRADARA conserves the splendour of its romantic castle, where took place the tragic love story between Paolo and Francesca, written by Dante Alighieri in the Divine Comedy.
In SAN LEO you can visit medieval churches and the castle in which was imprisoned and died the legendary Cagliostro.
URBINO is one of the most bautiful Reinassance Italian cities; the Palazzo Ducale is one of the most celebrated palaces in the world and conserves painting by Raffaello, Piero della Francesca and Giambellino.
LINKS
http://www.adriacoast.com/web
http://www.abcrimini.com/inglese
RIVIERA ROMAGNOLA EVENTS: http://www.abcrimini.com/inglese/
FITNESS
Rimini- June: FITNESS FESTIVAL
The most prestigious fitness event in the world; for all lovers of sport, body beautiful, physical and mental weel-being it is an event not to be mssed.
CHILDREN
The Riviera Romagnola is also the perfect place for spending relaxing holidays with kids: for its shallow sea and the services for kids, the maximum of safety and entertainment is provided for children of every age!
There are also amazing amusement parks that the kids will love to visit, check the below links out for that:
http://www.squaloanchio.com/
http://www.mirabilandia.com/
http://www.aquafan.it/
http://www.italiainminiatura.com/
http://www.fiabilandia.it/ita/main.htm
HOW TO GET THERE
By car: Highway A14
By train: the main stations for the Intercity and Eurostar trains are in Rimini, Riccione and Cattolica. But the local trains (regionali, and interregionali) stop in every town and are very cheap.
By bus: there’s a very good bus service that connects all places in the Riviera. The buses leave from the train stations and are more frequent in the summer season.
Airport: Rimini, Bologna, Forlì (in Forlì airport you find many Ryanair flights!)
feste capodanno 2006 rimini
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