The autumn colours in Emilia-Romagna

National Park of the Foreste Casentinesi, Mount Falerona and Campigna | Pic © A.Cappuccioni

In autumn, the leaves fall on the ground, covering it and hiding any footprint. If you want to hide away your traces, have a walk in one of the countless forests of the Emilia-Romagna Apennines.

If you’ve already been there, good for you, but if not, prepare yourself: you will return with a wealth of amazement and wonder.

Tips? Look all around you: here, in autumn, the trees are a real wonder of nature with its countless intense colours.
Where to go? Look at the article we’ve written some time ago and enjoy the phenomenon of foliage.

The vineyards of Val Tidone (Piacenza) | Photo © Podere Casale

Forget the cup of tea, coffee, orzo, or chocolate: autumn is the best chance to photograph a good glass of wine – and then to drink it, of course.

Don’t be like the fashion bloggers who just pretend to eat: here, you have to take it very seriously and pay your respects.

In Emilia-Romagna, there’s no need to beg for glass tingling, and anytime is a good time for a toast – weather for celebrating the end of a workday or for the tastings you’ll find at every corner of this amazing region, or again, on a tour across the vineyards

The tip: do not dare to use filters!
Where to go: Emilia-Romagna has but the choice. So many vineyards paint with bright colours all the surroundings. Val Tidone, Castelvetro in Modena, and all the area near Levizzano Rangone (MO), as well as Bertinoro and Cesena.

If you want to taste a good glass of wine, you definitely should go to the Enoteca dell’Emilia-Romagna in Dozza.

Viale Facsal (Piacenza) | Photo © spreafotografia.it

If one swallow makes a summer, then a tree-lined alley makes immediately an autumn! You can add to your photos the caption that suits you best: famous quotes, literary or musical ones, and so on. Everything would do, except for a desolate existential, sad description like ‘Dead Nature in *insert place*’

During the autumn months, the cities of art in Emilia-Romagna may offer romantic alleys and amazing parks where to take pictures. Make good use of them!

Tips: avoid photos when the recycling bins are out and to stand in the middle of a street, no matter the traffic, just to take long symmetrical perspectives, we’re fed up with those.
Where to go? Worth a shoot are the city walls of Ferrara, the Duke Palace in Parma, Viale Faxhall in Piacenza, as well as Parco Bucci in Faenza and the Margherita Gardens in Bologna

Chestnut Museum | Castel del Rio (BO)

The three primary colours, together, make brown: yellow, red, and blue. Brown is earth, brown is the tree logs, brown is chestnuts, which, in the early months of autumn, are on the tables of any little Apennines village in Emilia-Romagna.

If you love, like me, this fruit, then you definitely should come to this region. The peace of a chestnut orchard, the warm colours of autumn, and that feeling of well-being during a stroll, surrounded by nature, will be the reward for having listened to me 😉

Tips: high boots and heavy sweater. Remind: do not eat too many chestnuts, if you want to avoid a bloated stomach!

Where to go: you can go to Castel del Rio, behind Imola, or along via Matildica near Reggio nell’Emilia. The best chestnut groves are in the area of Carpineti, where there is one of the most famous castles of Matilde, near the little village of Marola, in Toano and in Castagno di Toano.
Moving to Romagna, however, you can go to Brisighella – direction Marradi, or even have a stroll around in the area of Bagno di Romagna.

Lido di Volano (FE) | Photo © Elisa Greco, via #Flickr

The counterpart of fog, in the Po Valley, is the sea, whose charm never ends, even when sunbeds and umbrellas disappear from the long and wide beaches. But remember, wise men say: Never trust those who love the sea just in summer.

A trip by the Adriatic sea, especially with this weather, can only be read as ‘existential awkwardness’ – nothing that a good beer and a typical piadina can’t cure. Take your pic and share on Instagram (maybe you should avoid captions mentioning the calories you’re about to ingest).

The tip: the photos by the sea out-of-season have become the favourite subject of Luigi Ghirri, for which he has become a real pioneer, much beloved and imitated. So, our tip is this: watch and love his photos, try to imitate him (we didn’t say ‘copy’), and remember: no one ever like him.
Where to go: on the Riviera of Romagna of course. Noteworthy are the beaches of Rimini, Ravenna, Cervia, and Cesenatico.

Valleys of Comacchio, hut in the fog | Photo © Samaritani

The fog is an atmospheric phenomenon that has almost become something to be proud of in certain areas of Emilia Romagna, because otherwise the ‘Culatello’, which is a richly cured ham, is not good.

To photograph the fog can mean two things: to be very excited about this season or… to have a troubled soul, whether for real or just pretended, there’s not much difference.

The most important thing in all this is to be aware that the ‘Wanderer above the Sea of Fog’ already exists and that, no matter the effort, it will be always more famous than you ever can be.

Tips: avoid when driving
Where to go: All the places near the Po river would do, in particular Lido Po in Boretto (RE), the bank of Polesine Parmense (PR), San Nazzaro (Monticelli d’Onglina, PC), and the Valleys of Comacchio (FE).