Emilia Romagna Castles

The new municipality includes the territories of Bazzano, the main town and headquarters of the Administration, Castle of Serravalle, Crespellano, Monteveglio and Savigno. It is a town in the Apennine part of the valley of the Samoggia, which passes between the hills that mark, west of Bologna, the border with Modena.

From the high plain, the valley climbs up to over 800 meters to Savigno, inspiring tourists and the curious traveler to discover new historical and artistic itineraries and fascinating views. 

The heart of the valley is the Parco Regionale dell’Abbazia di Monteveglio, a protected area where you can walk in touch with the environment along ancient paths and pilgrimage routes, such as the Piccola Cassia, and admire the spectacular morphology of the gullies.

The enchanting fortified village of Monteveglio sits, together with the ancient Santa Maria Assunta Abbey, on the top of a hill that dominates the valley. The origins of the Castle date back to the year 1000 and of the original fortification remain the arched door and a massive castle tower, both surmounted by dovetail battlements, from which you can admire a beautiful view of the surrounding hills.

Proceeding through the ancient stone houses, you get to the Abbey whose construction dates back to 1092. Inside there are the apse and the crypt from the tenth century. Attached to the church are two cloisters: one dating to the fifteenth-century, the other more ancient that overlooks the plain from a panoramic position.

The Rocca dei Bentivoglio in Bazzano. Its origins date back to the year 1000, while its current appearance dates back to the Renaissance.

Inside, you can visit the ancient Halls starting from the major one, that of the Giants, which has an architectural score of columns, within which are framed landscapes and large figures of people armed with coats of arms painted on shields.

Also of interest is the adjacent Sala del Camino and the suggestive Sala dei Ghepardi decorated with a cheetah motif within a pomegranate frame, with the motto "per amore tuto ben volgo soferire" (everything is worth suffering for love).

The first floor houses the Civic Archaeological Museum which occupies five rooms in which you can admire finds from the Samoggia, Lavino and Reno valleys referable to a large chronological period between the Mesolithic and the Renaissance.

The fortified village of Castello di Serravalle has ancient origins and keeps intact all its charm. Of the ancient fortification that gives the name to the village you can still admire the medieval entrance and the tower of 1523, while the stately palace, entirely built in terracotta behind the tower, is of eighteenth-century form.

Savigno is a must for fans of good food. Considered the "Regional Capital of the White Truffle of the Colli Bolognesi", thanks to a mix of tradition and creativity in the proposal of dishes embellished by the fragrant product of the forest, it has been synonymous with excellence gastronomy for years.

In the square in the center of the village, one can admire the small but particular church of San Matteo, built where the oratory of S. Matteo di Mercato di Savigno once stood. Nearby, it is worth visiting the small nucleus of Vénola, with its unique tower-houses built between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Crespellano sits on the lands that a Roman general received as an award at the end of his military career. And to the Romans we owe the two main roadways that border the territory. From the seventeenth century it became the home of the country residences of the main senatorial families, which constituted the Bolognese patriciate and still today elegant villas dot the picturesque countryside around the town.