Hill towns
Hill towns in Emilia-Romagna
14 towns
The ridge and hilltop borghi, sitting around 400 meters. Vineyards below, one road up, walkable once you are there. Good in almost any season.
The towns
Sant'Agata Feltria
Province: Rimini · 607 m
A 607-meter Montefeltro borgo crowned by a fortress on a sandstone outcrop, host of the national white truffle fair since 1985.
Compiano
Province: Parma · 519 m
A 519-meter walled borgo over the Taro, ruled by the same family for 425 years.
Bagno di Romagna
Province: Forlì-Cesena · 491 m
A 491-meter thermal town at the head of the Savio valley, drawing on springs that have run at 47 degrees since Roman times.
Premilcuore
Province: Forlì-Cesena · 459 m
A 459-meter walled borgo on the Rabbi river, an entry point to the Foreste Casentinesi from the Romagna side.
Vernasca
Province: Piacenza · 457 m
A Val d'Arda commune in the Piacenza Apennines, holding the walled village of Vigoleno and one of the most compact castled borghi in Emilia.
Borgo Val di Taro
Province: Parma · 411 m
The Cittaslow capital of the upper Taro valley at 411 meters, where the Fungo di Borgotaro IGP porcini has been protected since 1996.
Montefiore Conca
Province: Rimini · 385 m
A 385-meter Malatesta hilltop above the Conca valley, dominated by a fourteenth-century fortress that was once a summer residence of the lords of Rimini.
Verucchio
Province: Rimini · 330 m
A spur over the lower Marecchia valley, cradle of the Villanovan civilization and birthplace of the Malatesta lordship of Romagna.
Portico e San Benedetto
Province: Forlì-Cesena · 309 m
A three-tier medieval borgo at 309 meters on the Montone river, capital of Florence's Romagna territories from 1386.
Montegridolfo
Province: Rimini · 290 m
A walled borgo of fewer than a thousand residents on the Romagna-Marche border, held alternately by the Malatesta and the Montefeltro through the fifteenth century.
Bobbio
Province: Piacenza · 272 m
A 272-meter Trebbia-valley town built around an abbey founded in 614, named Borgo dei Borghi by RAI in 2019.
Bertinoro
Province: Forlì-Cesena · 254 m
A 254-meter Romagna-hill borgo above the Via Emilia, with a twelve-ring hospitality column from 1300 and the slopes that grow Albana DOCG.
Castell'Arquato
Province: Piacenza · 224 m
A 224-meter hilltop borgo in the Val d'Arda, kept intact since the tenth century and crowned by Luchino Visconti's 1342 fortress.
Canossa
Province: Reggio nell'Emilia · 219 m
The Reggiano commune holding the ruined castle where an emperor stood three days in the snow to beg forgiveness in 1077.
From elsewhere in Italy
Five more towns
Castel del Monte
Province: L'Aquila
At 1,346 meters under Monte Bolza facing Rocca Calascio, the capital of shepherds, whose wool reached the Medici and whose witches return each August.
Anacapri
Province: Napoli
The upper half of Capri, 150 meters above its famous twin.
Guardialfiera
Province: Campobasso
A hilltop village at 285 meters above the largest artificial lake in Molise.
Mondolfo
Province: Pesaro e Urbino
A walled hill borgo at 144 meters above the Adriatic, with the frazione of Marotta and its beach below.
Venaria Reale
Province: Torino
A Savoy town on the edge of Torino, built around the Reggia di Venaria, a UNESCO baroque palace with sixty hectares of gardens.