Emilia Romagna

Emilia-Romagna is an administrative region of Central and Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of' Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna, has an area of 20,124 kilometers and about 4.3 million inhabitants.

The Emilia-Romagna is made up of nine provinces and covers an area of 22,124 kilometers. Almost half of the region (50%) consists of plains, while 25% is hilly and 25% mountainous. The stretch of mountains cover more than 300 km from north to south-east, with only three peaks over 2000 m - Monte Cimone (2,165 m), Monte Cusna (2,121 m) and Seiser Succiso (2,017 m).

About half of the region consists of the Po Valley, a highly fertile alluvial plain formed by the gradual withdrawal of the sea from the Po basin and debris deposited by rivers. Almost entirely marshland in ancient times, its history is characterized by the hard work of its people to recover and reshape the land to achieve a better standard of living. The geology varies, with lagoons and saline areas in the north and many hot springs throughout the rest of the region due to groundwater rising to the surface.

The name of Emilia-Romagna has roots in the roman period: Emilia, in fact, refers to the Via Emilia, an important Roman road which connected ancient Rome with northern Italy, while Romagna comes from Romania, and dates back to when Ravenna was the capital of the Italian Byzantine Empire, the Lombards, in fact, extended the official name of the area given by the Empire to the lands around Ravenna.