A tour in the footsteps of the poets, writers and artists who have made Cervia great, ideal for those who love to explore the past of places through the figures who lived in them.
A flat route, of approx. 4 km, from the centre to the seafront, among the streets and buildings which recall great names: Grazia Deledda, Max David, Giovannino Guareschi, Tonino Guerra and many more.
An urban trek, between houses and villas, to discover the corners of the city which have hosted important figures of art and literature.
The walk continues in the centre of Milano Marittima and among the inland towns of Castiglione, Cannuzzo and Pisignano, which we recommend reaching by car.
Next to the Magazzino del Sale Darsena, in Piazzale di Salinari, you can admire the striking “Fontana del Tappeto Sospeso” fountain. Designed by Tonino Guerra and created by Ravenna-based mosaic artist Marco Bravura, it depicts a colorful flying carpet. Above it, two mounds of salt symbolize the city’s identity and history.
Must-visit
Just a short walk from the fountain, discover MUSA, the Cervia Salt Museum, which, housed inside the Torre Salt Warehouse, preserves a slice of Cervia’s history. Founded by the Civiltà Salinara Cultural Group, it keeps the memory of saltworks labor alive and collects documents, tools, and photos that bear witness to the environment and the production of salt.
Walking along the harbor canal toward the sea, across from the fish market, you’ll reach the Colonna del Mare, a monument dedicated to the fishermen and women of Cervia’s seafaring community, designed by the writer and poet Carlo Nava. A native of Ravenna, he had served as a sailor in his youth, an experience that instilled in him a deep passion for the sea.
It is a 3-meter-tall, six-sided column. Each of its sides features a short sea-themed story by the writer.
Curiosity
Along the canal, you can admire the historic boats of Cervia’s seafaring tradition, including the Assunta—protected by the Superintendency—as well as the Tre Fratelli and the Tre Sorelle. They are all part of the Tenza di Cervia and represent the historic seafaring tradition of the Mariegola della Romagna.
Heading back toward the center along Viale Volturno, you’ll reach Viale Roma, one of Cervia’s main avenues.
Turning left at the intersection with Viale Bellucci, you’ll come across a villa with a large park. This is the house where journalist and writer Max David—a correspondent for numerous publications—was born; he would return here for short stays.
Turning onto Viale Bellucci, you’ll see on the left the small villa where Giovannino Guareschi, the writer and journalist famous for his stories about Don Camillo and Peppone, used to spend his vacations. It was right here in Cervia that Guareschi had recreated his “little world”: a network of shops, squares, and the canal harbor, where he loved to stop and chat with the fishermen. They were men of the sea, whose speech was straightforward yet rich in meaning, and in whom he likely recognized similarities with the people of the Bassa region whom he loved so much.
The route continues along Viale Cristoforo Colombo to Villa Caravella, which Grazia Deledda purchased after winning the Nobel Prize. The writer loved to spend long vacations in Cervia; here she found inspiration in a landscape that reminded her of Sardinia.
Curiosity
Cervia granted her honorary citizenship in 1927 with the following citation: “Not only has the sublime vision of her art drawn its inexhaustible inspiration from the divine silences of the forest and the eternal smile of the sea, but many of the subjects chosen for the short stories dearest to her also draw their origin from our people—often the humblest among them—to whom she seems to draw near with the warmest affection.”
Events
Discover the“ ” Festival dedicated to Grazia Deledda: talks , readings, music, and gastronomy to honor the author in the city where she spent many seasons and to which she was particularly attached.
The second part of the tour begins in the heart of Milano Marittima. The Milanese painter Giuseppe Palanti is one of the city’s founding fathers. He designed the master plan for Milano Marittima, drawing inspiration from the “Garden City” concept of the Englishman Ebenezer Howard, and often painted the pine forest and the port of Cervia.
To know
“Cervia Garden City” is Europe’s largest open-air floral art exhibition. Conceived by Germano Todoli and carried on by his son Riccardo, the exhibition—which began in the early 1970s—has taken on an international character. It is an exhibition spread across public areas throughout the Cervia region from May through September: over 350,000 flowering plants and thousands of square meters of lawns, sculptures, evocative arrangements and compositions, figures and geometric patterns, original gardens, and incredible floral displays.
Dante Alighieri recalls Cervia and the pine grove of Ravenna in two cantos of the Divine Comedy. It is sure that he walked there when he stayed with the Da Polenta family, Lords of Ravenna.
A plaque on the façade of the Town Hall marks the 6th centenary of his death, in 1921.
To reach Castiglione di Ravenna, you can go along Via Ragazzena and see the Wood of the Duke d’Altemps, cited by Umberto Foschi in one of his studies. The Wood is now a green belt which extends for about one kilometre, with tall trees and rich undergrowth. It features majestic oaks.
Umberto Foschi, a native of Castiglione di Cervia, was a leading scholar of Romagna traditions, dialect, and folklore, with a particular focus on Cervia. He conducted the first surveys of Ficocle and Cervia Vecchia and left behind a remarkable body of work and publications. He was also a founding member and president of the Associazione Amici dell’Arte. In 2008, the Center for the Romagna Dialect was established in his home, located in Castiglione di Ravenna.
In 2025, the scholar’s home in Castiglione was donated to the municipality, thus becoming a new cultural asset of the city.
Continuing, you reach the centre of Castiglione di Cervia, where it is possible to see Palazzo Guazzi. The Oratory of San Lorenzo is part of the Palazzo, and it was one of the two side parts, added in 1794 and built by the architect Camillo Morigia from Ravenna. The Palazzo and the Oratory, severely damaged during World War II, have been restored and the Oratory is now open for public use for the occasion of events.
Tolmino Baldassari was a poet and dialect writer, born in Castiglione, who lived most of his life in Cannuzzo di Cervia. This is where his House Museum is located, which sits precisely next to the Savio river park: a green oasis crossed by a cycle lane.
The Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Cannuzzo di Cervia is a building that dates to the early 17th century and is described by Tolmino Baldassari in one of his books.
On the road back to Cervia it is worth stopping at the Romanesque St. Stephen’s church, which is found in Pisignano, a town next to Cannuzzo. It is the oldest church in Ravenna, noted in a document of 977 and also described in one of Tolmino Baldassari’s books.
The tour ends with the return to Cervia through the salt pan and with a visit to the Municipal Library, to which Tolmino Baldassari left his collection of books and where his studio was rebuilt, complete with his typewriter and spectacles.
