Travelling with your dog means sharing experiences, time, and space with them.
The cities of Modena and Bologna, and their surrounding areas, offer a range of opportunities to do this easily and pleasurably, amidst places renowned for their artistic heritage, old villages, museums, and outdoor areas.
This tour follows a route designed for those who don’t want to leave their four-legged friends behind while they are out exploring. Instead, it allows them to visit old towns and hilltop communities and enjoy cultural experiences and the outdoors with their pets beside them.
For all the stops on the tour, we provide helpful information and accessible options to make sure you have a stress-free journey and enjoy the area with your pet.
We recommend you start off in Modena, with an overnight stay in the city, and then move on to Bologna for the second part of the tour. Spend the second night there so you can get from one place to the next conveniently.
Setting off from Modena’s old town, you’ll have the chance to stroll around the city’s main monuments and find out all about its history, step by step.
For useful information, stop off at the Ex Albergo Diurno, which is a modern multipurpose space where you’ll find free tourist handouts, information screens, displays and exhibitions, a luggage storage area and a phone charging point.
Located in Piazza Mazzini, dogs are allowed on the premises, which makes it ideal as the first stop on your tour of the area.
Some of the original features of this former public washroom have been maintained for exhibition purposes and guided tours can be booked to find out more about this unique point of interest.
Curiosity
When the washroom was built, during the 1930s, it was designed to offer a pioneering new service. Meeting the needs of the time, it offered local people, commuters, and travellers to the city a place and services dedicated to personal care and hygiene, as well as time management. Situated in the city centre, it was particularly popular due to its proximity to the nearby food market. Built entirely underground, extending beneath virtually the entire square, people accessed the washroom via a stairway that is still visible and used today.
Inside, the washroom housed a luggage storage area, a laundry area with washing and ironing services, a cloakroom, toilets and washing facilities, and rooms where barbers, hairdressers, and shoe-shiners plied their trades. After years spent abandoned and disused, it was reopened in 2022.
To continue your tour, if your dog is small, you can take them with you as you explore: the Torre Ghirlandina - this belltower is the city’s most iconic landmark and small dogs are allowed inside in a pet carrier.
Built as the belltower of the cathedral, the Ghirlandina played an important role in the city’s civic life from its origins, marking the hours of the day with the sound of its bells. Nowadays, following accreditation in 1997, it is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with the cathedral and Piazza Grande, and can be toured by booking ahead. If you climb the around 200 steps, you’ll reach the Sala dei Torresani, which was where the original keepers of the tower used to live, and where you can now admire the room’s exquisite architectural details and enjoy the view overlooking the city.
Housed inside the Palazzo dei Musei, the museum hosts a collection of artefacts encompassing areas such as art, archaeology, ethnology, and also arts and crafts, against a spectacular nineteenth century backdrop that tells the tale of the city’s history. The collections offer visitors an experience combining tradition and discovery through the careful display of recent acquisitions alongside the city’s historical and artistic heritage.
After a morning spent discovering Modena’s old town, let’s head out to the nearby hills, to Levizzano Rangone, a village just outside Castelvetro di Modena.
Must-see
At the end of the tour, towards sundown, why not make your way up to the pretty historical hilltop town of Castelvetro di Modena? It’s the perfect place to watch the sun setting over the scenic Piazza della Dama (also known as Piazza Roma) and end the day with a look around the Fili d’Oro permanent exhibition in Palazzo Rangoni. Displaying recreations of 16th-century clothing, the exhibits highlight the importance of the Renaissance period for Castelvetro, while also evoking the environment that the young poet Torquato Tasso would have experienced at the court of the Rangoni family.
Useful information
The next day, if you are mad about motors, then how about dedicating a day to your passion without worrying about where to ‘park’ your four-legged friend?
No tour of Modena would be complete without a trip to a Ferrari Musuem and there are two to choose from:
For some time now, both museums have been offering visitors with small dogs admission using pet carriers.
If your dog is too large for this option though, don’t worry. The museums also offer original Ferrari-shaped kennels for large dogs, which are located in shaded areas and include water for your furry friend.
So, you can relax and explore the history of the Ferrari brand and the unique features of these iconic cars worry-free.
The same opportunity awaits just a few kilometres down the road, in San Cesario sul Panaro, where another outstanding name in Italy’s Motor Valley is based, Pagani Automobili.
At Pagani, you can take a look around the museum or take a factory tour with your dog on a lead. Guided tours only, visitors are offered a high-octane experience in the heart of the motoring house founded by Argentinian Horacio Pagani, including a close-up view of how these excusive supercars are crafted.
Curiosity
Pagani produces only a few cars each year (around fifty or so) because each car is crafted entirely to the customer’s specifications, down to the smallest detail. This means every car bearing the Pagani name is a masterpiece of engineering and design.
The next stop on the tour takes you into the Bologna area, to Villa Smeraldi, which is located in the village of San Marino, just outside the town of Bentivoglio. The villa is home to the Museo della Civiltà Contadina, a museum of rural life that chronicles life in Bologna’s countryside and illustrates the processing of hemp.
Dogs are not only allowed to enjoy the villa’s historical grounds; they are also welcome in the indoor exhibition spaces.
Useful information
There is no admission charge for dogs. At the museum entrance, you'll often find a bowl of water for your furry friends, to keep them cool and comfortable.
As you head back towards to Bologna, why not spend the afternoon at the Grand Tour Italia? Showcasing Italy's gastronomic biodiversity,
this theme park covers a large indoor area, where dogs of all sizes are welcome, provided they are on a lead. A perfect solution, even on days when the weather is uncertain.
Recommended detour
Museo dei Botroidi
Nestled among the green hills of Pianoro, the Luigi Fantini Museum is a wonderful spot dedicated to an unusual kind of rock formation known as "botryoidal". These curious stones, with their humanlike form, look like sculptures carved by nature. The museum is named after Luigi Fantini, who was an explorer that roamed the Apennines on foot (often accompanied by his dog), unearthing archaeological and geological treasures.
The museum is proudly pet friendly and allows up to three dogs per visitor.
In the afternoon, Imola offers a unique combination of riverside relaxation and adrenaline-fuelled excitement.
The dog park running alongside the Santerno River is a haven of safety, located between the river and the famous Enzo and Dino Ferrari International Racetrack. Far from the city’s traffic, this area is perfect for spending time outdoors with your four-legged friends.
The best time to visit is after 6 o’clock in the evening because that’s the time track activities end. As the sound of the engines give way to silence, noise-sensitive dogs can enjoy their runarounds stress-free.
Don't miss
During open days you can walk your dog (on a lead) along the very track where the F1 cars race. An unmissable opportunity for amazing photos (just remember to pick up after your dog).
