Street art

The journey starts in Cotignola, the municipality of Bassa Romagna with the highest number of murals: since 2013 with the project “Dal museo al paesaggio” (From museum to landscape), many of the most famous Italian and international street artists have decided to represent the town through the memories of its inhabitants and its most meaningful historical events. 

Along the route leading from the town centre to the Arena delle balle di paglia (Straw bales arena), a magical floodplain beneath the banks of the River Senio, we come across the following works:

• Signora K and James Kalinda - via Pascoli (2016): these two artworks represent two historical figures who lived in the Cotignola area, Signora K depicts Lucia Terzani da Torciano, who was famous for being Muzio Attendolo Sforza’s lover. The latter is depicted by James Kalinda on the next wall. The famous Francesco Sforza was born out of their relationship. 
• Collettivo FX - piazzale Amendola (2015): Distributore non automatico di coraggio (non-automatic distributor of courage) Collettivo FX’s mural represents the Quattro Giusti cotignolesi (the four Righteous among the Nations from Cotignola), i Sette Martiri del Senio (the seven martyrs of the Senio river) shot dead by the Nazis in 1944, il partigiano Leno Casadio (partisan Leno Casadio) and Don Stefano Casadio (Father Stefano Casadio), who liberated Cotignola, and last the young partigiano Esiodo Rava (partisan Esidio Rava). The artwork pays tribute to those who sacrificed their life for the Liberation and is located right under the banks of the Senio river, a very meaningful place for the partisan fight. Collettivo FX is an artist from Reggio Emilia, particularly engaged in political-social topics. 
• Zosen Bandido and Mina Hamada, Gio Pistone and Martoz - Scuola di Arti e Mestieri (School of Arts and Crafts), via Cairoli (2018): these artists, through their style, re-draw the characters and symbols of Cotignyork, namely the town of Cotignola re-interpreted from a fantasy and adventurous perspective. Zosen and Mina, an art duo in work and life, come from Spain (Mina has Asian origins); Gio Pistone and Martoz are Italian artists.
• Hyuro – via Roma (2018): L’arzdora, this is the title of Hyuro’s mural. She is an Argentinean artist who acquired Spanish citizenship. She prematurely passed away in 2020. She tells about women's empowerment inside patriarchal families; she was famous for dealing with social topics about women in modern society.
• DEM – villaggio UNRRA, between via Pascoli and via Alighieri (2019): Unrra village (United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration) is a district built after the Second World War and is part of an architectural project aimed at re-building areas badly hit by the conflict. DEM, an artist from Lombardy, paints symbols of protection that tell about the philosopher and anthropologist Ernesto de Martino’s stay in Cotignola during the months of the movement of the front during the war.
• Reve + and Borondo - Arena delle Balle di paglia (2016 and 2013): the mural by Reve+ from Reggio Emilia, titled Papaveri&Upupe is located on the side of a country house along the road that leads to Arena delle balle di paglia (Hay bales arena). The artist, specialized in the creation of artworks inspired by the fauna and flora that he encounters, dedicates this wall to Poppies and Hoopoes, flowers and birds that are typical of the Romagna countryside. 
  Borondo, a famous Spanish artist, paints very close to the bank where the Senio river meets with Canale Emiliano Romagnolo. Volti (faces) is the title of the artwork that shows two faces, painted with the artist’s gestural style consisting of many layered caricatures.
• Collettivo FX, La Madonna dell’Adesso o già pronta - via Gaggio (2017), Budrio di Cotignola: the artwork tells us about the close bond between the Budrio community and the Virgin Mary, celebrated every summer.
• Collettivo FX, SS. Madre Incoronata del Risveglio - via del Castello (2017), Barbiano di Cotignola: this artwork is part of the artist’s national project called La Madonna dell’Adesso (The Virgin Mary of Now), which represents the contemporary relationship between citizens and the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

The second stop of our itinerary is dedicated to the town of Lugo, with 2 points of interest to visit:

• Luogo comune - via Amendola (2018): with Omaggio a Gioachino Rossini (tribute to Gioachino Rossini) the artist displays an ironic alphabet where many of Rossini’s characters appear, creating a sort of hieroglyph that involves the spectator.
• Alessandra Carloni - via Lumagni (2018): the artwork shows Francesco Baracca from a new perspective: not an aviator but a dreamer.

In Fusignano Collettivo FX created a mural located in via Curiel: 

The mural is entitled Sciopero alla rovescia (2017), (backward strike) a particular form of protest that occurred in the 1950s: labourers who lost their job continued relentlessly to work in the fields as a form of rebellion. 

On the fourth stop, we arrive in Alfonsine, where we come across the following works: In Alfonsine there is 

• The mural by Ericailcane and Bastardilla, a famous couple of artists: he is Italian, she is Colombian, and they are a couple in life, too. The artwork pays tribute to the Partisan Resistance in one of its symbolic places. The two authors, very famous in the field of urban art, use their art to fight against any form of repression and totalitarianism. 
• In the Parcobaleno park, in via Galimberti, we find Stinkfish (2017), the artwork is part of the project promoted by CUMA Project, which has been supporting indigenous populations in Latin America for many years.

Must-do
During the summer (June-September) it is possible to visit the Labirinto effimero (ephemeral labyrinth) in via Roma. The labyrinth was created in 2007 as one of the largest dynamic labyrinths in the world and is reconstructed every year in the corn field of the farm Azienda Agricola Galassi. Then in 2019 the Labirinto sospeso (suspended labyrinth) was created, an example of land art, which plays on the concept of sky and earth by using recycled and bio-degradable materials.