Casola Valsenio

Casola Valsenio is a small Apennine village that has kept its ancient agricultural traditions perfectly intact. Here, wild herbs, heirloom fruits, and medicinal plants are a core part of the local culture, taking center stage in both the local cuisine and the event calendar.

In fact, Casola is renowned as the "Village of Herbs and Forgotten Fruits," where the experience of spontaneous plants and wild food is woven into the trails, festivals, and dining tables.

Ancient knowledge and gastronomic excellence are intertwined with a landscape of immense beauty—comprising protected woodlands, rolling hills, and gypsum outcrops—ready to be explored on foot or by bicycle. 

The heart of the village stands on the site of a late medieval settlement, nestled in a bend of the Senio River atop a sheer terrace overlooking a massive clay buttress. 

The surrounding territory is dotted with a network of high-value monuments, including: remains of medieval castles, historic mills, ancient religious buildings and stone hamlets.

Exploring Casola Valsenio is a true journey through time—a narrative of nature, tradition, and culture to be discovered slowly, step by step.

In June, Casola Valsenio is tinged with purple during the lavender bloom, an unmissable time to admire this land's signature essence at the peak of its splendor.

The best place to discover this biodiversity and ancient cultivation techniques is the Augusto Rinaldi Ceroni Herb Garden (Giardino delle Erbe), one of the region's premier botanical gardens. Nearly 500 species of medicinal plants—used in cooking, cosmetics, and phytotherapy—are cultivated and protected here. The garden is a riot of colors and scents, particularly thanks to the lavender, the symbol of this site, which features 20 varieties with diverse shades and blooms. Guided tours, workshops, and sensory paths offer a multi-sensory journey through this botanical universe.

Among the monuments not to be missed is the Abbey of San Giovanni Battista in Valsenio, a medieval Benedictine foundation and one of the largest in the valley. Today, it is visible in the Neo-Romanesque forms resulting from nineteenth-century restorations. The crypt is the most evocative part of the complex: discovered beneath the apse, it preserves its original structure, including the remains of the pillars that once supported the vaults and the slabs of the ancient floor.

The Alfredo Oriani House Museum, known as Il Cardello, is a historic residence built on the remains of the ancient guesthouse of the Valsenio Abbey. Il Cardello was the home and study of the writer from Faenza, who left behind his private library and his inseparable bicycle—the means for his explorations between Romagna and Tuscany. Surrounding the house museum is a historic park with centuries-old trees, small cultivated plots, and paths, one of which leads to the Herb Garden.

The village has preserved its original structure, featuring charming alleys, houses with exposed pebbles, and buildings with centuries of history, such as the Galbetto Tower. A short walk from the historic center leads to the Chiesa di Sopra, an exceptional panoramic viewpoint to observe the village and the valley from above.

Trekking enthusiasts can reach the Rocca di Monte Battaglia via paths starting from the center of the village or along longer itineraries, such as the Alta Via dei Parchi. At the summit of the mountain stands the great tower of a castle built between the 14th and 15th centuries on the remains of older fortresses, serving as a garrison for the Apennine ridge toward Tuscany. This site was the theater of great battles for territorial control, from which it derives its name (Battle Mountain).

In every restaurant and farmhouse in the area, you can taste Romagna cuisine dishes prepared with medicinal and wild herbs that bring the true identity of this land to the plate.

Preserves and preparations based on forgotten fruits—such as jujubes, service berries, rose hips, quinces, "volpine" pears, strawberry tree fruits, and cornels—alongside lavender gelato, salads with flower petals, and herbal cocktails will surprise you with authentic flavors that blend tradition with creativity.

During festivals and local fairs, the food stands also offer the typical sambudello, a succulent "fifth quarter" (offal) sausage cooked on the grill and paired with the classic fried polenta.

In the small streets and squares of the village, a lot of initiatives take place during different periods of the year. These are dedicated to tales, fairy tales, flowers, herbs, and forgotten fruits, with markets and menus dedicated to these products.

• Every year, on the 25th of April, the Spring and "Thought" Floats Festival and the Burning of Segavecchia take place, while the following Saturday the suggestive night parade of the floats is held. The festival has very ancient origins. In 1891 a group of artisans decided to organize also in Casola Valsenio the Feast of “Mezzaquaresima”: a festival of pagan origin that interrupted the greyness of Lent with a day of Carnival. The festival included, among other things, the burning of the Old Woman and a procession of carnivalesque floats. Years go by and the “Floats of thought” get bigger and bigger, but even today, as at the beginning of the century, the three floats are made of  wood, “grigioli” (cane mats used then for building ceilings) and plaster, while the dressed-up actors remain still in frozen poses throughout the parade.
• Every second and third weekend of October, Casola Valsenio hosts a unique and original festival: the Festa dei Frutti Dimenticati (Festival of Forgotten Fruits). In the cheerful and colourful stands that fill the squares of the small old town, the autumn fruits harvested from old plants that have survived cultural changes, awaken curiosity for shapes, colours and peculiar flavours. Hawthorns, sloe berries, rose’s apples, cornel cherries, pomegranates, strawberry trees, jujubes, Volpine pears, quinces, chestnuts and loquats are proposed both raw and processed in the form of jams, quinces, jujube broth and so on. The exhibition-market is accompanied by displays, decorations and reconstructions that recall the atmosphere of the rural world of the past. In the meantime, the food stand offers autumn specialties and, for the occasion, the restaurants prepare dishes based on “forgotten fruits”.

Before reaching Casola Valsenio, you will encounter the village of Riolo Terme, a location well-known for the therapeutic properties of its waters.

Just thirty kilometers away lies Brisighella, one of the "Borghi Più Belli d'Italia" (Most Beautiful Villages in Italy). It can also be reached by bicycle via a scenic route through hills, gypsum formations, and calanchi (gullies).