Po River Valley defines an entire region of Italy. Stretching between the Apennines in the south and the Alps in the north it’s the home to the country’s industry and manufacturing might.
Po River highlighted for emphasis, not to scale.
Culturally, too, the region is rich in architecture, culinary delights and art. The valley itself, however, is one of the least interesting places in Italy to ride a motorcycle. This is why we decided to explore much of the region by train instead.
With the bikes parked, we saw —
Verona, made famous by Shakespeare, but considered special enough by the Romans that they decided to endow it with its famous Arena, a colosseum of its own.
Venice, whose canals need no introduction.
And Florence, the heart of Renaissance and the Italian language as used today.
This last isn’t technically a part of the valley and we did ride the Apennines between Bologna and Florence, but we still chose a train when it came time to spending a full day exploring on foot. No gear to carry, no parking to worry about and only 37 minutes to get there on a bullet train.
We did, however, hop two-up on the Tenere when we rode to Ferrara and Modena, two very notable smaller towns within 45 min of Bologna.
In my book, city streets don’t get more beautiful than this.
It’s tempting to think that Ferrara must be the birthplace of Ferrari, until one learns that Ferrari is simply the most common name in Italy. Think Smith in the US or Schmidt in Germany. It even means the same thing.
But not to worry. Find a Ferrari we did. A modest one. This 250 GTO was a part of a regularity rally pausing for photo ops in the very heart of centro storico. For those not in the know, that’s when the upper-upper classes take out their $8 million toys and go frolicking in the Apennines because what else would you do on a Sunday.
Getting to Ferrara from Bologna is quite straightforward, a quick 45 minute dash on the 130km/h autostrada if one’s in the mood. We decided to do our best to make it a bit more interesting and picked a long way there by taking secondary roads via the small town of Cento. As expected, what we found along the way was about as exciting as an after dinner mint, to steal a line from the 1972 film Cabaret. The vistas, or lack thereof, mirrored what we saw from the train to Verona.
Ferrara itself was much better. It’s quite a bit smaller than Bologna, but very much worth a half day trip.
Unlike Verona and Bologna which reserve the exposed brick for its most ancient buildings, Ferrara leaves its walls unadorned in much of its centro storico. The feeling conveyed is more industrial yet quite charming, even intimate, at the same time.
Riding back @ 130-140km on the autostrada with the fuel gauge blinking empty was more fun than it sounds.
Over the years of owning Teneres I’ve learned to suppress the urge to give in to this false alarm. For some odd reason, the Japanese engineers decided to flip that switch with 6 liters still left in the tank. That’s enough to carry a rider and a passenger going 140km for 100km. Ferrara to Bologna is only about 45km.
We liked Modena. No, not just because it’s Enzo’s town — we didn’t even have the time to visit the Ferrari museum — but because, like Bologna, it’s portici country. Just smaller, and more relaxed.
The portici, I should explain, are the arcades shielding the sidewalks from the sun and elements. An ingenious and much appreciated invention, especially during the summer heatwaves.
Getting there was much more fun as well.
Modena, too, is connected to Bologna via an autostrada, but, predictably, we headed for the hills instead more than doubling both the distance and time it took to get there.
Unlike the Bologna-Ferrara wastelands, the backroads south of the Bologna-Modena highway are divine. No wonder Ferrari, Maserati, Pagani and Bugatti, etc., all picked the city for their headquarters.
Again, as with Colli Bolognesi, there’s nothing specific about the landscape that gets etched forever in the brain. Just deeply satisfying to glide along while holding on to two ends of a handlebar.
Verdict? The ultimate quiet weekend moto getaway for anyone living in Bologna not willing to brave the crowds in Florence, Verona or Venice.
A word about the riding climate. We got to Bologna on the very last day of August, but at 35C the city was considerably warmer than I’d expect coming from New Mexico. Bologna may be as far north as Montreal, but the Alps form a formidable enough barrier that the weather felt more like… Austin, Texas. Now nearly 5 weeks later it’s just about perfect. Cool in the morning, mid 20s by the afternoon. Very little rain, too. Perhaps two, three short thunderstorms including one overnight within a month. Next time we end up in this region this time of year, we’ll slide our schedule by two weeks.