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Day trips by car / Ravenna, Faenza and Cervia

Half day History Motors Villages Food and wine

Imola and Dozza: the fortress, the racing circuit and the painted village

The Rocca Sforzesca in Imola, the Senna memorial at the racing circuit, the painted walls and the Regional Wine Library of Dozza.

A trip for those who love history and motorsport: the fortress of Caterina Sforza, the racing circuit that hosted the Formula 1 Grand Prix, and a small hilltop village where house walls have become an open-air museum, with the region's Wine Library inside the fortress.

I muri dipinti di Dozza
Photo: Mongolo1984, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
  • Length from Gabicce Mare5 h 45 Half day
  • Driving3 h 05 · 234 km there and back
  • Visits and stops2 h 40
  • When to goAll year round

The plan from Gabicce Mare

  1. Leave Gabicce Mare for Imola, Rocca Sforzesca1 h 15 driving, 106 km
  2. Imola, Rocca Sforzesca25 min of visits: Rocca Sforzesca
  3. Drive on to Imola, racing circuit10 min driving, 4 km
  4. Imola, racing circuit35 min of visits: Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari and Senna memorial
  5. Drive on to Dozza20 min driving, 12 km
  6. Dozza1 h 40 of visits: The village of painted walls, Rocca di Dozza and Regional Wine Library
  7. Drive back to Gabicce Mare1 h 20 driving, 112 km
  8. Back in Gabicce Mare

Times are a guide: driving times are worked out without traffic, then come the visits and ten minutes at every stop to park. In summer towards the coast and at rush hour allow extra time.

What you will see

1Imola, Rocca Sforzesca

Rocca Sforzesca 15 min

A fortress built in the thirteenth century and transformed in the second half of the fifteenth, with its great keep, round towers designed for cannon and moat. It was the residence of Girolamo Riario and Caterina Sforza; at the end of 1499 Cesare Borgia took it, and for him Leonardo da Vinci in 1502 drew the famous plan of Imola and studied the fortress's defences. Later it was a prison until 1958 and finally a museum of weapons and ceramics.

Since 2024 it has been closed for extensive restoration, with no reopening date: you can see it from outside. Instead you can visit Palazzo Tozzoni, the house museum of the Tozzoni counts (check the opening times of the Musei di Imola).

2Imola, racing circuit

Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari and Senna memorial 25 min

The Imola racing circuit, on the banks of the Santerno, hosted for decades the San Marino and later the Emilia-Romagna Formula 1 Grand Prix. In the park beside the Tamburello curve stands the statue of Ayrton Senna, who died here on 1 May 1994: every day fans leave flags, scarves and messages. A moment of great emotion for enthusiasts.

The park is open to all; access to the track only on organised visit days.

3Dozza

The village of painted walls 30 min

Since 1960, every two years Dozza has hosted the Biennale del Muro Dipinto: artists from all over the world paint the façades of houses. Today there are more than a hundred works on the walls, from the oldest to the most recent, and the medieval village looks like an open-air art gallery.

Always open to visitors.

Rocca di Dozza and Regional Wine Library 50 min

The Rocca, a Sforza fortress later transformed into a residence by the Malvezzi Campeggi family, preserves furnished rooms, kitchens and dungeons. In its cellars is the Enoteca Regionale Emilia-Romagna, with hundreds of wines from the region: you end the tour with a tasting of Sangiovese, Albana and Lambrusco.

Rocca admission charged; wine library tasting must be booked for groups.

Tips

  • On race weekends at the circuit, Imola is gridlocked: check the track calendar before you set off.
  • The driver tastes last, or you bring a designated driver: at the tasting there's always grape juice for children too.

The same trip from other towns

How long it takes from each town, the drive back included. Tap a town to see the plan from there.

Ravenna, Faenza and Cervia

Rimini and the Riviera

Forlì and Cesena

Bologna and its province

Comacchio and its beaches

Pesaro and Fano

With your own car

Almost every old town has a limited traffic zone (ZTL) with cameras: park outside and walk in. The fine reaches your home, abroad too. ZTL and car parks town by town

This trip with a driver

Romagna Transfer picks you up at your hotel, drops you in front of every stop and brings you back: no parking, no ZTL, and the wine is yours to enjoy.

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Trips written by our editors from the facts of our monument pages and the official sites. Opening days and hours change: the note under every place tells you what to check before you leave. No prices: you find them on the museums' sites.

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