Hunting and fishing in Romagna: seasons, places and permits

Days, hours and dogs

• Three days of your choice

  The hunting week runs from Monday to Sunday: you hunt on three days of your choice, never on Tuesday or Friday. In the first week, 20 to 27 September, only on Thursday and Sunday.

• The early opening

  On 2, 3, 6, 10, 13 and 17 September 2026, only from a blind and until 1 pm: wood pigeon, hooded crow, magpie and jay, for members of the districts of the region in their own district, on hunting estates or from fixed blinds with live decoys. Never in Natura 2000 sites.

• Two extra days

  From 1 October to 30 November you may add two days a week for migratory game only, from fixed or temporary blinds; portable hides go up at most two hours before shooting time.

• Hours

  Walked-up from sunrise to sunset; migratory game from a blind from one hour before sunrise to sunset. In the first week walked-up hunting ends at 1 pm. Deer culling until one hour after sunset, wild boar culling until midnight. The exact times, fortnight by fortnight, are in the calendar.

• Training dogs

  From 16 August to 17 September, 7 am to 7 pm, never on Tuesday or Friday, at most two dogs per handler and not on wet cultivated fields. During the season the dog is used only on the days you hunt.

Bag limits

The maximum per hunter, per day and per season. For wild boar there is no limit; in another region on the same day the lower limit applies.

The other limits, species by species, are in annex C of the calendar. The Region's hunting calendar

• 1. The qualification exam

  The Region runs it free of charge in its territorial offices for agriculture, hunting and fishing: you pay only the stamp duty. You need residence in Emilia-Romagna, an age of at least 17 years and 9 months and a fitness certificate from the local health authority. Courses by hunting associations help but are not compulsory.

• 2. The hunting gun licence

  You apply to the Questura (police headquarters), a police station or the Carabinieri: a medical certificate from the health authority or a military or police doctor, the weapons handling certificate of the national shooting range (or military discharge), the qualification and two 16-euro revenue stamps. It lasts 5 years, but each year it is valid only once the State fee of 173,16 euro is paid.

• 3. The regional fee

  Every year you hunt you also pay the Emilia-Romagna fee, which depends on the gun: 37,70 euro with a single shot, a bow or a falcon, 52,68 euro with two shots, 66,62 euro with more than two shots. It can be paid online.

• 4. Insurance

  A policy for third-party liability and accidents, with the legal minimum cover, is compulsory.

• 5. Joining a district

  To hunt on open land you join the district and pay its annual fee; each district has its own admission rules for outsiders. For migratory game only there is also hunting "in mobility" in other districts, with a daily authorisation.

• 6. The hunting card

  Your town of residence issues it, with the licence and the receipts of fees, insurance and district. Before each day you mark the date, the type of hunting and the district; every animal is marked right after it is shot. It also exists as an app, with digital identity. The paper one is returned by 31 March.

• 7. The form of hunting

  The law makes you choose one form exclusively: the fixed blind or all the other forms together. The choice lasts a year and renews itself, unless you ask to change by 1 November.

If you come from abroad or from another region

• The hunting card for foreigners

  For foreigners and Italians living abroad it is issued by the local territorial office for agriculture, hunting and fishing. You need an identity document, your hunting licence, a liability and accident policy with cover no lower than the Italian one (with clear payment and start dates), for EU citizens the European Firearms Pass, and the district receipt or a declaration that you hunt only on one hunting estate.

• Weapons from outside Europe

  Visitors from outside the European Union first contact the police of their country and the Italian police to bring their weapons. Otherwise they may use weapons of an Italian resident under a loan agreement.

• From another Italian region

  Your hunting card is valid all over Italy, but you follow the Emilia-Romagna calendar, enter with admission to a district or on an estate, and mark V (walked-up) or A (blind) even if your card has no space for it.

Exam and qualifications The hunting card Hunting card for foreigners

• Licence C, for visitors

  For Italians and foreigners: 6,82 euro, valid 30 days from payment all over Italy. The payment receipt is the licence: keep it with an identity document. Paying online requires an Italian tax code.

• Licence B, for residents

  For residents of Emilia-Romagna: 22,72 euro, valid one year (365 days from payment) all over Italy. Licences from the other regions and from Trento and Bolzano are also valid here.

• Who is exempt

  Children under 12 with a licensed adult, minors with the course certificate of a fishing association, people over 65, people with disabilities (law 104), foreigners taking part in a competition, and anyone fishing in paid ponds or on private property.

• Trout: the catch card

  To keep trout and other salmonids you also need the regional catch card, issued by towns and fishing associations: at the first catch you write the code of the sub-basin and tick off each fish at once. At most 5 salmonids a day.

• Paid fishing ponds

  These are private lakes authorised by the Region: no licence is needed, you pay the operator and follow their rules on rods, baits and release. It is the easiest way to fish with children.

Pay the fishing licence Fishing calendars and catch cards

• At the sea: piers, breakwaters and river mouths
• In rivers and canals
• Lakes and large hill rivers

The points on the map mark the pier, the river mouth or the town of the stretch.

At the sea: piers, breakwaters and river mouths

• Photo: Francesco Binni, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The breakwaters of Marina di Ravenna and Porto Corsini

  Marina di Ravenna · Porto Corsini · sea waters

  The two breakwaters of about 3 kilometres guarding the entrance of the Candiano port canal: the Zaccagnini at Marina di Ravenna and the Cavalcoli at Porto Corsini, fished in every season, with fishing platforms and huts with lift nets. Mullet between the breakwaters, sea bass, shi drum and brown meagre at the tips, conger eels on the bottom in winter. Bikes go at walking pace, cars only with the Port Authority permit; during weather alerts access is forbidden to everyone and for competitions some end sections close for a few hours.

  On foot along the pier: the walk

• Photo: Gianni Careddu, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  Casal Borsetti and the Destra Reno canal

  Casal Borsetti (Ravenna) · sea waters

  The Destra Reno canal reaches the sea between two piers about a hundred metres long, beyond the breakwaters: a classic place to fish from the piers and with lift nets, at the edge of the Po Delta Park. Upstream, inside the Park, the canal is open to sport fishing under the Park rules.

  On foot along the pier: the walk

• Photo: Lorenzov79, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Lamone mouth at Marina Romea

  Marina Romea (Ravenna) · sea waters

  The Lamone reaches the sea between two piers of about ninety metres. You fish from the piers and at the mouth, where sea bass are taken with shrimp, lugworm or spinning with small minnows.

• Photo: Coyote III, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  Fiumi Uniti, Lido Adriano and Lido di Dante

  between Lido Adriano and Lido di Dante · sea waters

  The Montone and the Ronco, joined together, flow out between Lido Adriano and Lido di Dante, with fishing huts along the banks. In late summer striped sea bream are fished on the bottom from the piers and rocks near Lido di Dante. Further south the Bevano mouth, inside the Delta Park, is closed to fishing: beach ledgering is done from the beaches on either side.

• Photo: Lorenzo Gaudenzi, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The piers of Cervia and Milano Marittima

  Cervia · Milano Marittima · sea waters

  The Cervia port canal, which carries the water of the salt pans to the sea, has its mouth protected by two piers; at Milano Marittima the Cupa Nuovo canal flows out between two piers of about 90 metres. Inside the Cervia salt pans and their canals sport fishing is forbidden.

• Photo: Terragio67, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  From Cesenatico to Cattolica

  Cesenatico, Bellaria, Rimini, Riccione, Cattolica · sea waters

  Along the coast of Forlì-Cesena and Rimini you fish from the piers of the port canals, from the breakwaters and at the river mouths: mullet, gobies, garfish, cuttlefish, sea bass, brown meagre, striped sea bream, white bream and bogue; from boats mackerel and Atlantic bonito. For bream and sea bass the recommended bait is small crab.

In rivers and canals

• Photo: Sindako, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Emiliano Romagnolo canal and the Destra Reno

  plain of Lugo, Bagnacavallo and Russi · Sant'Alberto

  In the Ravenna plain the Emiliano Romagnolo canal is a water for carp, crucian carp and lowland fish: carp fishing, ledgering, Bolognese, match and spinning. Its concrete banks are steep and slippery: fish near the ladders and never alone. The Destra Reno canal, from Sant'Alberto towards the sea, suits match fishing and hosts many competition stretches.

• Photo: Giorgio Sagrini, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Senio at Casola Valsenio

  from Casola Valsenio to Mercatale · category C waters

  A hill stream among woods and small falls: chub and South European roach upstream, then barbel and the first carp further down, trout are rare. Trotting with a Bolognese or pole rod and maggots. There are competition stretches and temporary spawning areas.

• Photo: Federiscio, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Lamone and the Tramazzo

  from Brisighella to San Martino in Gattara · Tredozio · category C waters

  The Lamone runs along the via Faentina, with deep pools and runs: barbel, chub and wary carp, nase and roach, a few trout upstream. Trotting, spinning and fly fishing, and many anglers release everything. Over the ridge, the Tramazzo above Tredozio has fine brown trout; Lake Ponte holds carp, catfish and perch.

• Photo: Jonnino-96, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Montone at San Benedetto in Alpe

  San Benedetto in Alpe, Portico, Rocca San Casciano · category D waters

  It rises near the Muraglione pass: upstream cold, clear category D waters among boulders and small falls, with brown trout, barbel and chub; further down category C waters with nase and roach. Fly or spinning in the D stretch, trotting in the C stretch.

• Photo: Giorgio Galeotti, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Rabbi at Premilcuore

  Premilcuore, Predappio · category C waters

  Very clear waters with wild and stocked brown trout upstream, chub and barbel in the pools further down. At Premilcuore there is a regulated fishing area of about 2 kilometres, between the Ponte dei Carabinieri and the Ponte delle Piane: no kill only, with immediate release and a paid permit.

• Photo: Sailko, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Bidente at Santa Sofia

  Santa Sofia, Corniolo, Ridracoli · category C waters

  The Bidente is born from three branches above Santa Sofia: upstream brown trout rule, in narrow wooded streams, fished with worms, spinners or flies. At Santa Sofia there is a regulated fishing area of about 3 kilometres, from the Romagna Acque water plant at Verdia to the Enel weir in town: two permits, one allowing you to keep trout only and one no kill.

Lakes and large hill rivers

• Photo: Andrea.andreani, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Savio and Lake Quarto

  Sarsina, Mercato Saraceno, Quarto · category C waters

  The Savio is a technical river, for light tackle and fine lines: good-sized chub and barbel, carp and rudd. Above the Quarto dam the lake holds decent pike, for spinning; the Para and Alferello streams have fine brown trout.

• Photo: Szeder László, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The Marecchia and the lakes of Santarcangelo

  Ponte Verucchio · Santarcangelo di Romagna · category C waters

  A wide pebbly river, with autumn floods and dry summers: chub by trotting and spinning. The lakes of Santarcangelo, old quarries, hold carp, grass carp, crucian carp, catfish, pike and very good black bass. In the Rimini area the fishing calendar has stretches of the Marecchia and the Conca with compulsory release or lures only, and in D waters trophy trout only.

The regulated fishing areas The Delta Park fishing rules

The 14 sport fishing ponds

Private lakes and the waters of fishing clubs. In paid ponds no licence is needed: you pay the operator and follow their rules; the FIPSAS waters need the federation card. Hours, prices and openings change: ask the operator before you go.

Sources: the operators' websites, the FIPSAS sections of Ravenna and Forlì-Cesena, the tourist office of Bagno di Romagna and the list of fishing lakes of the Comune di Rimini (June 2025). Fishing lakes, Comune di Rimini

• Photo: Monia Mascagni, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  How it is built

  A wooden hut on stilts or on an anchored float, on the bank of a river, a canal or a lagoon. From the hut rise the antennas, long slanting poles that hold, with ropes and pulleys, a square net up to 15 metres a side. A winch, once worked by hand and today often electric, lowers and raises it.

• Photo: Gianni Careddu, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  How you fish

  You lower the net to the bottom, wait a few minutes and raise it slowly: the fish that were passing over it stay in the middle, where the mesh is finer, and are gathered with a long landing net. Then you start again, for hours, following the tide and the current.

• Photo: Coyote III, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  What you catch

  Once eels, mullet and flounder in amounts the old fishermen still remember fondly; today mostly mullet, shrimp, sand smelt and, in the lagoons, pipefish, killifish and gobies. In recent years the blue crab ends up in the net too, the invasive species the hut owners help to take out of the water.

• Photo: Coyote III, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  Where it comes from

  Shelters of reed and wood have always stood on the lagoons; huts with a net, the owners say, date back at least to the 18th century, built from salvaged materials by poor families who put dinner together with the fish. Land reclamation wiped many out; from the 1950s they became sturdier and more comfortable, and places of leisure.

• Photo: Vanni Lazzari, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons

  The lagoons

  In the Baiona and Piomboni lagoons, the brackish waters between Ravenna and the sea, there were 245 huts according to the Comune in December 2023. To fish there you need the civic fishing right of the Comune di Ravenna: a three-year permit for those who have lived in Ravenna for at least three years, a yearly one for non-residents who hold a fixed padellone.

• Photo: Marco della pasqua, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons

  Not only Ravenna

  Padelloni can be seen on the Fiumi Uniti, the Savio, the Reno, the Candiano canal and in the port canals of the coast, as at Cesenatico. Close relatives are the bilancioni of the Comacchio lagoons, the trabocchi of Abruzzo and the carrelets of the French Atlantic coast.

The rules of the padellone

Under the regional fishing regulation (no. 1 of 2018) the padellone is a "fixed lift net". The sizes of the net:

• Only on approved structures

  A fixed lift net may be used only when mounted on a purpose-built structure; its owner must hold a fishing licence and the concession of the area, and comply with landscape and building rules. How many there may be, and where, is decided by the Region.

• 10 kilos in total

  The catch may not exceed 10 kilos in total, however many people are in the hut, except for the tighter limits of some species. The fish is not sold.

• With a licence, without groundbait

  The net may be worked only when a fishing licence holder is present. While fishing it is forbidden to groundbait, that is, to throw bait into the water to attract the fish.

• Half the canal, 200 metres from the next

  The net may not take up more than half the width of the water, measured at average low tide. A new installation must be at least 200 metres from the nearest one.

• The light at night

  A service lamp with diffused light, at most 60 watts, fixed at least 2.5 metres above the water. The red light may stay on all the time, the others only while working the net.

• Closed seasons and concessions

  In closed seasons the net must be made unusable, also by locking the lifting system. In Ravenna the huts stand on municipal land and may be used only under a concession; to bring those of the lagoons up to standard the Comune had set a deadline of 31 August 2025.

The regional fishing regulation Fishing huts: the Comune di Ravenna The civic fishing right in the Baiona lagoon

Customs and traditions

• The partnership and the turns

  A padellone rarely belongs to one person: usually at least six partners keep it, organised like a small company with roles and rules, sharing the costs. Each has a "posta", a fishing turn, which often comes round once every six days. Shares are sold, with the other partners having first refusal, or inherited; a posta costs thousands of euros.

• At the table in the hut

  The hut is also a dining room on the water: dinners with friends and family, business lunches, the fish just caught cooked on the spot. The saying goes "us magna cun quel che us ciapa", you eat what you catch. And some swear that mayors and political alliances were decided between those walls.

• By flat-bottomed boat

  Some huts in the lagoons can be reached only by boat or raft, over water that is always shallow and full of hazards. The traditional boats are the batana, the burchiella and the maròta, all flat-bottomed.

• The most famous hut

  It is a hunting hut: the Capanno Garibaldi, in the Baiona lagoon near Marina Romea, where Giuseppe Garibaldi found refuge on the run in August 1849. Next to it stand padelloni like the one in the first photo of this section.

• In the lines of Montale

  Eugenio Montale opens his poem "Dora Markus" right here, at the wooden pier of Porto Corsini on the open sea, where "rare men, almost motionless, sink or haul up their nets".

• Look with respect

  The huts are private and under concession: look at them and photograph them from the bank or the embankment, without stepping onto the walkways unless invited. Many stand inside the Po Delta Park, where its rules apply too.

• In Romagnol: padèla, padlón, padlè

  In Libero Ercolani's Romagnol-Italian dictionary (1960) the padèla is the frying pan but also the "bilancia", a square bag net hung from two poles bent into arches, crossed and fixed to a long handle. The padlón is the big lift net, and also the whole fishing hut. A padlè is a panful.

• In Italian

  The Treccani dictionary records padellone as a word of Romagna: "a square fishing net pulled vertically", commonly called bilancia. In the rest of Italy, and in the law, it is called bilancione.

• At the theatre

  In theatres the padellone is a simple floodlight with diffused light, on the floor or on a tripod, that lights backdrops and backstage; it is also the working light of rehearsals.

• Hunting: fare padella

  Among hunters and shooters the padella is the missed shot: "fare padella" means shooting and hitting nothing. In the padellone, luckily, something almost always stays in the net.

• The record and the square

  In everyday speech a padellone is also the old 33 rpm record, the long-playing (De Mauro dictionary). And in Mondaino the round piazza Maggiore is called the padella: via Roma is its handle.

Sources: regional fishing regulation no. 1/2018 (articles 9, 10 and 26), Comune di Ravenna, the Treccani, De Mauro and Ercolani dictionaries; the customs come from the accounts of hut owners gathered by the local press.