Portico di Romagna and Ponte della Maestà

Portico di Romagna is one of the most beautiful villages in the Romagna Apennines, in the Montone valley. It was part of Tuscany until 1923, and it shows: stone houses, doorways, Florentine coats of arms. The village is built on three levels, connected by alleyways and stairways: at the top the houses of the nobles, in the middle the merchants, below the craftsmen and the river.

The symbol of the village is the Ponte della Maestà, a medieval humpback bridge with a single arch and its original paving, which spans the Montone. It takes its name from the small maestà, the Oratorio della Visitazione, which looks across at it from the opposite bank.

In the upper part stands Palazzo Portinari: tradition has it that it belonged to the family of Folco Portinari, father of Beatrice, and that the young Beatrice stayed here. A legend, but one that the people of Portico tell with pride, on the Dante trail that climbs towards San Benedetto in Alpe.

You can walk round the village in an hour, but it's worth lingering: in summer the river below the bridge forms pools where people swim, and in autumn the surrounding woods turn colour.