The new, extensively updated second edition of Bradt's Emilia-Romagna is the most thorough and in-depth guidebook available to this entire north Italian region (not just Bologna and the main cities). This region blends the best of Italy: a gastronomic hub, elegant cities with vibrant cultural offerings and a coastline favoured by the Italians themselves. Emilia-Romagna combines the rich farmlands of the Po plain with dazzling cities strung like pearls along the straight-as-a-die Via Emilia. The regional capital, Bologna, is home to the world's oldest university, while the smaller cities are strikingly different, year-round destinations. Parma (the town of Correggio) has opera at its heart and prosciutto to delight the palate; Modena, with its stupendous medieval cathedral and world-famous balsamic vinegar, once home to Pavarotti and still to Ferrari; Ferrara boasts the House of Este's spectacular Renaissance architecture; Ravenna glitters with Byzantine mosaics; and Rimini -
