Agriturismo
"Il Cavicchio"
Rastignano di Pianoro BO

IN THE SURROUNDINGS: ART, SPORT, NATURE

We are very interested in history, art, sport and nature. Hence, it will be a pleasure to help you drawing your "personal" road-maps in close and far Italian places.

First visit should of course be to the enchanting city of Bologna, whose history, since Etruscans and Celts, down through the centuries with Romans, longbards, the free commune, the pope's half-domination, until the unification of Italy, has left so many traces both in the city itself and in the surrounding territory. But from the farmhouse Il Cavicchio in a very short time (between one and two driving hours) you can reach some of the most beautiful Italian cities: from Tuscany's Firenze, Pisa, Arezzo and Siena, to Aemilia's Modena, Parma and Ferrara, from Romagna's Ravenna, Rimini and Cesena to Veneto's Verona, Padova and Venezia, from Lombardy's Mantova to Marche's Urbino.

Moreover, in the surrounding territory clever tourists will discover places which are unknown to most people, but of great interest and beauty:
-The Ronzano Hermitage (Eremo di Ronzano), ancient monastery whose history traces back to 1140. From here a fantastic view of the hills, Bologna and the  plain.

http://www.eremodironzano.it/eremo/chiesa.asp
- The Regional Park Parco dei Gessi e dell’Abbadessa, the largest karstic park of Emilia Romagna, at the beginning of Bologna hills. It includes the Farneto and Spippola caves. It lies in the territories of the municipalities of Pianoro, San Lazzaro and Ozzano.
http://www.parks.it/parco.gessi.bolognesi/
- the pliocenic counterfort, the exceptional sandstone rocky emergence, that goes like a transverse bastion crossing the Appennine valleys. From Sasso Marconi to Pianoro and last to Monterenzio, the whole counterfort is characterized by its overhanging walls and very peculiar habitats.
http://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/natura2000/aree/SIC/IT4050012/
- the regional park Parco di Monte Sole, that reveals an uncontaminated environment, rich in animal and vegetable species. Besides that, it bears the memoir of the terrible massacre of Marzarbotto, made by nazis and fascists against the civil population in 1944

http://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/natura2000/aree/SIC/IT4050003/index.html
http://www.comune.marzabotto.bo.it/htm/memoria.htm
- Misa/Marzabotto, with its Etruscan museum. Being the only Etruscan town that hasn't undergone further Roman or middle-aged construction, its remains have remained intact in an orthogonal shape of Hyppodamic school.
http://www.archeobo.arti.beniculturali.it/Marzabotto/
- Monte Bibele, in Monterenzio municipality. It's an ancient Etruscan-Celt village, with also Ligurian remains. It was a very peculiar example of peaceful living together among different peoples, before the destruction of it all by the Romans at the beginning of the 2nd Century b.C.

http://www3.unibo.it/archeologia/ricerca/scavi/montebibele/mont1.htm
And many other close or very close destinations, as the ancient monastery of S. Bartolomeo di Musiano, the sanctuary if the Madonna delle Formiche (Virgin of Ants), Castel de’ Rossi, the Pieve del Pino, the Romanic church of Panico, the case-torri (tower-houses) of the Apennine mountains, Dozza Imolese, etc. etc.

Beside the infinity of possible hikes, starting from our forest up to exploring the Apennine mountains, in our municipality of Pianoro you'll find installations for almost all sports: from football to basketball, from gyms to swimming-pools (indoor and outdoor), from cricket to baseball, from tennis to horse-riding and golf. In bordering municipalities, just a few kilometres away, there are places loved by free-climbers, a 9 holes golf field and a Fiarc field (field archery): Arcieri della Rupe
http://www.arcieridellarupe.it/

The Bologna hill and mountain territory has a real vocation for cycling in all forms. From asphalted roads to mountain-bike, to bicycle tourism, a myriad of roads, mule-tracks and single-path tracks will satisfy all people and all legs.

Here is the historical Futa road: since the Middle Age it has seen a good part off the Europeans who were going to Rome as pilgrims or for the XVIIth-XIXth century Grand Tour. It's a beautiful itinerary, completely asphalted, that brings you to Florence presenting you many a breath-taking view

.http://www2.comune.bologna.it/bologna/comloian/futa.htm

Here is also the so-called "Gods' Road" or Flaminia Militare: it's the Roman Legions' road, that was connecting Bologna with Fiesole (on Florence's hills). Built in the 2nd Century b.C., it was the main itinerary for all travellers and armies through all the 1st millennium. Now you can follow it partly on asphalt, partly on cyclable mule-track, partly on a footpath. It's a beautiful itinerary, both by foot (making some little detours to avoid the asphalt parts) and by mountain-bike (in a few points you might like to get down from your bike and push it).

Our cycling guests have the possibility to use the farmhouse garage to leave their bikes indoor, e the availability of various tools for fixing their bikes.
Moreover, we have an agreement with an Assistance Centre at 3 kms. from Il Cavicchio. According to availability, they can come to fix bikes directly at our place, or it can be reached easily in a few minutes.
http://www.bcstar.it.

Our guests who enjoy cycling tours, coming back in the afternoon, will be offered have a complementary healthy and genuine snack. The right prize after the pedal effort.

Eremo di Ronzano

The "calanchi" (badlands formed in a clayey bedrock) of Pieve del Pino

Lake at Castel dell'Alpi

Bologna from above