Romagna mia: Italy’s eastern riviera and my home

Romagna, on Italy’s Adriatic coast, feels like the country’s most welcoming corner: relaxed, vibrant, and full of life. It’s known for its fishermen, artists, and world-famous local products. Summers here are warm and lively, with handmade piadina filled with delicious prosciutto and soft cheese. Small villages buzzing with local sagre and festivals, restaurants, bars, and street life that stretch well into the night.

If you're ready to know Italy beyond the usual clichés, this is where you'll find it.

Long before modern sunbathers laid out their towels on Riccione’s beaches, this coastline was a Roman stronghold. Rimini still carries the scars and splendour of antiquity: the Arch of Augustus watches over the city as it has since 27 BC, and the Bridge of Tiberius, elegantly arched, still holds strong despite floods, wars, and time.

This mix of the monumental and the everyday is the essence of Romagna: deeply historic, but never stuck in the past.

Culture and lifestyle

Romagna’s traditional culture isn’t something found in museums, it’s baked, stitched, and danced into daily life. Just watch a grandmother making fresh tagliatelle or flipping piadina on a blackened iron pan, or browse textile shops in Santarcangelo di Romagna, where artisans still stamp linen with hand-carved wooden blocks, each print a whisper of generations before.

The air seems to pulse with liscio music: the local folk music, full of swing and sentiment. Raoul Casadei, the beloved local musician who turned Romagna’s folk tunes into national hits, famously said: “Liscio is not a genre, it’s a way of smiling at life.” That’s Romagna in a sentence.

Slow days, sparkling nights

Today, the coast sparkles with modern vibrancy. Riccione and Milano Marittima glow with boutique hotels, beach clubs serving vegan spritzes, and open-air fashion pop-ups under twinkling fairy lights. Rimini is home to buzzy bike paths, film festivals, and open-air cultural events.

And yet, you can still find a fisherman mending nets at dawn, a family gathering around grilled sardines in a backyard, or two old friends trading gossip over espresso at a corner bar that hasn’t changed since the '70s.
The juxtaposition is magic: contemporary Italian lifestyle rooted in deeply lived tradition.

Romagna’s icons

Romagna seems to produce characters with oversized hearts and endless drive, their stories are written in the region’s rhythm: bold, passionate, and unafraid to feel deeply. Just to name few:

• Federico Fellini, the dreamer of Rimini. Born in Rimini, Federico Fellini transformed the streets of his childhood into iconic film settings. As the visionary director behind La Dolce Vita, the internationally acclaimed Italian masterpiece, he didn’t just make a movie, he coined a lifestyle.

• Laura Pausini, born in Solarolo, is a world-renowned singer celebrated for her powerful rock-infused voice and heartfelt style. Beloved by fans not only for her talent but also for the way she makes them feel truly seen and included in her journey, she shares a deep, mutual love with her audience.

• Valentino Rossi, the world-famous MotoGP racer, grew up nearby in Tavullia, and still returns to race the coastal curves.

• Marco Pantani, the “Pirate” of Cesenatico, peddled through these hills long before conquering global races.

Flavours that tell you where you are

Romagna’s food is all about traditions, bold flavours and top artisan produce. Here, recipes are passed down like heirlooms, and taste is memory:
Piadina romagnola, served warm and folded with squacquerone cheese, rocket and prosciutto crudo it’s the region’s signature street food.
Passatelli in brodo, pasta made from breadcrumbs and parmesan, swimming in golden broth. Cozy. Humble. Healing. Home.
Fossa cheese, a robust, cave-aged cheese from Talamello that tastes like the hills that cradle it.
Seafood grills, sardines, mantis shrimp, clams, charred simply and served with lemon. Best eaten barefoot, by the sea!
And finally, the region's comfort dish, Cappelletti in brodo. Tiny meat-filled dumplings served in hot broth. Learn to make them with le sfogline, local pasta’s queens who roll dough like poetry.

Romagna doesn’t just feed you, it seduces you. Every bite will make you feel home.

Local life

To love Romagna is to wander slowly. Skip the crowded beaches and let curiosity lead you into quiet corners:

Borgo San Giuliano (Rimini): A pastel-painted neighbourhood once home to fishermen. Now adorned with murals inspired by Fellini’s films, it feels like a cinematic set that never stopped living.

Cesenatico’s porto canale: Designed by Leonardo da Vinci himself, it’s lined with boats, fine restaurants and bars, gelato stands, and salty breezes.

Cervia’s saline: Walk alongside salt pans at sunset where flamingos mirror the pink sky. Salt tasting tours are rustic and unforgettable.

Bellaria-Igea Marina: Pine forests meet soft sands. Fewer tourists, more conversation. It’s where you go when you’re tired of “just seeing” and finally want to feel.

Rimini: the heart of Romagna

Rimini is my hometown and it's the kind of place where the sea isn’t just scenery, it’s a companion. You grow up measuring seasons by the scent of sunscreen in the air. Locals don’t rush here. They linger. They know the best time to walk the Parco del Mare is just before dinner, when the light turns golden and the breeze carries the scent of grilled fish. Or on a sunny Sunday morning, just before the family's lunch.

In the historical centre the Cinema Fulgor is a shrine to Fellini, and stepping inside feels like entering his imagination, an entire different world. Mercato Coperto is where you learn what real tomatoes taste like, and where to get the freshest seafood first thing in the morning, to cook the perfect spaghetti alle vongole for lunch! Borgo San Giuliano is charming, and it’s personal. The murals here are memory. They tell stories of fishermen, dreamers, and what home means for locals.

Speak like a local: most common Romagna’s expressions

Emilia-Romagna, like all Italian regions, has a rich tapestry of dialects and expressions that reflect its warmth, humour, and down-to-earth charm. Whether you're in Rimini, or a tiny inland village, you'll hear phrases that don’t show up in textbooks, but absolutely show up in real life.

Here are some of the most common expressions that will help you blend in!:

• “Valà!” / “Ma va là!”
  A classic from Romagna, used to express disbelief, irony, or just to brush something off.
  Example:
  “Hai vinto alla lotteria?” You won the lottery?
  “Ma va là!” Are you for real?!

• “Ah di”
  “oh well..” used as an expression of acceptance and resignation in informal contexts, say it with a relaxed and caringless tone and you'll just sound like a local!
  Example:
  “Non sono d'accordo con te” I don't agree with you

  "Ah di, fai come vuoi allora" Oh well, do as you wish then"

• “Tin bòta!”
  Literally “hold tight,” but used to mean “hang in there” or “stay strong.”
  Example: “È dura, ma tin bòta!” It's hard, but stay strong!

• “Tam fè muri!”
  Romagnolo for “You’re making me die (laughing)!”
  Context: When someone tells a hilarious story.

• “Lasa ‘ndè”
  “Let it go” or “Forget about it.”
  Context: When someone’s fussing over something small.

Learning these expressions it’s how you show you’re not just passing through, but truly present.

To know Romagna is to return

Romagna’s coast opens its arms slowly, like an old friend inviting you into her home. You’ll fall for the mosaic shadows in Ravenna, the sea breeze in Cesenatico, the dialect-filled laughter at a grigliata at the Mercato coperto in Rimini, and the simple pleasure of ordering coffee in a place where the barista remembers your name.

This coast teaches you something about Italian life that language apps and books never will: that this language beauty lives in slow and warm gestures, flavours that take you back home, family and friends. And that the best moments aren't made for Instagram, they’re meant to be lived.

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