The Termal Bologna Marathon runs on the first Saturday of March through the arcaded streets of the Emilian capital. Bologna itself is the capital of one of the most gastronomically dense regions on earth - Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano-Reggiano, mortadella, tortellini in brodo - and the post-race temptation is to stay and eat. This is a reasonable response.
The alternative is to use the flat rail network of the Po Valley to reach two instructive contrasts: Ravenna, where Byzantine mosaic art has been sitting undisturbed for 1,500 years; and Parma, where the European culinary culture that peaked in the Renaissance duchy is still being practised in the same landscape. Both cities are flat. Both are within an hour of Bologna by regional train.
Nights One and Two: Ravenna
The regional train from Bologna Centrale to Ravenna runs east for one hour. Ravenna station is a ten-minute flat walk from the historic centre; the mosaic sites are within a 15-minute walking radius of each other.
Ravenna was the capital of the Western Roman Empire from 402 AD, then of the Gothic Kingdom, then of the Byzantine Exarchate until 751. This compressed sequence of imperial transitions left eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites within the historic centre.
The Basilica of San Vitale (526 to 548 AD) contains the famous imperial portrait panels of Justinian and Theodora with their respective courts - the most technically accomplished and politically charged mosaic images that survive from antiquity. The gold ground that surrounds both panels catches the interior light in a way that changes through the day.
The Mausoleum of Galla Placidia (425 to 450 AD), adjacent to San Vitale, is smaller and darker - a cross-shaped tomb whose interior is covered in deep blue and gold mosaic. This is the oldest intact mosaic interior in the Western world.
A combined pass (€12 to 15) covers the main mosaic churches. The historic centre is entirely flat. In March, the mosaic sites are accessible at a contemplative pace without summer queues.
Dante's Ravenna: Ravenna is where Dante Alighieri spent his final years and is buried (1321). The Tomba di Dante on Via Dante Alighieri is a small neoclassical monument adjacent to the church of San Francesco. The lamp inside burns olive oil sent annually by the city of Florence as a form of civic penance for the exile they imposed on him.
Where to eat: Ristorante la Gardela on the Via Ponte Marino is the Ravenna institution for traditional Romagnola cooking - cappelletti in brodo and piadina (the Romagna flatbread used as a wrap for prosciutto, squacquerone cheese, and rucola).
Nights Three and Four: Parma
The regional train from Ravenna to Parma takes approximately 90 minutes, routing via Ferrara or Faenza depending on the service. Parma station is a 20-minute flat walk from the historic centre.
Parma is the production capital of two of the world's most regulated food products: Prosciutto di Parma (dry-cured ham, aged a minimum of 12 months in the hills south of the city, sealed with the Ducal crown trademark) and Parmigiano-Reggiano (the granular aged cheese produced from the milk of cows fed exclusively within a defined area, aged 24 to 36 months minimum). Both have DOP designation and active consortia that manage quality control.
The Prosciutto di Parma visitor experiences are the best way to understand the production. Several prosciuttifici (curing facilities) in the hills south of Parma - in the villages of Langhirano, Lesignano de' Bagni, and Calestano - offer guided tours by appointment. A taxi from Parma city centre to Langhirano takes 20 minutes (approximately €25); the tours last 60 to 90 minutes and include a tasting of various stages of curing.
In the city: the Mercato Centrale on the Ghiaia (open Tuesday to Saturday mornings) is the correct introduction to the local food culture - the full range of Parma products available at farm-gate prices, with small producers who can describe exactly where the pig or the cow came from.
The Duomo di Parma (11th century Romanesque, with a 12th-century octagonal baptistery alongside it) contains Correggio's fresco of the Assumption in the dome - a spiralling, foreshortened composition of figures ascending into light that so disoriented an early viewer that he reportedly said it looked like a hash of frogs' legs. Entry to the cathedral is free; the baptistery costs approximately €8.
Where to eat: Ristorante Parizzi on Strada della Repubblica is the Parma benchmark - a kitchen that takes the local ingredients (Prosciutto, Parmigiano, the local Malvasia wine) with appropriate seriousness, at a price point that reflects the restaurant's age (1938) rather than its ambition. For a simpler evening: Osteria del Gesso on Via Ferdinando Maestri serves traditional Parmigiana cooking in a setting that predates tourism.
Getting Home
From Parma, regional trains return to Bologna Centrale in 50 minutes. The Marconi Express monorail from Bologna Centrale to Bologna Airport (BLQ) takes 7 minutes - the complete journey from Parma to the airport is under 60 minutes.