The Agro-Urban Trails project was launched in 2021 at the behest of the municipal administration, creating a synergy between the local administration and its citizens, turning into a real community effort.
The project stems from the desire to enhance the local territory, aiming to find a red thread that connects history, stories, arts, and natural beauty. Our territory, thanks toits geographical location and morphological configuration, has made Modigliana into a very important hub over the centuries: the Guidi Counts, Garibaldi’s trafila, the 19th century between Silvestro Lega’s art and the Silk Industry, Maria Stella Chiappini and her relations with the House of Orleans, the history of partisanship, the recent development of industrial design, the excellence of wine production, the Montebello experimental reserve, and the landscapes of the three Tramazzo valleys, Ibola and Acerreta, are just some of the elements that the local administration wanted to weave together in a coherent thread, making no distinctions between the historic nuclei, the urban fabric, and the countryside, but capable of finding coherent and accessible narratives that tell the story of our great heritage.
We spontaneously agreed to promote slow tourism: through the simple act of walking we can discover the many riches of our heritage. The trails network (as of 2021) consists of 9 looped routes starting from the town centre, with different sub-routes, for a total of more than 180 km of paths. Each trail has a specific theme and narrative marked by unique historical, natural, and gastronomic points of interest. Each path is tracked by GPS and can be downloaded on the website. All trails can be enjoyed on foot, by bike, or on horseback.
The CAI (Italian Alpine Club) supported our project from the start through its new section in Modigliana and helped us trace all 180 km that we had identified in the first place. We would like to thank Luca Nati who, with his endless passion and enthusiasm, covered countless kilometres on foot and by bike, laying the perfect ground for the development of the project.
The Youth Council then took the lead regarding the communication: Daniel Francioni, a young man with hundreds of years of knowledge and a deep love for Modigliano’s heritage, curated the historical narrative and supported the content production. Lucia Fabbri developed the website with great passion and willingness. Several other members of the youth council contributed to the creation of the project by joining as extras in the videos and sharing their pictures. In particular, we would like to thank Lorenzo Veggi, who patiently edited all the videos of the monuments in the town centre.
Designer Linda Valtancoli volunteered her time to design the image, graphics, and content. At the same time, Valentina Aulizio, already very active in the promotion of Modigliana with her Instagram account “Modigliana Tourism”, coordinated the creation of the promotional video with the help of Cinefood and helped with the social media planning.
The “Circolo Fotografico” – through Erika Cicognani, Salvatore Leanza, Christian Chillico, Arianna Michelini, and Milena Di Nella – provided part of the photographic content.
We would also like to thank Erika Nannini, Camilla Pesci, and Valeria Liverani of the Modigliana Municipality who supported the project with commitment and dedication. Huge thanks as well to our sponsors, BCC and Romagna Acquae, for believing from the outset in the potential of enhancing and valorising our territory and for providing the necessary resources to turn it into a reality. Thanks as well to Decathlon Faenza which then joined in and helped promote the project through the traveller’s passport.
Modigliana councillor Rosa Grasso is the creator, curator, and promoter of the project, which she coordinated across the multiple institutional and logistical components, volunteering her time and expertise for the maps creation, website and social media content.
Finally, we would like to thank all the local businesses that have joined in: without your dedication to the territory, nothing would be possible.
To our visitors, we hope you will enjoy Modigliana and our trails: bon voyage, and see you in town!