Timetable of extra-urban routes
Transport service
840 000 216 - Contact Center Seta (Monday-Saturday from 07:00 a.m. to 07:00 p.m.; Sunday from 09:00 a.m. to 05:00 p.m., closed on weekday holidays)
840 151 152 - Railway Call Center
Tickets can also be purchased in the tobacconist shops (tabaccheria).
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Here are the maps of the 32 Municipalities of the local editorial staff of Reggio Emilia:
Reggio nell'Emilia
Albinea
Bagnolo in Piano
Bibbiano
Boretto
Brescello
Cadelbosco Sopra
Campagnola Emilia
Campegine
Casalgrande
Castellarano
Castelnovo Sotto
Cavriago
Correggio
Fabbrico
Gattatico
Gualtieri
Guastalla
Luzzara
Montecchio Emilia
Novellara
Poviglio
Quattro Castella
Reggiolo
Rio Saliceto
Rolo
Rubiera
San Martino in Rio
San Polo d'Enza
Sant'Ilario d'Enza
Scandiano
Vezzano sul Crostolo
Altitude: 99 m
Inhabitants: 10.422 (updated to December 31, 2022)
Post code: 42027
Weekly market day: Monday
Patron Saint: San Donnino (October 9)
Hamlets: Villa Aiola
0039 0522 861811 - Municipality
Comune di Montecchio Emilia (Montecchio Emilia Municipality)
Montecchio Emilia
By car
From Reggio Emilia take the Provincial road to Montecchio Emilia.
By train
From the train station of Reggio Emilia: Tper train Reggio Emilia-Ciano d'Enza to Barco, then bus No. 94.
By bus
From Reggio Emilia, Piazzale Europa: bus No. 94.
The distance of Montecchio Emilia from Reggio Emilia, the administrative centre, is 15 km.
The ancient town of "Monticulum", located at the crossroads between the roads through the foothills and the road from the Apennine Mountains to the Po River along the course of the Enza River, was for centuries a strategic town of considerable importance.
It was situated along the main road running north and south even before the time of the Roman conquest, as shown by archeological finds from the prehistoric and protohistoric periods.
The Lombards also settled in the area, and as early as that period all of the Enza River Valley was subject to the influence of different sovereigns, who were often in conflict.
In 781, the borderline between the dioceses of Parma and Reggio Emilia was located in Montecchio.
During the Dark Ages, Montecchio served as a fortification protecting the central part of the territory belonging to the Canossa family.
This role is confirmed in documents from the monastery of Sant'Apollonio of Canossa and Matilda, Countess of Canossa that sanctioned control over the locality by the church. With the decline of the bishop's authority, the Municipality of Parma exercised its control over the area.
In 1296 the oldest fortifications were razed to the ground by Azzo d'Este.
Around the mid-14th century, the family conflicts in the context of battles between seignories (the Este, the Scaligeri, and the Visconti and their allies) concluded with the subordination of Montecchio to the authority of the Visconti.
With the fall of the lords of Milan, the House of Este's dominion reached as far as the Enza River, remaining in force until the Unification of Italy (1861), except for brief intervals.
From the latter part of the 15th century, the Este rebuilt the Montecchio Castle and the town fortifications.
In 1453, Borso d'Este allowed Montecchio to draw up independent statutes, since the town had possessed its own coat of arms since 1442. This consisted of a diamond ring, and symbolized everlasting union with the House of Este.
Following this, Montecchio was granted ample authority over the territory from Barco to Sant'Eulalia (now Sant'Ilario d'Enza), a boundary which remained unchanged until 1859.
Throughout the first twenty years of the 16th century, the Municipality of Parma continued to claim the area.
At the same time, a period of rule by members of local families who had risen to the top of the economic and social ladder began.
Beginning in 1680, conflict between the great European states caused in Montecchio, as in other areas, repeated periods of military occupation, fiscal oppression, and political humiliation, weakening the town's age-old independence.
During the Restoration Period after the return to power of the Austrian-Este alliance, many citizens of Montecchio Emilia participated in the uprisings of 1821 and 1848.
By the end of the 19th century, the construction of a bridge over the Enza River and the railway from Reggio Emilia to Ciano d'Enza (1909) made the first phase of economic development in Montecchio Emilia possible.
Development continued with the creation of industries related to agriculture, dairy products, the cultivation of vineyards and the production of wine.
Montecchio Emilia is now a modern town with various industries and services, which preserves important monuments from its past.
In the Early Middle Ages, it was an initial bulwark within the pre-Apennine defensive system set up by the Canossa.
A privileged feud of the Este family until 1713, Montecchio Emilia maintains, in the town centre, part of the XV-century bastion walls, the porticoes, the Castle and the medieval burial ground, the Beata Vergine dell’Olmo Sanctuary and the San Donnino Parish Church.
The most representative monument of Montecchio Emilia is undoubtedly the Medieval Castle.
The structure dates back to the Matildic era, as quoted in a document signed by Countess Matilda in 1114.
The building continued with several interventions until the XVI-century by order of the Este family and particularly Prince Luigi D'Este who lived there from 1638.
The castle was long occupied by the Vicedomini who t vicarious roles, starting from the Bishops of Parma to the Este family.
The structure, with a rectangular plan, has a compact volume with two crenelated towers.
The highest one is the Clock tower.
"Enza Park", a public area on the banks of the Enza River extending over 40,000 square metres, has been the main social meeting recreational point of the local community for many years, especially in summer.
San Marco Festival - April 25
Market with local and organic products; display of plants and flowers, stalls and funfair.
Primo Maggio Aiolese - May 1 - Locality Villa Aiola
Performances of folk groups, demonstration activities for old and young people, exhibitions, visits to the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese museum, refreshment point with fried dumpling and local wines, cooking of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese with a wood oven in a XVIII-century dairy, ancient Val d'Enza crafts.
San Simone Festival - Last weekend of October
Stalls, funfair, agricultural and trade display.
Another place of interest, in the village of Villa Aiola, is the Historical Museum of Parmigiano Reggiano and peasant civilization of the Val d'Enza.
Founded in 1977, it conserves objects and work instruments from the farming world, especially the production of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.
Via Copellini, 13 - Locality Villa Aiola, 42027 Montecchio Emilia 0039 0522 871271 - "La Barchessa" Association
+39 3351007798 - President and museum guide Giuliano Lusetti
ass.labarchessa@libero.it
museodelparmigianoreggiano@gmail.com
Museo del Parmigiano Reggiano
Possibility of tours upon reservation. 
Book now
Once the data form has been filled out and sent, you will receive an email in the following days with a response acknowledging your visit and confirming or canceling the visit (due to reduced availability on the requested days). In case of a refusal of the museum visit request, it is possible to send another request form (changing the previously requested day).
Free offer
Montecchio Emilia
By car
From Reggio Emilia take the Provincial road to Montecchio.
By train
From the train station of Reggio Emilia, TPER train Reggio-Ciano d'Enza up to Barco then bus No. 94
By bus
From Piazzale Europa bus No. 94
Near the museum, you can visit two historic dairies used for cheese production. One dates back to the 18th century and has an open-wood fire; the other is more recent and is operated by steam.
In the context of an original farmhouse, where the testimonies of the life of a peasant patriarchal family of the time reconstruct the authentic rural environments from the kitchen to the bedroom, the stable, the barn, the cheese processing rooms and the cellars create an evocative outline of the ethnological museum that we wanted to set up to exhibit all those objects that are part of the peasant tradition of our lands: a tradition now almost lost but still visible in the ancient artifacts, in the agricultural tools used until the 1950s in the the Reggio countryside.
To complete the educational-museum itinerary, it is possible to admire the old toll booth, still perfectly preserved, and the display of the wagons, which collects a collection of almost 40 pieces including gigs, carriages and finely inlaid agricultural wagons, used between the end 800 and half of the '900 for the work in the fields and for the social life of the countryside.
Strada Bassa, 2 - 42027 Montecchio Emilia 0039 0522 864110 - San Donnino Parish
Upon request
Montecchio Emilia
By car
From Reggio Emilia take the Provincial road to Montecchio.
By train
From the train station of Reggio Emilia, TPER train Reggio-Ciano d'Enza up to Barco then bus n° 94
By bus
From Piazzale Europa bus n° 94
It is located in east direction, about 1 km from the town centre. Liturgically oriented, it has an eighteenth-century, tripartite, pilastered façade, with a tympanum portal and a large blind arch in which a simple rose window with modern glass opens. The cornice is surmounted by three acroteri with pyramidal element, sphere and cross.
Two other similar elements are found at the external crowning of the two minor risers. The spire bell tower, over 40 meters high, which rises on the rear side and is joined to the apse covered by an adjacent building, has an interesting baroque structure. The interior has a single nave, on whose sides are four chapels on each side which welcome eighteenth and nineteenth-century paintings and frescoes. Above them is a loggia, between which arches and the chapels themselves open circular niches with busts. In Carrara marble is the main altar, completed in 1938 by the Correggio-born sculptress Carmela Adani. It was frescoed by Anselmo Govi in 1935. Above the presbytery is the emblem of Christ in a ray surrounded by twelve angels. The frescoes are inspired by Venetian painting. In the central panel the bas-relief of the balustrade shows "the Adoration of the Magi", work carried out in 1950 by the sculptor Armando Giuffredi from Montecchio Emilia.
In the niche positioned along the double staircase leading to the veneration of the Madonna, there is the wooden statue of the Madonna and Child, dressed in silk brocade. Tradition has it that the relic on which it rests is a piece of the sacred elm on which the Virgin appeared to a soldier who had fallen from his horse and remained unharmed. A chapel was erected around the Elm, built around 1487, which was soon a destination for pilgrimages and graces, documented by images and precious relics. Here the Fathers of the Order of the Servants of Mary founded a convent, that was set on fire in 1558 by Germans and Spaniards hired by the Duke Ottavio Farnese who had occupied Montecchio Emilia.
On the occasion of the return of the town, in 1559, the oratory was rebuilt with larger sizes. In 1683 the Prior of the Convent, Vincenzo Fontanelli from Reggio Emilia, with the contribution of his family, began the transformation of the oratory into a decent church, whose work was interrupted by the war between the French/ Spanish and the imperials. Left with the old wooden trussed ceiling, the convent was then used as a civil hospital and later as a barracks of the Guardia di Finanza until 1843, when the Duke Francesco IV d'Este destined a sanctuary and convent to the Redemptorist Congregation. In 1884, on the fourth centenary of the Apparition, a special committee wanted to complete the work begun by Father Fontanelli, under the direction and free commitment of the architect Pio Casoli. In the following years there were embellishment works inside the Church. In 1887 the enclosed nuns of the Order of the Servants of Mary finally took possession of the monastery, also taking care of the fate of the Sanctuary
Via Franchini, 47 - 42027 Montecchio Emilia
Phone 0039 0522 864110
From 7:30 a.m. to 12:00 and from 2:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
See the indication to reach Montecchio Emilia
Behind the altar is a wooden choir made by Brindani, Montecchio Emilia-born craftmen.
The Parish Church of San Donnino is Baroque in style and was originally an abbey. It is located in via Franchini, north of the castle and 200 metres from the square. It is the town’s oldest church, dating back to the first centuries of the conversion of the lands of the Po valley to Christianity. Given that the Bishop of Reggio already possessed lands and property in Montecchio Emilia as early as 822, there can be little doubt that an oratory already existed there at that time. The church is dedicated to Deacon Rainaldo of the San Donnino parish (what is now Fidenza, in the Province of Parma), who acquired lands in Montecchio from the wife of Marchese Manfredo son of the late Arduino March 8, 991.
In 1233 the Church and its diocese, known at the time as the "Plebis di Monticulo", was in the Province of Parma. Its dependent churches were the oratories of San Pietro in Barco, San Giuliano in Gaida, San Nicolò in Cavriago, Santa Maria Maddalena in Reggio Emilia and a chapel in Campegine. Between 1596 and 1600 the original structure was rebuilt together with the bell tower. The rectory was built in 1613 and there are signs that work was done on the stained glass at about the same time.
The Church is Tuscan in its architectural style and has a Basilica layout with a nave and two aisles; the nave is higher than the aisles and has a semi-circular bowl-shaped apse. Its façade has three doors and a low portico, and the statue of San Donnino the Martyr is set in a gabled niche above the portico. The façade has eighteenth-century stylistic features. The interior, with a sail vault, is marked out by four rectangular load-bearing columns.
The Santissimo Sacramento Chapel (Chapel of the Holy Sacrament) was painted by Augusto Mussini (Fra' Paolo da Reggio), in 1903. The altar-piece shows San Donnino, painted on canvas in the 18th century by J. B. Le Bel. The inlaid wood choir stall however dates from the 19th century and is the work of the Brindani cabinet makers of Montecchio. The bell tower stands at the same point as that identified by the original plans for the church and was completed in 1948. The Church has recently acquired a XV-century painting following lengthy and careful restoration work by Elisabetta Margini, a restorer from San Polo-born restorer.
]]>Via Veneto - 42027 Montecchio Emilia
Phones 0039 0522 861861 - 861864 - Library
biblioteca@comune.montecchio-emilia.re.it
Visitare Montecchio
Montecchio Emilia
By car
From Reggio Emilia take the Provincial road to Montecchio.
By train
From the train station of Reggio Emilia, TPER train Reggio-Ciano d'Enza up to Barco then bus n. 94
By bus
From Piazzale Europa bus n.94
It was subsequently owned by Cavezzi family, then in the nineteenth century, by Pampari and Cantoni families.
The palace has been owned by the Municipality of Montecchio Emilia since 1983.
The palace is the best preserved of the old town: its uniqueness stems from the fact that the owners, especially those of recent generations have never made changes to the original.
The building belongs to the type of "court houses"; in origin it had a larger number of rooms, and now it has two floors and an attic, which open onto a porch and a small inner courtyard; the present appearance dates from the late eighteenth century.
The gallery on three levels, has sandstone columns with Corinthian capitals and central decorations, it is the element that helps to elevate the tone of the building, giving it a unique architectural value. It was added to the original building, probably in the sixteenth century.
The main staircase connects the inner courtyard to the first floor. The "Main Floor" is characterized by the succession of the interior, all rooms being connected directly without aisles, all along the building. The three dining-rooms have different decorations on plaster of the nineteenth century, they represent some of the most typical topics of that time (still life, floral and geometric patterns, false marbles, vases with flowers) and some pieces of furniture (fireplaces, canopy curtains for the windows) .
Historically, Palazzo Vicedomini Cavezzi was a meeting point of "Carbonari" movement, and of the sect "Sublime Perfect Masters" which had some very famous members, such as Antonio Pampari, Giovanni and Giuditta Sidoli. Contacts between Giuditta Sidoli and Mazzini suggest that preparatory meetings of the uprisings of 1821 against the Duke Francesco IV d'Este took place even at this residence.
Via Alfonso d'Este, 5 - 42027 Montecchio Emilia 0039 0522 861864 - Municipal Library
roccamontecchioemilia@gmail.com Montecchio Emilia Municipality - The Medieval Castle
Montecchio Emilia Castle
Free tours at the opening times of the Municipal Library.
Monday, Thursday 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. and 3.00 - 6.00 p.m.; Tuesday, Friday 3.00 - 6.00 p.m.; Wednesday 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.; Saturday 9.00 a.m. 12.00. The ticket office is accessed from the south entrance (opposite side to the main door), on the first floor; it is possible to visit the Castle without a guide, but the staff will be available to illustrate the tour; free availability of adult leaflets (in Italian and English), game brochure for children and the new izi.travel App with audio guides in Italian and English.
Sunday and holidays: 3.00 - 7.00 p.m.
Guided tour: 3.00, 4.30 and 6.00 p.m.; entrance + tour Euros 4.00, reduced for children under 14 and people over 65 Euros 2.00; reservation possibility.
Unguided tour: 3.00 - 6.30 p.m. (castle closure at 7.00 p.m.); entrance Euros 2.00; free availability of explanatory panels along the tour, adult leaflets (in Italian and English), game brochure for children and the new izi.travel App with audio guides in Italian and English.
July-August 2021
Monday, Thursday
9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. and 4.00 - 7.00 p.m.
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday
9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.
Saturday
9.00 a.m. - 12.00
Sunday and holidays
Entrance with guided tour only at 3.00, 4.30 and 6.00 p.m.
Montecchio Emilia
By car
From Reggio Emilia: Provincial road to Montecchio Emilia.
By train
From the train station of Reggio Emilia: TPER train Reggio-Ciano d'Enza to Barco, then bus No. 94.
By bus
From Reggio Emilia, Piazzale Europa: bus No. 94.
Guided tours
Sundays and holidays
3.00 p.m.
4.30 p.m.
6.00 p.m.
with start from the ticket office.
Reservation recommended.
Maximum 10 people per tour.
Compulsory use of face mask.
The original fortified centre, which was very probably built in the Matilda,era, was from at first subject to the ecclesiastical powers of Parma then passed into the hands of a local family called da Montecchio, also known as Visdomini or Vicedomini because they were given the task of running the bishop's estate. It was they who exploited the strategic importance of the place by building, in the first half of the 1200s, a well equipped fortress. In 1206 the Marquis Azzo d'Este besieged the fort without achieving its capitulation, while Giberto Da Correggio, in one of his many incursions into the territory of Parma, attacked and dismantled
the fort in Montecchio in 1317. Submission to the Da Montecchio family was interrupted in 1348 by Luchino Visconti who gave the feudal rights to the army leader Alberico da Visconti who is recorded as having commissioned the "Rotonda" and who was in turn substituted in1403 by Ottobono and Giacomo Terzi, rewarded for their merits at the service of the Dukes of Milan. The succession of sovereignties over Montecchio continued for the whole of the 15th century. In 1411 it was occupied by the Marquis Nicolo III d'Este, who gave it to Attenedolo "Sforza" in recompense for services rendered but already, in 1420, Filippo Maria Visconti managed to capture it. Only six years later Uguccione
Contrari, with the complicity of the inhabitants, occupied the manor and proclaimed himself lord of Montecchio. During his family's domination, in the first half of the century, important work was carried out on the castle to enhance the defensive structures and for the renovation of the moats. This work was coordinated by the military engineers Accorsio and Guglielmo da Fano. In 1482 the castle was once again subject to attack, organised this time by Guido Torello of Torrechiara. After the conquest of the castle he began work on the construction and fortification of ramparts, curtain walls and the moats. Between the end of the 1400s and the first half of the following century the Estensi, the new lords of Montecchio began an impressive building campaign reconstructing the defence features and eventually creating a perimeter of 1,300 metres. The new walled area, intended for urbanisation gives the old town centre its characteristic plan. In 1526 it was considered necessary to reinforce the walls with th
e building of crenellations and to repair the towers. In 1638 Duke Francesco I d'Este gave the castle to prince Luigi of the same family. When Cesare Ignazio d'Este who had been invested with the castle by Duke Francesco II died, the castle passed to the Ducal Chambers. It returned to the ducal chambers again after a brief domination by the Marquis Clemente
Bagnesi who was invested in 1771. In the course of the 18th century more work was carried out on the castle: a theatre was created in 1752, inside the gallery which connects the castle to the "Rotonda" A century later instead work was carried out on the row of porticoes giving onto the piazza. The tower, which in the 18th century reports written by the ducal engineer Lodovico Bolognini, appeared to be in poor state of repair, is at the present day visible for three quarters of its external circumference. The castle closes the west side of the urban area and is seated at the centre of a vast fortified walled area with sloping fortifications and circular ramparts at the corners. The most ancient part still visible is the keep or clock tower built to a 13th-century plan in the north-east corner while the irregular quadrilateral structure with interior courtyard can be attributed to a later date. The
clock tower stands out from the body of the castle at the same height as another minor tower on its north-west side. Both towers are equipped with window slits and ghibelline crenellations covered by a roof, It is still possible to observe parts of the city walls with the foundations of the three towers on the outer limits and remains of the moat. The city walls, of which there are still parts visible, was composed of a sloping wall with quadrangular towers at the corners There were two means of access; the "Porta Vecchia" (old door) to the south which was demolished in 1874, and the "Porta Nuova" (new door) situated at the beginning of Via Veneto towards the south ,which was demolished in 1902. The covering of the inner courtyard for arms was carried out in 1947.
By car
From Reggio Emilia take the Province Road to Montecchio Emilia.
By train
From the Reggio Emilia Railway Station take the train of the route Reggio Emilia-Ciano d'Enza until Barco, then suburban bus No. 94.
By bus
From Piazzale Europa take the suburban bus No. 94.
Halfway between Reggio Emilia and Parma, south of the Via Emilia, on the right bank of the Enza river, stands the Castle of Montecchio Emilia. Owned by the municipality, it dominates the town centre and is certainly one of the most interesting Matildic fortified buildings in the province. The date of the foundation of the Castle is unknown, but it already existed in 1114 according to a Matildic placitus, and called "Castrum vetus" in 1259. Its first nucleus probably already existed in the X century a.C. The Fortress was, in the XIII century, the subject of bitter disputes between the Bishops and the Municipality of Parma. Then the Vicedomini and important families belonging to the Visconti and Este lords took turns in the domain of the Castle. In 1426 Montecchio Emilia passed definitively under the control of the Este family and, due to its considerable strategic importance, in 1562 it was elevated to the status of Marquisate. Until the unification of Italy - with the short exception of the Napoleonic period - Montecchio followed the fate of the Estense Duchy. For centuries and until 1960, the fortress was used as a district prison.
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0522 824464
346 060 1968
info@redas.it
www.redas.it
Redas
Dance hall
Montecchio Emilia
Distance from Reggio Emilia 16 km
By car from Reggio take the Provincial road to Montecchio
From the train station: Reggio - Montecchio Emilia extra-urban public transport service
biblioteca@comune.montecchio-emilia.re
Tourist promotion, reservations and guided tours in the Medieval Castle.
Opening periods: all year
Winter
Monday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 3.00 - 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday: 3.00 - 6.00 p.m.
Wednesday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.
Thursday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 3.00 - 6.00 p.m.
Friday: 3.00 - .6.00 p.m.
Saturday: 9.00 - 12.00 a.m.
Sunday: closed
Summer
Monday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 4.00 - 6.00 p.m.
Tuesday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 09.00 - 11.00 p.m. (night opening in June and July only)
Wednesday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.
Thursday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m. / 4.00 - 7.00 p.m.
Friday: 9.00 a.m. - 1.00 p.m.
Saturday: 9.00 - 12.00 a.m.
Sunday: closed
English - French - Spanish
Montecchio Emilia
By car
From Reggio Emilia take the Provincial road to Montecchio.
By train
From the train station of Reggio Emilia, TPER train Reggio-Ciano d'Enza up to Barco then bus No. 94
By bus
From Piazzale Europa bus No. 94
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Opening times
Opening times 07:00 a.m. - 09:00 p.m.
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