Cesenatico (Emilia-Romagna, Italy): what to do in the bike-friendly beach resort of Cesenatico
Italy's Emilia-Romagna has a sun-seeker holiday riviera, Riviera Romagnola, on the Adriatic coast, which stretches from the town of Ravenna down to Rimini.
They are the heaven for Italian ballroom dancing, crazy nights of fun in discos, beach volleyball tournaments, cycling enthusiasts and sailing boat fans. Cesenatico, Rimini, Riccione and Cattolica are the beach resorts towns that come up all the time.
However, since the eighties when the crazy summers of the Italian Riviera holidays were very popular, the feeling today is that the Italian Romagna lifestyle have been changing.
Maybe I've changed: the nights on the disco have lost its edge, and have given way to healthier interests such as renting a bike and pedaling the kilometer-long avenues that runs alongside all the Riviera Romagnola beach resorts.
As a good Venetian, to me the Riviera Romagnola brings to mind more the long-standing seafaring traditions, especially the one I discovered cycling along the pictoresque Porto Canal designed by Leonardo da Vinci in the colourful beach town of Cesenatico.
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| Cesenatico's Porto Canal by Leonardo da Vinci |
Cesenatico is considered the capital of the Italian family beach vacations, but for me it was the gateway to a fantastic early summer journey through the beautiful history of seafaring.
So before setting off to discover the fun side of Cesenatico, I spent some time exploring and cycling around Cesenatico's Porto Canal in this small town squeezed between Ravenna in the north and Riccione in the south.
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| Lovely Porto Canal boats in Cesenatico |
To explore the city we got on our bikes provided by out hotel and wandered through the wide streets, we watched the fishermen at the fish market auctioning off boxes of freshly caught sea cicadas. We ended up walking across the sandy beach for my first dip of Adriatic Sea after the long winter months. And who can forget the delicious local fresh fish?
Unlike the more chaotic nearby seaside towns, Cesenatico has a different charm: a place to stroll along Leonardo da Vinci's canal and enjoy a good glass of wine while watching the sails of the bragozzi boats quiver in the summer breeze.
In this brief guide you will find some ideas on things to do or see in Cesenatico in the area of Leonardo's Canal.
WHAT TO DO IN CESENATICO
VISIT THE ONLY OPEN-AIR FLOATING MARITIME MUSEUM IN ITALY ON THE LEONARDO DA VINCI'S CANAL
If you want to get an idea of what the sea meant and still means for Cesenatico, you can only head to the wonderful Maritime Museum on Port Canal: I could spend whole mornings there admiring the ancient traditional boats!
We crossed Cesenatico by bike from our hotel to reach this maritime place where you can see first hand the Italian seafaring tradition: the ancient sailing boats are moored side by side with the modern fishing boats which still go out fishing every day.
THE MARITIME MUSEUM IN CESENATICO
Cesenatico's Maritime Museum is the only one of this kind in Italy and one of the few in the world: it displays 11 ancient boats which have full sets of sails. During the summer when good weather allows so, the sails are hoisted every day as a sign of a unique sailing heritage that is part of Cesenatico's DNA.
The Maritime Museum has two sections: one outside on the Leo's canal, and one inside where you can see actually lots of seafaring and marine objects and read the story about seafaring in Cesenatico. I
TYPE OF ANCIENT BOATS ON DISPLAY
You cannot understand Cesenatico's soul if you do not come here.
The boats are part of the maritime tradition of the Adriatic sea from the late nineteenth century to the mid-twentieth century.
When in English you would just say "boat", they you use "trabaccolo", "bragozzo", "topo", "battana", etc. each boat with a special history and features!
Read on to learn more about the type of boats called "bragozzo" and "trabaccolo"!
LEARN MORE ON THE "BRAGOZZO" BOAT
I fell in love with this "bragozzo" boat: wonderful wide boats, without a keel, with a flat bottom and with a huge rudder. They were made out of huge oaks used for the hull and their planking was made out of pine trees. A whole Italian forest would make a "bragozzo" boat!
The "bragozzo" is easily recognized because of its squat shape, the two masts and its 12-metre length! The wonderful thing about these old fishing boats or cargo vessels was that a band was left on the boat side to paint an angel, or a Madonna for religious or superstitious reasons.
The sails were just stunning: the sails were painted using the colors which would be easily found: ocher, brick red, black and sometimes blue, green and brown, and after painting, they would be dried in the sun, washed in sea water and dried again.
LEARN MORE ON THE "TRABACCOLO" BOAT
In Port Canal you can see another type of boat that had a widespread seafaring use from Venice to Puglia: the "Trabaccolo" boat.
The "trabacca" that gives the boat the name was a tent as the sails recall its shape. The boat concept and idea goes back to 1400s and identifies a very slow but reliable boat, used mainly as a cargo ship.
They can be recognized by the rounded bow and stern; they were very large with roomy holds to stow fish or goods.
These essels too had two masts, a bowsprit and a beautifully colored stern. It was very long: up to 20 meters!
The interesting thing is that two painted or glued eyes on the boat starboard bow were used to avert evil influences or disasters such as storms, boat capsizing or illnesses on board, and showing that these boats had a soul and were living creatures for the local sailors!
LEARN MORE ON THE SAILS ON THE ANCIENT BOATS
The sails were decorated with symbols that belonged to different fishing families: a custom that became a real "seafaring heraldry" and boats could be spotted from the distance because of the special symbols and colours.
REMEMBER THE SEAFARERS AND THE TRAVELLERS AT CESENATICO'S PATRON SAINT JAMES' CHURCH
Along the Port Canal opposite to the Maritime Museum you cannot miss a white and salmon coloured (coincidentally!) church: it is Cesenatico's patron saint church which dates back to 1324, but it was rebuilt in 1763 because of earthquakes and war bombs.
The Church is dedicated to San Giacomo (Saint James), who was a fisherman, and then became a fisherman of souls and in his honour on 25th July a huge feast is held every year.
EAT ALONG CESENATICO'S PORTO CANAL IN EX-FISHERMAN HOUSES
My grandmother used to say that the sea air makes you hungry and so we stopped to eat along the Port Canal which has many cafes and trattorias set in the former colourful fishermen's houses for all tastes and budgets (there is even a Michelin starred restaurant).
The typical dishes are all seafood-based such as mussels and clams in stew, mixed fried fish from the Adriatic sea, passatelli pasta in fish broth and other traditional recipes are all part of Cesenatico cuisine.
Quite a lovely location to continue admiring the boats!
READ A BEAUTIFUL POEM AT MARINO MORETTI'S HOUSE MUSEUM
Along the Port Canal, next door to the Maritime Museum, there is an interesting attraction, the house where the Italian poet Marino Moretti was born: Casa Museo Marino Moretti. A poet in a seaside town could only be called that, Marino!
Born at the end of 1800, he never completed his studies but he wrote a lot. He defined himself as the poet who "had nothing to say", but I found really interesting about him is that he would write just with his pencil as if moved by a sense of insecurity.
Marino Moretti who is one of the "Italian Twilight Poets" wrote a beautiful but nostalgic poetry: After. In the poem he sounds sad for the end of something or because he doen't know what will happen to his house and the people in it.
What strikes me is that the connection with his beloved house in Cesenatico, which looks precisely at Leonardo's canal, is very strong: the landscape in his poems is idealized and is that of the Italian Romagna province, with poignant memories: the old corners of his town, the furniture of the house, the photographs, and the prints.
I can understand him: this land, Emilia-Romagna, steals your heart!
His house is now an important study center for Italian literature of the twentieth century!
"AFTER" BY MARINO MORETTI
I don't know what will happen to this house,
if it will be sold,
if it will be knocked down,
if it even becomes another home.
Other doors and windows, other coping,
other swallows and other windowsills,
other rests of wings.
Other boss, other servants, other families
like other things dear to me or discare.
More books, other food, other dishes,
other beds, other coffins.
What then will remain of mine
by chance, in these rooms, or out of spite?
Who knows, maybe a stool,
a stool from when I was a child
or an incomprehensible echo, a rustle.
Another beggar goes from house to house,
from step to step,
and another mother calls another Marino
that at another hour he comes home.
(Marino Moretti, from Last Summer, 1971)
LEO'S PORTO CANAL AND THE BORGIAS
These wonderful boats on show, resulting from great naval engineering, are moored in the place that represents best the maritime engineering acumen: Port Canal in Cesenatico or what I call "Leo's Canal".
Oh, yes, Leo is Leonardo da Vinci who designed this canal in 1502: at that time he worked for Cesare Borgia, the son of Pope Alexander VI.
The pope wanted Leonardo to check the civil and military infrastructures of the new duchy of Romagna. He needed a clever engineer to build rivers and bridges to dominate the reluctant towns and to make them stronger once they had been taken during the pope's expansionary drive.
On his visit to Cesenatico, Leonardo made two drawings of Cesenatico - both in the "L Code", stored in Paris in the Library of the Institut de France. You can actually see the drawings here and here.
If you asked me why Da Vinci's drawings have ended up in France, well, ask Napoleon😄
ENJOY CYCLING TO THE TRABUCCHI, CESENATICO'S FISHING SHACKS
If continue cycling straight from the Port Canal towards the beach, you will find traditional buildings perched on the sea: the so-called "trabucchi".
They look like houses but they are not.
They are a huge wooden construction consisting of a platform anchored to the rock by pine logs, and it is a structure that juts out to the sea.
From this platform, two "antennas" extend suspended above the water, and support a huge fishing net which is called "trabocchetto".
That's right: they are fishing nets!
Well, nowadays the "trabucchi", which are privately-owned, have been turned into restaurants and bars (most of them): a romantic walk along the waterfront where the "trabucchi" are, or just go there for an aperitivo watching the sunset are just amazing!
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| Cycling holidays in Cesenatico |
CYCLING CESENATICO AWAY
Cesenatico is a great place for those who love the bike: the long boulevards and almost completely flat cycling routes make it easy for anyone to enjoy the town. You don't need the car or the bus to visit the town though drivers may not always be so corteous to the bikers.
In a couple of days, Paolo and I, who are not certain of cycling champions, went everywhere. The cycling paths of Cesenatico and its surroundings are ideal for all calves and legs: the routes in the city and also outside the city towards nearby towns like Gatteo, Cervia or Igea Marina are easily accessible.
And for those who are more trained there is the "Gran Fondo Nove Colli" cycling competition, which every year attracts more than 10,000 participants from all over the world!
A very famous Italian cyclist was brought up in Cesenatico, Marco Pantani who had an unlucky life which ended up in traged.
If you are into Italian cycling, do visit the Spazio Pantani, the Marco Pantani museum that retraces the famous career of the Italian "Pirate", that's how he was nicknamed
IF YOU LOVE BEACH HOLIDAYS, DON'T MISS THESE POSTS:
VALENCIA (SPAIN): 2-DAY CULTURE, RESTAURANTS AND BEACH ITINERARY (ON FOOT AND BY BIKE)
PARADISE CAN'T WAIT: BEST THINGS TO SEE AND DO IN SEYCHELLES IN 2 WEEKS
HOW TO REACH AND TO MOVE AROUND CESENATICO
BY CAR: from Venice it took me 3 hours (traffic aside) via Bologna on State Road SS309. Here
You can also drive on A1 motorway, Milan-Naples through Emilia which links to:
Padua from Bologna via A13; La Spezia via A15 from Parma or via A14 down to Bari.
BY TRAIN: from Venezia Santa Lucia either via Rimini, Ferrara, Bologna (change train), it takes about 4 hours. Here
The Italian railway provides connections via Trenitalia or Italo.
BY BUS: you can also reach Cesenatico by bus. Here
BY BIKE: for Cesenatico by bike, here
MORE INFORMATION ON CESENATICO
Hope you have enjoyed Cesenatico (Emilia-Romagna, Italy): what to do in the bike-friendly beach resort of Cesenatico!
Thanks for reading.
Arrivederci!
MarcoPoloSpirit
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