Emilia Romagna: a new layout for the Gonzaga Museum in Novellara

News 2025 of Novellara, in the province of Reggio Emilia, is the inauguration on 6 April of the new layout of the Gonzaga Museum, with the opening of the last three rooms of the museum itinerary. The inauguration day will begin with the extraordinary opening of the cultural venues inside the Rocca dei Gonzaga. The Emilian city appears for the first time in the chronicles of Latin historians, who credit the origin of the settlements in the territory to the Gauls, who invaded and occupied northern Italy in VI BC. However, it was the Gonzaga family, from 1371 to 1728, that determined its fate. The County of Novellara became a sort of city-state, independent thanks to the diplomatic and military skills of the Gonzagas: the Rocca was the symbol of this power. Built at the end of the 14th century for defensive purposes, the imposing fortress was later transformed into a noble residence in the 16th century. Inside you can visit the Municipal Vinegar Works and the Permanent Exhibition of Rural Civilisation.

Novellara's nerve centre is the Renaissance Piazza Unità d'Italia, overlooked by the Church of Santo Stefano built at the behest of Alfonso I Gonzaga in 1567. Not far away is the Church of the Beata Vergine del Popolo founded in 1704. Novellara was also the birthplace of Vivaldo Poli, one of the greatest post-war artists in Reggio Emilia. Leaving the inhabited centre, one can encounter the territory of the 'Reggiolo and Novellara Valleys', characterised by a succession of canals, ditches, drainage ditches, basins and cultivated fields, ideal for group walks or solo bike rides. Today, these valleys form the backdrop to evocative landscapes, where flora and fauna thrive, which visitors can admire during a walk or a bike ride.