Emilia-Romagna

To enter with a dog, cat or ferret you need a microchip, an EU pet passport or health certificate and a valid rabies vaccination. Mandatory registration in the regional pet register, lead at all times and a muzzle to hand. Pets allowed on trains under Trenitalia rules and in apartment buildings by law.

Rules depend on who is arriving: EU/EEA/Swiss citizens (no visa, registration with the Comune after three months), non-EU citizens for stays up to 90 days (Schengen rule, type C visa where required) and for long stays (national type D visa and a residence permit within eight working days of arrival).

Before: documents, housing, school. First week: codice fiscale, SIM, bank account. First month: residence permit if non-EU, residence, SSN registration, then the driving licence within a year. Household goods duty-free for arrivals from outside the EU, car to be re-registered.

Bologna is Italy's railway hub: high-speed lines in every direction and Trenitalia Tper regional trains. Regional integrated fare system Mi Muovo; Marconi airport with the Marconi Express monorail; smaller airports at Rimini, Parma and Forlì. Ciclovia del Sole, VENTO and Destra Po cycle routes; Apennine passes to Tuscany.

Euro, cards accepted almost everywhere, a legal cash limit. Anyone living in Italy for most of the year is tax resident and taxed on worldwide income under three IRPEF brackets; specific regimes exist for the self-employed (forfettario), inbound workers, foreign pensioners and new residents. Contributions go to INPS; annual return with the 730 or Redditi form.

Eight Aziende USL (Piacenza, Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna, Imola, Ferrara, Romagna) plus university hospital trusts and research hospitals. Regional Electronic Health Record, phone booking centre and CUPWeb, Assistance and Urgency Centres (CAU) for non-serious cases.

Non-EU pensioners enter with the elective residence visa, EU pensioners through free movement; public healthcare is accessible by compulsory or voluntary registration. Optional 7% regime on foreign income for those moving to small southern municipalities. Cheap houses in villages, services concentrated in cities.

Among the highest employment rates in Italy. Manufacturing districts along the Via Emilia (engines, machinery, packaging, ceramics, biomedical, fashion), agri-food, services and university in Bologna; strong seasonality on the Romagna Riviera and in agriculture. Job centres of the regional employment agency.

University of Bologna (Europe's oldest, multicampus with Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini), Modena and Reggio Emilia, Parma, Ferrara, plus the Cattolica and Politecnico campuses in Piacenza. Many English-taught courses in Bologna. Grants, halls and canteens managed by ER.GO, the single regional agency.

Nine provinces (one Metropolitan City), ordinary statute, capital Bologna. Two identities, Emilia and Romagna, with no administrative border. No minority language; city patron saints such as St Petronius in Bologna (4 October) and St Geminianus in Modena (31 January).

Humid continental plain: fog and frost in winter, mugginess and thunderstorms in summer; breezier Adriatic coast; Apennines with snow. High PM10 in the plain (Po basin). Floods in 2023 and 2024 (Romagna and the Bologna area); Emilia earthquake of 2012; subsidence and coastal erosion.

UNESCO sites in Ravenna (mosaics), Modena (Cathedral, Ghirlandina, Piazza Grande), Ferrara and the Po Delta, Bologna's porticoes. Romagna Riviera with tens of millions of overnight stays, Motor Valley, spas, Tuscan-Emilian Apennines and Casentino Forests. Municipal tourist tax.