Things to Do in Imola, Italy: Walking Guide

The best things to do in Imola include exploring medieval fortifications, museums, churches and palaces, as well as discovering the city’s famous motor-racing heritage. Imola is a city in Emilia-Romagna where historic streets and cultural collections meet the Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodrome. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Imola with 53 narrated places, available in 11 languages.

What to See in Imola

Imola’s sights range from noble residences and religious buildings to museums devoted to art, archaeology, resistance history and motor racing. The following places offer a useful introduction to the city.

Palazzo Sersanti

Palazzo Sersanti is a notable palace to look out for while exploring Imola. It adds a quiet architectural point of interest to a walk through the city centre.

Rocca Sforzesca

The Rocca Sforzesca, also known as the Castello di Imola, is one of the city’s most important landmarks. This medieval fortress reflects Imola’s military past and is an excellent example of military architecture from the transition between the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

Imola Cathedral and Piazza Duomo

Imola Cathedral, or the Cathedral of Saint Cassian the Martyr, is the principal Catholic place of worship in the city and the seat of the bishop of the Diocese of Imola. It received the dignity of a minor basilica on December 17, 1981, through an apostolic decree of Pope John Paul II.

Nearby, Piazza Duomo forms part of the visit to the Diocesan Museum Pius IX, offering a central square to experience alongside Imola’s ecclesiastical heritage.

Diocesan Museum Pius IX

The Diocesan Museum Pius IX, also called the Museo diocesano Pio IX, focuses on Imola’s religious heritage. It opened on May 27, 1962, and was the second ecclesiastical museum founded in Italy, after the Diocesan Museum of Bergamo.

Palazzo Tozzoni

Palazzo Tozzoni preserves the atmosphere of the noble Tozzoni family’s historic residence. Its late-Baroque character is complemented by family collections, including furnishings, household objects and personal memories connected with the people who lived there.

The palace gives the city’s museum circuit an intimate dimension: rather than presenting only individual works, it preserves details of domestic life within a historic home.

Museo San Domenico and Museo Giuseppe Scarabelli

The Museo San Domenico is dedicated to exhibitions and Imola’s art collections. Within the San Domenico complex, the Museo Giuseppe Scarabelli—also known as the Archaeological Museum—presents archaeological and natural-history finds preserved in the city.

Together, these museums connect Imola’s artistic heritage with its archaeological and natural collections.

Centro imolese documentazione Resistenza antifascista

The Centro imolese documentazione Resistenza antifascista, or CIDRA, documents antifascist resistance and contemporary history in Imola. The centre explores the city’s experience during the struggle against fascism and the Liberation.

It was established in 1983 as a cultural association through the initiative of its founder, Elio Gollini, and opened on Via dei Mille with support from the municipal administration.

Museo Checco Costa

The Museo Checco Costa is one of Imola’s places to explore the city’s connection with motor racing. It offers visitors an opportunity to spend time with exhibits connected to the area’s racing heritage.

Imola Circuit and the Grand Prix

The Enzo and Dino Ferrari Autodrome, commonly called the Imola Circuit, is a major part of Imola’s identity. The motorsport venue opened in 1953 and was later named after Ferrari founder Enzo Ferrari and his son Dino.

The circuit is driven counterclockwise, making it one of the relatively few Formula One venues to use that direction. Its history includes Formula One, motorcycle racing, endurance events and international races for single-seaters, touring cars, GT cars and sports prototypes.

The San Marino Grand Prix was held at the circuit from 1981 to 2006, running 26 times in Imola despite its name. Nelson Piquet won the first edition, while Michael Schumacher won the final race. The 1994 event is also remembered for the deaths of Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna.

Imola later hosted the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix from 2020 to 2025. The first edition took place on November 1, 2020, when Lewis Hamilton won for Mercedes ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo.

Rampante and the Ayrton Senna Memorial

Rampante is an artwork in Imola and one of the stops connected with the city’s racing story. The Ayrton Senna Memorial provides another place to reflect on the driver’s lasting association with the circuit.

Chiesa del Pio Suffragio

The Chiesa del Pio Suffragio is a church in Imola and a quiet place of worship to include while walking through the city.

Other historic religious buildings include the former Chiesa di Goccianello, a former church with a place in Imola’s architectural heritage.

Farmacia dell’Ospedale della Scaletta

The Farmacia dell’Ospedale della Scaletta is another distinctive historic stop in Imola. It fits naturally into a walk that connects the city’s palaces, churches and other preserved buildings.

Explore Imola with a Self-Guided Audio Tour

Neywo’s Imola audio guide includes three walking tours, one bus route and one bike route. Each story plays as you reach the place, at your own pace: there is no group and no schedule.

The walks are:

• Popes, Palaces and the Via Emilia: 1.77 km, 85 minutes and 12 narrated stops.
• Fortress, Convents and Opera: 1.48 km, 66 minutes and 9 narrated stops.
• Imola Circuit: Senna, Ferrari and the Grand Prix: 1.67 km, 49 minutes and 5 narrated stops.

There is also a bus route:

• TPER Line 9: Porta Montanara to the Polish Soldier: 3.6 km, 15 minutes and 5 narrated stops.

And a bike route:

• Via Emilia Churches by Bike: 5.1 km, 26 minutes and 3 narrated stops.

Download Neywo to explore Imola independently. The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, so you can follow the route at your own pace without a group or a schedule. Imola also makes a useful stop within a wider journey through Italy, with nearby destinations including Bologna, Modena and Ravenna.