Things to Do in Modena, Italy: Walking Guide

The best things to do in Modena range from Romanesque monuments and Este court history to Ferrari cars, contemporary art and covered markets. At the heart of the city, Modena Cathedral, Piazza Grande and the Torre della Ghirlandina form a UNESCO World Heritage Site, while museums and quieter churches reveal more of the city’s character. Neywo offers a free audio guide for Modena with 65 narrated places.

Modena is in Emilia-Romagna, a region known for historic cities and cultural traditions. Its compact center makes it especially suitable for exploring on foot, with major landmarks, museums and former ducal buildings gathered within a walkable area.

What to see in Modena

Modena Cathedral and Piazza Grande

Begin with Modena Cathedral, or the Duomo di Modena, one of Europe’s most important Romanesque buildings. Construction began on the site of Saint Geminianus’s tomb, where two earlier churches had stood from the fifth century onward. Designed by the architect Lanfranco, the cathedral was consecrated in 1184 and remains the principal church of the Archdiocese of Modena and Nonantola.

The cathedral is dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary and Saint Geminianus, Modena’s patron saint. His relics are preserved in the crypt in a simple fourth-century urn, covered by a stone slab and supported by reused columns. Together with Piazza Grande and the Torre della Ghirlandina, the cathedral forms Modena’s UNESCO-listed medieval ensemble and is also included in the Council of Europe’s Transromanica Cultural Route.

Ducal Palace of Modena

The Ducal Palace, or Palazzo Ducale, tells the story of the Este Dukes and the former Duchy of Modena and Reggio. The Este Dukes lived here from 1452 to 1859, and the palace served as the seat of their court during the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.

The building is Baroque. Today, part of the Italian Military Academy occupies the palace, which also accommodates the Geophysical Observatory of Modena.

Galleria Estense

For art in Modena, visit the Galleria Estense on the top floor of the Palazzo dei Musei, overlooking St. Augustine Square. Its central collection belonged to the d’Este family, rulers of Modena, Reggio and Ferrara from 1289 to 1796.

The displays include frescoes and oil paintings, marble, polychrome and terracotta sculptures, musical instruments, coins, curiosities and decorative antiques. The works once owned by the d’Este dukes are joined by pieces acquired during the last two centuries.

Museo Enzo Ferrari

The Museo Enzo Ferrari connects Modena with the life and work of Enzo Ferrari, founder of the Ferrari automobile marque. The complex combines his father’s former house and workshop with a modern exhibition building designed by the architectural practice Future Systems.

The large gallery presents a permanent collection of Ferrari automobiles, including rare cars from the 1950s, Formula One racing cars and more recent sports cars. Cars by Alfa Romeo and Maserati are also included. The exhibition was substantially renewed and updated in February 2014.

Santa Maria della Pomposa and the Museo Muratoriano

The church of Santa Maria della Pomposa has a long connection with Modena and with the scholar Ludovico Antonio Muratori. A religious building stood on the site by 1153, when it was near the edge of the city walls. In 1716, Duke Rinaldo I granted the church to Muratori, his librarian.

Inside, works include canvases illustrating the Life of Saint Sebastian by Bernardino Cervi and an Enthroned Virgin with Saints Sebastian, Roch, and Geminianus by Giovanni Boulanger. The latter is a copy of a Correggio painting now in Dresden. Muratori was buried here in 1922 beneath a monument by Ludovico Pogliaghi.

The nearby Museo Muratoriano continues the story through a museum dedicated to Muratori’s life and work.

Galleria Civica di Modena

Housed in Palazzo Santa Margherita, the Galleria Civica di Modena focuses on modern and contemporary art. The gallery began in 1959 and has been based in this building since 1995.

Its collections include more than four thousand drawings, mainly by Italian artists of the twentieth century, and over three thousand eight hundred photographs by major contemporary photographers from around the world. Since 1999, it has also held the Don Bettelli Collection on free loan from the Archiepiscopal Curia of Modena, focusing mainly on international graphic art from the second half of the twentieth century.

Palazzo Santa Margherita also contains the Museum of Plaster Figurines, or Museo della Figurina, dedicated to collectible cards.

Museo Lapidario Estense

The Museo Lapidario Estense occupies the ground-floor quadriportico of the Palazzo dei Musei. Its carved stones, inscriptions, monuments and fragments preserve memories from across the region and several centuries.

Francesco IV d’Este established the museum in 1828. The collection grew from Este holdings, including objects from Alfonso II d’Este’s antiquarian collection in Ferrara and the Roman collection of Cardinal Rodolfo Pio da Carpi. Later additions included archaeological remains from the provinces of Modena and Reggio Emilia.

Among the exhibits are stelae, inscriptions, reliefs, Roman sarcophagi produced in Ravenna during the second and third centuries, and funerary monuments transferred from Modena Cathedral and other city churches.

Mercato Albinelli

Mercato Albinelli, also known as Mercato Coperto Albinelli, is a covered market in Modena’s historic center along Via Albinelli. It is recognized as a monument of national historical interest in Italy and offers another perspective on the city’s everyday heritage.

Tempio Monumentale San Giuseppe

Near the former Este Ducal Gardens, now the University of Modena Botanical Gardens, stands the Tempio Monumentale San Giuseppe. The church is also a memorial to the 7,237 Modenese soldiers who died in the First World War.

Their names are inscribed in gilded letters in the crypt. The cornerstone was laid on December 8, 1923, and the church was inaugurated on November 3, 1929. Designed by Domenico Barbanti and Achille Casanova, it has a Greek-cross plan beneath a dome 15.8 metres in diameter, with four octagonal corner towers. The façade was completed in 1931 with engraved bas-reliefs by Adamo and Rubens Pedrazzi.

Other places to include

Several smaller stops add variety to a self-guided route through Modena. Palazzina Vigarani is a distinctive city building, while Teatro Storchi is one of the city’s theatres. The Fontana della ninfa and Fontana dei due fiumi—the Fountain of the Two Rivers—provide notable architectural details along the way.

The Archbishop’s Palace, Chiesa di Sant’Eufemia and Museo Universitario Gemma are further historic and cultural stops. The Chiesa di Sant’Eufemia forms part of a route that connects Modena’s religious heritage with its university collections.

Explore Modena with a self-guided walking tour

A Modena self-guided walking tour lets you discover the city without joining a group or following a fixed timetable. Neywo has four walking tours and one bus route in Modena:

• Piazza Grande: Modena’s Romanesque Heart — 1.97 km, 90 minutes and 11 narrated stops.
• Dukes, Opera and Ferrari — 2.21 km, 90 minutes and 9 narrated stops.
• The Palazzo dei Musei and Old Modena’s West Side — 1.81 km, 79 minutes and 10 narrated stops.
• Baroque Churches and Quiet Cloisters — 1.86 km, 72 minutes and 9 narrated stops.
• Line 4A: Foro Boario to Teatro Storchi — a 2.9 km bus route lasting 12 minutes, with 4 narrated stops.

The app tells the story of each place as you reach it, at your own pace, with no group and no schedule. Narration is available in 11 languages, making Neywo a practical free walking tour alternative for exploring Modena independently.

Download Neywo and explore Modena at your own pace

Download Neywo to turn your visit into a free audio-guided exploration of Modena. Choose one of the four walks or the Line 4A bus route, follow the route at your own rhythm and listen when you arrive at each narrated place.

With 65 narrated places across the city, Neywo helps connect Modena’s cathedral, ducal history, museums, churches and Ferrari heritage without requiring a group or a schedule. After Modena, continue exploring nearby Maranello, Parma or Bologna.