Saturday, April 27 we were still in Ravenna. We took a day trip to Dozza, a tiny town in the hills overlooking the Villa Emilia. We drove past many vineyards and orchards of various trees including Hazel nuts and kiwi fruit. Dozza has 2 main streets. We walked up one admiring all the murals painted on the walls of the homes. Starting in the mid 1900's there was a competition to paint murals. Now it is just done every two years and has become a tourist attraction. At the end of the street was the Rocca di Dozza, a monumental medieval castle. There was a square interior keep, surrounded by a round tower and a moat. The views from the top were spectacular and showed what a good defensive position the structure had.
We took the second street down hill to view the rest of the murals and had lunch at a restaurant at the edge of town.
Today, Sunday, April 28, we left our hotel and drove into the third region we will visit, Veneto. We stopped in Ferrara, a Unesco site, It is a walled city which was settled by the Estes family between 1208 and 1598. They built many of the castles and monuments still in existence today. When the last Estes male died without an heir the territory reverted to the Papal state. Therefore it avoided much of the destruction and fighting over other territories in Italy, When Italy became a united republic in 1861, Ferrara was still intact as a Renaissance city and has become a prime example of Renaissance architecture.
Unfortunately, it did rain most of the day, so we had to huddle in doorways and under porticoes to listen to our guide and look at the buildings. Impressive buildings were the Estense Castle and the cathedral, now under renovation. We walked through the narrow winding streets of the former Jewish Quarter and saw the vaulted street through which goods brought up the River Po were transported.
Later in the afternoon we were all glad to finally arrive at the Hotel alla Torre in Castelfranco Veneto.
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