Imola: the F1 circuit and the old town
Half an hour east of Bologna sits a small town with a Formula 1 racetrack threaded through a public park, a 14th-century fortress and a two-Michelin-star kitchen. Imola packs a lot into a day.
Most people know Imola for one thing: the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, home of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix and the place where Ayrton Senna died in 1994. That's the headline draw, and it's reason enough to come. But the town also has a proper medieval centre you can walk in an hour, so a day here splits neatly into two halves: the circuit in the morning, the old town and lunch in the afternoon. It's one of the simplest day trips you can do by train from Bologna.
- From Bologna
- ~30 min by regional train
- The circuit
- Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
- Old town
- Rocca Sforzesca + San Cassiano
- Time needed
- Half to full day
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The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari
This is the reason most visitors get off the train. The circuit is unusual because it runs anticlockwise and weaves through the Parco delle Acque Minerali, so the track and the woodland are tangled together. On a normal day, when there's no race or test session, you can't just wander onto the asphalt, but you have two good ways in.
The first is the guided shuttle tour. A minibus takes a small group around the circuit with stops on the start-finish grid, the Tamburello corner and the podium, plus a look at the race control room and the historic timing tower. Tours run roughly 75 minutes and groups are kept small, so book a slot ahead rather than turning up cold. The meeting point is the info point at Piazza Senna. The shuttle involves stairs and short walks on the track, so it isn't fully step-free.
The second is the open days, when the circuit lets the public on foot or by bike for free. These don't run every week and the schedule shifts with the racing calendar, so check the official Autodromo site before you plan around one. If you happen to land on an open day, walking the pit lane and the grid yourself is the better experience.
Book the circuit shuttle tour
Guided laps of the Imola track with grid, podium and control-room stops sell out on race weekends and busy Saturdays, so reserve before you travel.
Check Imola circuit tours & ticketsThe Senna memorial and the park
You don't need a tour to reach the part that hits hardest. The Ayrton Senna monument, a bronze of the driver by sculptor Stefano Pierotti, stands in the Parco delle Acque Minerali near the Tamburello corner where he crashed during the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. The park is public and free, the monument sits in the open, and you'll usually find fresh flowers and Brazilian flags left by fans. It's a quiet, surprisingly moving spot, even if you're not a motorsport person.
The park itself is worth the stroll. It grew up around sulphur springs discovered in the 1830s and spreads over about 11 hectares of mixed native and exotic trees, wrapped on all sides by the racetrack. Come for the memorial, stay for the shade.
Local tip
The Senna monument and the Acque Minerali park are open to walk for free even when the circuit isn't running tours. If you only have a couple of hours, skip the paid shuttle, see the memorial, then head into the old town. The two halves of Imola are an easy walk apart.
The old town and the Rocca Sforzesca
Cross back toward the centre and Imola turns into a calm Emilia-Romagna market town. The standout is the Rocca Sforzesca, a squat 13th and 14th-century fortress with four round corner towers, a drawbridge and two stone courtyards. The Sforza family expanded it, it later did time as a prison, and today it holds a small museum of armour, ceramics and old furnishings. Climb the keep for a view over the rooftops and the hills behind town. Hours are seasonal, so check before you go.
From there it's a short walk to the central piazza and the Cathedral of San Cassiano, with its Baroque interior, side chapels and bell tower. The historic centre is small and flat and you can see the lot on foot in an hour. Imola also sits at the edge of the hills, so it makes a natural pairing with the painted houses of nearby Dozza, the village covered in murals, if you've got a car and a full day.
Where to eat in Imola
For a town this size, Imola punches above its weight at the table. The famous address is San Domenico, a two-Michelin-star institution open since 1970, with dining rooms that feel almost like an old English club and a cellar dug by Dominican friars 500 years ago. Its signature is the uovo in raviolo, a single large raviolo with a runny egg yolk inside. It's a serious, book-well-ahead lunch, not a casual drop-in.
If that's not the day, the centre has plenty of trattorias serving the same Emilia-Romagna classics you came to Bologna for: hand-rolled tagliatelle al ragù (the real bolognese, never spaghetti), tortellini in brodo and local Sangiovese. You're deep in the Food Valley here, so even the everyday lunches are good.
Getting there from Bologna
This is the easy part. Regional trains run between Bologna Centrale and Imola very frequently through the day, and the trip takes around 30 minutes. Buy a regional (Regionale) ticket at the station or in the Trenitalia app, validate it if you bought paper, and you're set. From Imola station the old town is a short walk and the circuit is a manageable walk or a quick local bus.
On a Grand Prix weekend everything changes: trains and the town fill up, prices jump and the circuit is closed to casual visitors. Either go for the race on purpose with tickets in hand, or pick a normal day for the relaxed version. For how the regional network fits together, see our guide to getting around Bologna and Emilia-Romagna.
Want a different flavour of day out? Imola sits among a strong field of options: the food capitals of Modena and Parma, the Renaissance streets of Ferrara, the Byzantine mosaics of Ravenna, and for the full motorsport double, the Ferrari Museum at Maranello. Browse them all on the Bologna day trips hub.