The Via degli Asini in Brisighella: A Street That Lives Inside the Houses

There are streets you walk along and streets you step into. The Via degli Asini in Brisighella belongs to the second kind: a covered, raised walkway that runs hidden along the first floor of a row of houses, lit by a sequence of arches all different from one another, wide and narrow, tall and low. You walk indoors yet overlooking the village, in a warm half-light that changes with every step. It's one of those places that resemble nowhere else, and precisely for this reason they stay with you.

The name tells its story. Once this was home to the birocciai, the carters who used their little donkeys to haul the gypsum quarried above the village. The stables opened beneath the arches, the dwellings sat on the upper floors, and this street was passageway, shelter and ancient line of defence all at once. Its origins go back to the Middle Ages, when the walkway served as a rampart guarding the surrounding hills.

The beauty of it is that Brisighella remains, for now, off the main flows. While Emilia-Romagna's art cities fill up, here you walk at your own pace, step into the workshops, sit down in the square without a queue. Climbing towards the Rocca or the Clock Tower, your gaze takes in the Lamone valley and the rows of cypresses. The Via degli Asini is the secret heart of it all: a few metres that are worth the journey.

To enjoy it in solitude, avoid the long holiday weekends and the hot months. Early spring and late autumn offer soft light on the arches and a village almost entirely to yourself. Go on foot, unhurried, and let the half-light be your guide.

Related guides: Alternatives to Venice: cities and villages on the water far from the crush · Emilia-Romagna by train: a slow itinerary along the Via Emilia without a car.

Getting there

Brisighella has a convenient railway station on the Faenza–Florence line, a short walk from the old town and connected to Faenza in just a few minutes. By car you arrive by climbing the Lamone valley from Faenza, with several free car parks near the village. The reference airports are Bologna and Rimini.