Novi di Modena: Street Art, Wetlands and History

Novi di Modena is a typical town in the lower Modena plain. The town offers several distinct themes to help you plan your trip: street art along a cycling route, wetlands and buildings from different eras. You can decide whether murals, landscapes or architecture best match your interests.

Street Art and Wetlands

The street-art cycling route runs mainly through Parco della Resistenza and Parcobaleno. Along the way, it features murals created between 2016 and 2018. The seven named artists include Ericailcane, Bastardilla, Giorgio Bartocci, Luca Zamoc, Basik, Mat! and Francesco Bevini. Another connection to mural art comes from artist murals created in Novi di Modena in 2016 and 2017 as part of the Totart Festival.

Southeast of the town centre, the wetlands route passes through a landscape shaped by rice fields and artificial lakes. The lakes are used for intensive fish farming, sport fishing and waterfowl hunting. A colony of various heron species, with more than 150 nests, breeds in the “Laghetti Borsari” nature area. Novi di Modena therefore offers a range of natural landscapes: a route shaped by lakes and rice fields, and an area distinguished by its heron colony.

The protected Coccapana and Resega hedgerows are also among the town’s natural attractions. Each is named after the locality where it is situated. Both hedgerows are protected at regional level and have been included in the European ZPS register of protected areas because of their historical and natural significance. Together with the wetlands, they reveal another side of the landscape, beyond the murals and architectural history.

Buildings and Historical Milestones

The present-day Parrocchiale di San Michele Arcangelo dates from the mid-17th century and was built on the ancient Pieve di Santa Maria Maddalena, which dates back to 980. Remains of the polygonal apse from the pre-Romanesque foundation and the semicircular apse from the Romanesque foundation are still visible. The different shapes reveal two construction phases: the polygonal apse has several sides, while the semicircular one follows a rounded outline.

The Torre dell’Orologio in the centre of Novi di Modena is a reconstruction of an older 20th-century building. The tower houses a bell cast by Alberto III Pio. The municipality is currently rebuilding the Torre dell’Orologio. The current reconstruction and the history of the older building refer to two different periods.

On the outskirts of town, near Ponte Garbese, stands Villa Facci, built from 1805 onwards. The elegant palace contains several richly frescoed rooms. In the hamlet of Sant’Antonio in Mercadello stands Palazzo Pio di Savoia: a rectangular fortification dating from around the mid-15th century, with four corner towers. The Teatro Sociale in Novi di Modena was built between 1923 and 1929. The buildings therefore represent different forms and periods, from a fortified complex to an early-20th-century theatre.

Archaeological finds in the Novi di Modena area confirm the existence of a settlement from Roman times. The first historical source to mention “Castrum Nove” dates from 979. In the 13th century, the castle of Novi di Modena took the form of a proper fortress. These clues mark different periods: archaeological traces of a settlement, an early written reference and the later fortress.

Discover more destinations: Panzano, Riolunato, Fanano, Sassuolo, Vignola, Castelnuovo Rangone, Ponte Gombola, Savignano Sul Panaro.

For the main travel overview: Modena.