Discover Sogliano al Rubicone: Cheese, Museums and Trails

Sogliano al Rubicone combines a strong cheese-making tradition with museums that make history and craftsmanship tangible, as well as a network of paths for walks. This gives you a destination that brings together culinary discoveries, culture and landscape through clearly defined themes. The town is particularly interesting if you would like to discover regional specialities not in isolation, but in connection with their production and the landscape of the Rubicone.

Cheese, festivals and local crafts

The Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano lies at the heart of the culinary tradition. It is considered a gastronomic symbol of Sogliano al Rubicone and received the „Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano DOP“ PDO designation in 2009. The artisanal aspect of this speciality is continued by the soglianian Infossatori, who have preserved the traditional practice of ageing cheese by storing it in pits over time.

The Fiera del Formaggio di Fossa takes place every year on the penultimate Sunday in November, the last Sunday in November and the first Sunday in December. At the Fiera, in addition to DOP Formaggio di Fossa di Sogliano al Rubicone, you can taste Savor, Saba, honey, cured meats and the earthenware vessels from Montetiffi. In the workshop of Le Teglie di Montetiffi, you can also observe the various production stages of the different formats.

Walks by springs and along circular trails

The landscape can also be explored via specific trails. The Sentieri dell’Alto Rubicone form a 156-kilometre network of 16 interconnected circular routes linking different places. This provides a choice of routes of varying lengths that can be combined with one another. The sources of the Fiumicino/Rubicone and the Urgon are easily reached on walks along routes 4 and 5 of the Sentieri dell’Alto Rubicone.

The sources of the Fiumicino/Rubicone and the Urgon are located in the area of Sogliano al Rubicone. A tributary of the Torrente Uso also rises near Tornano. These waterways give the walks a clear connection to the landscape and link the themes of water, trails and the places of the Alto Rubicone, without losing sight of the destination's culinary side.

Museums and buildings with regional connections

The Benedictine Abbey of San Leonardo was built from hewn stone in the mid-11th century. The Torre Civica, dating from 1867, is attached to the Chiesa del Suffragio. The Museo del Formaggio di Fossa offers direct access to the history of local cheese production. It displays cheese-making equipment, tools used to store Formaggio di Fossa, ageing pits and a prison from the time of the Malatesta family.

The Museo Leonardo da Vinci e la Romagna presents observations, documents, research and drawings that Leonardo da Vinci produced during his journey through Romagna at the beginning of the 16th century. At the MUSO – Museo del Sottosuolo, an interactive touchscreen table provides orientation for the tour through the museum. The cultural spectrum therefore extends from medieval architecture through the Malatesta period and the history of regional crafts to Leonardo's journey through Romagna.

For further destinations in the same region, you can explore Forlimpopoli, Montecchio, Borghi, Predappio, Castrocaro Terme, Portico E San Benedetto, Cesena and Longiano.

For the higher-level travel overview: Forlì-Cesena.