Early departure in the morning from Verona, escorted by our guide, to NONANTOLA, where there is one of the most interesting and once powerful Benedictine abbeys in Northern Italy, still today a bishopric that it shares with nearby Modena. With the local guide who will follow us throughout the day, we will visit the monastery complex, which can still be visited today, with the Romanesque-Lombard church of San Silvestro and portal with sculptures by the famous Wiligelmo, a beautiful underground crypt, while the preserved parts of the convent offer original rooms from the Romanesque period of the XII^ century and which today house the Abbey Museum. Then the abbey garden that occupies the place of the ancient cloister. 

Afterwards we reach the town of VIGNOLA, famous in late spring for its blackberry and large cherries. Here we will visit the interesting medieval fortress built by the lord of the place, the Boncompagni family, vassals of the Este family. It is an imposing and compact 400-esque fortress with corner towers that preserves rooms with heraldic figures and a chapel decorated with late-Gothic frescoes by an unknown Ferrara artist. At the end of the visit we will have some free time for lunch.

In the early afternoon we will reach the town of SASSUOLO, famous for its ceramics and for the football team that currently plies the stadiums of Serie A. Here we will visit the Doge's Palace, the summer residence of the Este Dukes, who had recently moved to Modena from the ancient capital of Ferrara, and who here drew rest away from the heat and stress of the city. It is a masterpiece of Italian Baroque, recently restored and open to the public, all decorated with trompe l'oeil walls and optical and perspective illusion, among the best in Europe, and recently restored. After the visit, take a break for a good coffee or an ice cream in the central Piazza Garibaldi before reaching our