Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune (municipality) of the Province of Reggio Emilia. The town is also referred to by its more official name of Reggio nell'Emilia About this sound listen (help·info). The inhabitants of Reggio nell'Emilia (called Reggiani) usually call their town by the simple name of Reggio. In some ancient maps the town is also named Reggio di Lombardia.
The old town has an hexagonal form, which derives from the ancient walls, and the main buildings are from the 16th-17th centuries. The commune's territory is totally on a plain, crossed by the Crostolo stream.




Main sights

• The Baroque Basilica della Ghiara (1597), the most important church of the city.
• The Basilica di San Prospero. Built in the 10th century and dedicated to Prosper of Reggio, a bishop of the city, it was reconstructed by Luca Corti and Matteo Fiorentini between 1514 and 1523. The façade, with eleven statues of saints and patrones, was redesigned by Giovan Battista Cattani in the mid-18th century. It includes a pleasant belfry/tower, begun in 1535 and never quite finished, with an octagonal plant. The interior of the church has a Latin cross plant, with three naves. The apse houses the splendid fresco Last Judgement, by the Bolognese artist Camillo Procaccini. Also noteworthy are the wooden choir from 1546 and the Assumption altarpiece by Tommaso Laureti and Ludovico Carracci (1602).
• The Cathedral (9th-12th century). It was reconstructed in the second half of the 16th century. It has three naves with works by Guercino, Palma the Younger, Prospero Spani and Alessandro Tiarini.
• Baptistery of Saint John the Baptist
• The church of St. Augustine. Once dedicated to Saint Apollinaris, its dedication was changed in 1268 when it was rebuilt, along with the annexed convent, by the Augustinian friars. It was restored in 1452, when the tower was also erected. The current interior dates from 1645–1666, while the façade was added in 1746.
• The small Baroque Christ's Oratory.
• The church of St. Francis.
• The church of St. George.
• The church of San Giovannino (dedicated to Saint John the Evangelist) (c. 1200). It houses Baroque paintings by Sisto Badalocchio, Lorenzo Franchi, Tommaso Sandrini, Paolo Guidotti and Tiarini.
• The church of St. Peter, designed by Giulio della Torre and built in 1625-1629. A belfry tower was added in 1765 and a façade added in 1782, while the cloister was constructed in the 16th century. The interior is in a Latin cross shape with a single nave. It houses notable Baroque paintings by Tiarini, Pietro Desani, Luca da Reggio, Camillo Gavasetti and Paolo Emilio Besenzi.
• The Baroque church of St. Philip.
• The church of St. Stephen, cited in the 11th century, when its site was outside the city walls, as a Templars' church.
• Sinagoga di Reggio Emilia
• Bishop's Palace.
• Palazzo Ancini.
• Palazzo Busetti.
• Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (1280, restored in 1432,and again in the 1920s, when its northern and western facades were embellished with Ghibelline merlons and crests of ancient Reggio's Captains and Communities. In the interior is the Sala dei Difensori, "Defenders' Room"), a wide hall once used for the council of the Reggiani people.
• Palazzo Cassoli - Tirelli.
• Palazzo Comunale (begun in 1414), with the Tricolore's Room and the Museum of the Italian Flag.
• The Torre del Bordello ("Brothel's Tower"), built in 1489, houses a museum of the Reggiani's deeds of 1796-1831.
• Palazzo Corbelli.
• Palazzo Ducale (18th century).
• Palazzo Magnani.
• Palazzo Masdoni.
• Palazzo Rangone.
• Palazzo Sacrati-Terrachini.
• Palazzo Scaruffi.
• Palazzo Tirelli.
• Palazzo Torello Malaspina.
• The Neo-Classical Teatro Municipale.