Couple's weekend in the Romagna hinterland: villages and workshops

You've got two free days and the idea of spending them queuing along the seafront doesn't convince you. Above Rimini, a few kilometres from the coast, there's another Romagna: hills, Malatesta fortresses, stone villages where by seven in the evening the loudest thing is your own footsteps. As a couple it works precisely because it's less organised than the Riviera. But it needs a little planning, or the weekend turns into a tour of shuttered doors.

Here's which villages actually fit into two days, how to alternate them without spending the whole trip in the car, and why slotting in an artisan workshop changes the weekend more than you'd expect. If you're thinking about the coast instead, we covered that in our couple's weekend on the Romagna Riviera: this guide goes the other way, up into the hills.

What changes compared to the coast

The Rimini hinterland is compact: the villages sit a few kilometres apart and in one day you can string two or three together without rushing. The flip side is that the rhythm is that of small towns, not of a seafront open until late. Four concrete differences — worth knowing before you set off.

• Opening hours are shorter. Fortresses and museums close early and several have a weekday closing day: check the town council website before getting in the car.
• Sunday is the hardest day for workshops. Many artisan studios work by appointment and at weekends open only for activities already booked: if you want to make something with your hands, arrange it in advance.
• Public transport is designed for residents. Services towards the villages thin out at weekends: if you don't have a car, check local timetables before building your plan.
• Dinner happens early. Up in the hills kitchens close sooner than on the coast: finding a table at half past nine is not a given, so book ahead.

The villages that fit well into two days

Santarcangelo di Romagna

This is the first step up into the hinterland: the easiest to reach and the liveliest in the evening, which makes it a convenient base to sleep in. Beneath the old town there's a parallel city: over 150 artificial tufa caves dug into the subsoil, spread across eight levels. Above ground the village is made of climbing lanes, arches and small shops, and it's perfect on foot: what to see and where to step inside is in our guide to Santarcangelo.

San Leo and the upper Valmarecchia

Going up the valley the landscape changes face: crags, badlands and the outline of the San Leo fortress perched on its rock, today a museum. One detail explains a lot about this area: San Leo, together with six other upper Valmarecchia municipalities — Casteldelci, Maiolo, Novafeltria, Pennabilli, Sant'Agata Feltria and Talamello — only moved from the Marche region to Emilia-Romagna with law 117 of 2009, in force from 15 August of that year. It has always been borderland, and you can see it in the architecture as much as in the cooking. To plan the climb, there's our guide to San Leo.

Val Conca: Montefiore Conca and Gradara

To the south opens the other valley, far less travelled. The Malatesta fortress of Montefiore Conca stands on a promontory from which, on clear days, the view takes in the coast from Fano to Ravenna: it was built around 1337 and stayed in Malatesta hands until 1458. A little lower down, across the regional border, is Gradara, in the province of Pesaro and Urbino: castle and village are tied to the love story of Paolo and Francesca, which is roughly the most couple-shaped thing you can put in an itinerary.

How to fit two days together without rushing

The rule that works best for two people is one important thing per day, with everything else orbiting around it. Here's a realistic plan, to adapt to whichever valley you choose.

Saturday

1. Morning: arrive and walk around Santarcangelo, with the underground visit checked and booked in advance.
2. A slow lunch in town, with no anxiety about leaving straight away.
3. Afternoon: the artisan workshop. It's the heart of the weekend — two or three hours in which you make something together instead of watching it.
4. Evening: dinner in a nearby village and an early return. Up in the hills the night winds down sooner, and that's not a flaw.

Sunday

1. Morning: the climb up to San Leo or to Montefiore Conca, depending on the valley you chose the day before.
2. Lunch with a view, booked: on Sundays the good tables go early.
3. Afternoon: a short walk among badlands and olive groves, then head home. Nothing else scheduled — this is where people most often overdo it.

Why a hands-on workshop works for two

The classic romantic weekend puts you facing each other: across a restaurant table, at the bar, on the hotel sofa. A workshop puts you side by side, with something to do. It's a small difference that changes the tone of the whole afternoon, phones included: nobody looks at them, because your hands are covered in clay.

And the point isn't to get good at it. The point is that neither of you starts good: you get it wrong together, you laugh at the same disasters, you pass each other the tools. In the end you go home with two lopsided objects you'll actually use — two mugs, two bowls, two plates — and every time they take you back there. A paid restaurant bill doesn't do that.

• It works in any weather: if it rains, the weekend isn't ruined.
• It lasts two or three hours, so it doesn't swallow the whole day.
• It leaves you a story to tell, not your fiftieth sunset photo.
• The memory stays in the house as an object, and you use it every morning.

How booking works on Handsome

Every workshop has its date, time and address written on its page: you know where you're going before you leave, which in the hinterland is no small thing. The rest works like this.

• There's no commission on the workshop takings: the payment goes directly into the account of the Maker who welcomes you.
• You book with a deposit — 10 euros on group workshops — and settle the balance on site on the day.
• The 0.50 euro per place Booking Guarantee is already included in the round figure: what you read is what you pay.
• Free cancellation up to 48 hours before: if the weekend falls through, you're not out of pocket.