Italy has 20 different geographical regions, and Emilia-Romagna—in the north—is both wealthy and geographically diverse. Bordered by six other regions that also produce wine—Marche, Tuscany, Liguria, Piemonte, Lombardy, and Veneto—Emilia-Romagna is named after a Roman road that followed the foot of the Apennine Mountains, named Via Aemelia, as well as Romagna, a once capital region of the waning Roman empire that was then based in the city of Ravenna.

According to Carol Plantamura in her book When in Emilia Romagna—the wines of the region fall into two distinct categories—generally light and dry in Emilia to the west, and richer and full bodied in Romagna to the east.