Cesenatico in the evening

In summer the day here doesn’t end at sunset — something else begins. The heat lets go, the town fills up, and for three or four hours Cesenatico becomes the best place in Romagna to walk with nowhere in particular to go. Here’s how we spend it, and where to have dinner without ending up in the crush.

The good hour: sunset over the canal harbour

If we had to pick one moment, it’s this one. Towards evening the light drops over the canal harbour and the historic boats — the ones with painted sails, the floating section of the Maritime Museum — sit still on the water like a postcard. The lamps come on along the quays, everything reflects, and twenty minutes of walking shows you the best of the town.

Do it before dinner, not after: by nine the canal is already full of people at the tables.

A different market every night

In summer Cesenatico is a town of night markets, with a rule few visitors know: it moves to a different area every evening. One night it’s the old town with crafts and flea stalls, another the seafront avenues, another local produce. Usually from 8 pm to midnight.

The calendar changes from year to year and it’s worth checking before you head out: here’s the current one. If you’re staying down our way, the Viale Carducci market runs right past our door — and then your evening is already decided.

The big wheel, to see where you’ve been

On Piazza Andrea Costa there’s a Ferris wheel some forty metres high: at night it lights up and you can see it from half the town. From up there, in a few minutes, you understand the geography of Cesenatico better than from any map — the canal cutting into the town, the coast running south towards Villamarina, the open sea on the other side.

In 2026 it runs from late March to the end of September, from 10 am until midnight, with tickets of a few euros and a reduced rate for children: current times and prices on the official page.

The walk the locals take

Then there’s the evening with no plan, which is the one we like best. You walk out to the end of the Levante pier, where there are always two or three anglers with their rods, and watch the sea go dark. Back along the canal, towards the pier, the bars serve drinks outside — in summer some of them keep the music going late, if you feel like a long night.

With children it works the other way round: head into the centre, get an ice cream, drift between the stalls, and go home when they start dragging their feet.

And dinner?

Here’s our own view, as innkeepers. On the canal in the evening you eat with a queue behind you and tables pushed together: you’re paying for the view, which is genuinely beautiful, but the plate comes second.

We’re in Villamarina, ten minutes from the centre, where you park without circling for half an hour. We buy the fish in the morning, cook it the way it’s cooked around here, and you sit at the table for as long as you like. Do the opposite of what everyone else does: have dinner with us first, then go into town for the walk and the markets, when the air is cooler and the lights are on. Seafood cooking since 1987.

Quick tips

• Sunset: the canal harbour and the historic boats — best just before dinner.
• Night markets: a different area each evening, usually 8 pm–midnight. Current calendar.
• Ferris wheel: Piazza Andrea Costa, ~40 metres, running from late March to the end of September until midnight. Times and prices.
• The walk: out to the end of the Levante pier; bars with outdoor tables along the canal.
• Dinner: La Romantica, Viale Carducci 319, Villamarina — ten minutes from the centre, easy parking. Book: +39 378 4227433.