A village of the municipality Castel Bolognese, located about 6 km from the town.
Description: La Serra is situated on a hill about 6 kilometres from Castel Bolognese. There have been numerous ancient Roman archaeological finds in this area, such as the Fulvii tomb stone that was once inside the church of San Bartolo and now housed in the Civil Archaeological Museum of Bologna, the remains of a Roman villa in the Frega estate and other finds in the "Costa", "Il Monte" and "Bartolina" estates.
The hilly area was certainly preferred by the noble Roman families thanks to its position and climate. During the Middle Ages, La Serra was one of the 64 Communities under the control of the Senate of Imola and was at the top of the Legation of Serra or Monte Maggiore, which represented 23 Communities. It had a castle near San Bartolo. In 1389, La Serra was aggregated to the fortified town of Castel Bolognese and therefore became less important.
The church is also very ancient: it is in fact remembered in 1148 as a church part of the parish of Campiano; there is controversy over the place-name, which appears to derive from a place called de Masirano, a name that has been preserved today for the nearby farm house, or from a battle in 1138 when the Faentines and the Bolognans "serrarono" (closed) the people of Imola and Ravenna. The event was so cruel that the blood coloured the streem and is therefore called "Rio Sanguinario".
Beautiful villas are situated in this area, such as: Villa Zauli - Naldi, with an English garden and Villa Archi. This last part of the Appenine mountains are covered by parks and forests. At the slopes of Rio Sanguinaria valley, accessible through a path, you can see "Buldur 'dla Sèra", mud volcanoes, still in activity.
