Bologna, San Marino and Ferrara Before or After a Ravenna Cruise by Rental Car

Everything here is a day trip from Ravenna — none of it a motorway marathon.

The order matters more than the distance. A car rented in Ravenna can do the delta in a morning, or San Marino and back in a long day — about three hours of driving on empty roads, our routing.

We measured from the terminal because that’s where your plan starts or ends. Inland runs start closer from a hotel in town, since the terminal sits about 13 km out on the coast.

Ravenna’s combined mosaics ticket (Sant’Apollinare Nuovo, San Vitale, the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia and the Neonian Baptistery) is €14, €11.50 reduced and €2 for ages 6 to 10; Galla Placidia and the Baptistery need a booking. For two adults that’s €28 (about US$30), at the full price.

From March 8 to November 2 they open 9 to 7 (last entry 6:45); November 3 to March 6, 10 to 5. Dante’s tomb is free, open 10 to 7 from April to October and 10 to 6 from November to March.

The basilicas are about 8.3 miles (13.3 km) from the terminal by our routing. The problem is the last few hundred metres — the centre is a camera-gated zone, and the after-cruise page explains how its fines reach you.

Park outside the zone instead. Via Cura went to €4 a day on Oct 1, 2026, per the city, and the hub has the rest of that story.

Book Galla Placidia ahead, then walk. The car is for the places further out, not this.

San Marino is about 58.3 miles (93.8 km) from the terminal, roughly 1 hr 28 min on empty roads by our routing — the longest run on this page.

Maggiore’s conditions say the car may only be driven in the countries named in the contract, and an unauthorised foreign return costs €2,500; Hertz Italy says you may only drive in the country of rental unless permitted.

San Marino is its own state. None of the terms we read says whether driving up to it counts as leaving Italy.

Ask before you book. Then get the answer written on the rental agreement, not from a voice at the counter — an unauthorised crossing is the expensive kind of mistake.

San Marino’s tourism and museum sites didn’t load for us, so we print no prices or parking there. Fuel for the round trip is about €30 (about US$35), our arithmetic at 30 mpg.

We didn’t check the ZTL rules in Ferrara, Faenza, Rimini or San Marino, so read the signs as you climb, and park where you’re told.

Ferrara is about 49.0 miles (78.8 km) from Porto Corsini by our routing, and 1 hr 22 min free-flow.

Ferrara’s Castello Estense opens 10 to 6 and closes Tuesdays; its page didn’t show a ticket price we could read.

That Tuesday closing is the line that decides the day — a Tuesday turnaround means another town, not this castle.

Pair Ferrara with Comacchio on the way back if the ship sails late. Check the boarding cut-off before you add the second stop.

Comacchio’s Trepponti bridge is about 17.4 miles (28.0 km) from the terminal — 36 minutes on empty roads, our routing.

We read no museum or boat prices for Comacchio or the Po Delta; Princess sells a “Comacchio Lagoon & Wine Tasting” excursion. That’s a sign the cruise lines think it’s worth the trip, not a price you can compare.

Coming from Venice, the drive passes close by. The Venice page times that route.

Go in the morning before boarding, bags locked out of sight in the boot — then head south to the ship with time in hand.

Faenza is about 28.1 miles (45.3 km) from the terminal, 45 minutes free-flow.

Faenza’s MIC ceramics museum opens Tuesday to Sunday 10 to 7 and closes on non-holiday Mondays; no price shown.

Monday is the day that bites — a Monday turnaround pushes Faenza to the Sunday before or the Tuesday after.

Maggiore also lists a Faenza agency, without hours we could read. Collect in Ravenna instead, where Enterprise prints its timetable.

Driven, a day in Bologna comes to about €61 (about US$70) on those assumptions — roughly €28 of it fuel — before parking or the A14 toll.

By train, two of you pay about €116 at the “from” fares, transfers included, our arithmetic.

Celebrity calls Bologna “only one hour from” the port; the train from Ravenna takes about an hour too. Bologna’s tourism board describes a limited access zone “from 7am to 8pm”, in a note written for tour coaches; we didn’t read the city’s own rules. Either way, a hire car ends up parked at the edge of the centre.

For Bologna alone, take the train. The motorway and its toll, priced by the kilometre, are on the airport page.

Collect the car the day you start touring, and return it before you board — the port has no long-term parking, so a car can’t simply wait for you there.

Bologna city and airport have the widest choice; Ravenna has one desk we could time. Our Discover Cars review covers the coverage add-on and deposits.

Discover Cars’ Bologna city page started at $4 a day and averaged $27 when we looked, with no Ravenna page of its own. The ECB’s Oct 2, 2026 rate, about $1.12 to the euro, is behind every dollar figure here; expect your card to differ a little.