On July 19 1770, the Mozarts lodged in Imola on their way from Rome to Bologna.

Imola, originally a roman colony, was known in ancient times as Forum Cornelii. The town plan still bears clear witness to its roman origins with the antique decuman or main road (via Emilia) and its main axis (via Appia - via Mazzini) intersecting where the roman forum stood. Between the 14 and 16 th centuries the town was ruled by a succession of powerful families, the Alidosi, the Manfredi and the Visconti. In 1473 Galeazzo Maria Sforza was lord of Imola; he gave it, as part of his illegitimate daughter Caterina's dowry when she married Girolamo Riario, a nephew of Pope Sistus IV. It is a particularly happy period for the town which experiences a brief but intense renaissance. The urban structure undergoes significant changes and numerous, important noble palaces enhance it. The Piazza Maggiore is extended and enriched by the building of the Palazzo Riario Sforza (now Sersanti), the noble ruler's princely town residence. The Fortezza della Rocca (which now houses the International Piano Academy "Meetings with a Maestro") is adapted to new military requirements, the town walls are completed and the gateways to the town are defined, giving the town precise characteristics which it will maintain until the 20th century. In 1502 Leonardo Da Vinci arrives in Imola on the trail of Cesare Borgia's victorious troops; he is given the task of drawing the map of the town so that a study of its defensive structures can be made. The map remains a unique, splendid example of the great artist's topographic work. From 1504 up until the union of Italy, except for the Napoleonic period, Imola belongs to the Papal States: struggles between warring factions end and, under the church's rule, the city changes in appearance thanks to the great works of the 18th century. W.A Mozart passed through Imola on his first trip to Italy. On the 19th July 1770, on his way from Rome to Bologna he stayed there overnight. In this season Mozart used to travel by night to avoid the hotness and the flies.