FOLKLORE. — An eminently agricultural region, with numerous and important urban centers and a highly advanced civic life, E. derives from this condition the characteristics and
Among the manifestations of popular religiosity, special mention should be made of the cult of the Madonna di S. Luca (Bologna). Numerous legends have flourished around the image itself and the forms of worship to which it has given rise over the centuries. Other highly venerated sanctuaries, still in the same province of Bologna, are those of the Madonna di Boccadrino and of Monte delle Formiche. Ancient and very graceful painted ex-voto tablets are preserved in the church of the Madonna del Monte (Cesena). Particular forms of veneration have also flourished around the Madonna del Fuoco, in Forlì, whose image is often reproduced together with that of s. Gregorio and s. Antonio abate on plaustri, the large agricultural carts, painted in vivid colors and still in use in the Emilian-Romagnan plain.
Characteristic expressions of folk art are also the rust-printed blankets with which oxen are covered during the winter, rustic ceramics, and hemp breakers painted with the same floral motifs as the carts and the castellate (elongated barrels in which must is brought to the cities after the grape harvest).
The ancient folk dances are fairly well preserved, especially in the provinces of Bologna and Reggio, such as the ballo del feri, the galletta, and the ruggiero, but above all the trescene, a typical courtship dance.