Court documents show less than two years after Mohamed Bailor Jalloh was released from prison for attempting to aid the Islamic State, he opened fire in a classroom at Virginia’s Old Dominion University on Thursday before ROTC students subdued and killed him.

The shooting that left one person dead and another two injured has raised questions about why Jalloh, who the FBI identified as the gunman, was imprisoned and the conditions of his release — with some elected officials questioning how someone with known ties to the Islamic State was able to carry out such an attack.

“The horrific tragedy that occurred today on ODU’s campus never should have happened,” U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, who represents the congressional district neighboring the university, wrote on Facebook.

After Jalloh pleaded guilty in October 2016 to providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization — the Islamic State group — a federal judge sentenced him in 2017 to an 11-year prison term with credit for time served retroactive to his July 2016 arrest.

Jalloh was released from federal custody Dec. 23, 2024. It wasn’t immediately clear why his release from prison was moved up. Inmates can get time off of their sentences for a variety of reasons, but it isn’t known if that happened in this case.

He was on supervised release, which is comparable to probation, when he carried out the attack on Thursday. Based on his release date, that would’ve run into 2029.

Confessions to undercover agents

Jalloh’s October 2016 plea came after a three-month sting operation in which he, then 26, confessed to an undercover FBI agent that he was thinking about carrying out an attack similar to the 2009 shootings at Fort Hood, which left 13 people dead. Authorities launched the 2016 operation after Jalloh made contact with Islamic State members in Africa earlier that year.

Jalloh later told the informant that the Islamic State group had asked if he wanted to participate in an attack. He tried to donate $500 to the group, but the money actually went to an account controlled by the FBI, according to court documents.

Jalloh then tried to buy an AR-15 assault rifle from a Virginia gun store but was turned away because he lacked the proper paperwork. The affidavit says he returned the next day and bought a different assault rifle. Prosecutors said the rifle was rendered inoperable before Jalloh left the store, unbeknownst to Jalloh. He was arrested the following day.

Debate over sentencing

The Justice Department in 2017 requested a 20-year prison sentence for Jalloh, noting that he had made multiple attempts to join the Islamic State and had attempted to acquire a gun to carry out a murder plot.

“The defendant was fully aware of what he was doing, and the consequences of those actions. His only misgivings seemed to be a fear that he would waver at the critical moment,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.

They added: “By putting the idea of this murder plot into religious terms, and by suggesting that murdering members of the US military would be a path to heaven, the defendant showed how strongly committed he was to the deadly ideology” of the Islamic State.

Jalloh’s lawyers asked for a sentence of 6½ years in prison and requested that he be placed in a facility that provides residential drug treatment for inmates with addiction and substance abuse issues.

U.S. District Judge Liam O’Grady, an appointee of former President George W. Bush, sentenced him instead to 11 years in prison.

The judge also ordered Jalloh to participate in a program for substance abuse testing and treatment and mental health treatment, and requested that he be evaluated for the federal prison system’s residential drug program.

Completing the Residential Drug Abuse Program can reduce an inmate’s prison sentence by up to a year, according to the federal Bureau of Prisons. It wasn’t immediately clear if Jalloh qualified for the program. Normally, inmates serving sentences for terrorism-related offenses aren’t eligible.

In addition, some inmates who stay out of trouble in prison can reduce their sentence by earning up to 54 days of good conduct time credit for each year of their sentence. However, under the 2018 prison reform law known as the First Step Act, inmates convicted of terrorism-related offenses are not eligible for such credit.

Troubled shooter lured by radical cleric

Little is publicly known about Jalloh, who was a naturalized citizen from Sierra Leone. But court documents depict him as a troubled man who was radicalized by Anwar al-Awlaki, a well-known American imam who became an al-Qaida propagandist.

The Virginia Army National Guard confirmed he served as a specialist from 2009 until 2015, when he was honorably discharged. Jalloh told a government informant he quit the National Guard after hearing lectures from al-Awlaki, according to a 2016 FBI affidavit filed in his criminal case.

In a letter to the federal judge that presided over his sentencing, Jalloh wrote: “I feel deep regret in having been driven by my emotions rather than my intellect and becoming involved with such an evil organization. … I reject and deplore terrorism and any groups associated with it, especially ISIL.”

He wrote that he started using drugs after his girlfriend ended their six-year relationship.

“The pain I felt internally was unbearable, and drugs and alcohol were the only things that took that pain away,” Jalloh wrote. “I started doing marijuana, coke and mushrooms using one of them at least on a daily basis in order to kill the pain I was in and to fill in the void I felt internally.”

The letter itself remains under seal, but his lawyer included excerpts of it in his sentencing memorandum.

George Russell and Kimi Antonelli annihilated the opposition in the one and only practice session ahead of Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, suggesting Mercedes will be as dominant here in Shanghai as they were in Melbourne last weekend.

There is now no time for teams to refine their setups before the first competitive session of the weekend, qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race, which takes place at 7.30am UK time.

Russell pipped team-mate Antonelli by 0.120sec in cool, sunny conditions in Shanghai on Friday morning. But the championship leader was a massive 0.545sec clear of the first driver not in a Mercedes, McLaren’s Lando Norris.

McLaren’s Oscr Piastri and then Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc were next fastest, with Ferrari’s much-anticipated “Macarena” rear wing, which flips upside-down, not immediately flipping the script.

Lewis Hamilton was sixth fastest in the second Ferrari, 1.388sec off the pace, although the seven-time world champion did set his time earlier in the session on older tyres after an early spin wrecked his set of medium tyres.

Elsewhere, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was down in eighth place, a massive 1.8secs off the pace of Mercedes, and behind the Haas of Briton Oliver Bearman.

It remains to be seen whether anyone can challenge Mercedes this weekend, although the start to both the sprint race and Sunday’s main grand prix could offer opportunities.

Last week’s start in Melbourne was chaotic with some drivers depleting their battery reserves on their formation laps – Alpine’s Franco Colapinto narrowly avoided crashing into Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson as a result.

In the wake of safety fears voiced by drivers, the FIA allowed extra practice starts at the end of Friday’s FP1 session, although F1’s governing body stopped short of altering the formation lap recharge limit which had been highlighted as a problem by Russell.

On Thursday, Russell called Ferrari “selfish” for blocking the proposed change due to the fact they currently have the best start of any team.

Amanda Meadowcroft and Bradley Couzins have both been jailed

A mother and son have been sentenced for smuggling 14kg worth of cocaine to Manchester Airport.

Border force stopped Amanda Meadowcroft, 53, and her friend at Manchester Airport on April 22 last year after they returned from a holiday to Punta Canta, in the Dominican Republic.

Meadowcroft’s friend was asked by officers if she packed her two suitcases herself. She said she had packed the blue suitcase but that the black bag was packed by Meadowcroft’s son, Bradley Couzins, 34, who had also paid for her return ticket, Manchester Crown Court heard during a sentencing hearing on Thursday (March 12).

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The black bag was searched, and nine packages of cocaine were found wrapped in brown wrapping. Five other packages were then also found and wrapped in the same way in the blue bag.

Meadowcroft was later found at the airport by officers, and claimed she had been on a one week holiday to the Dominican Republic which she had won through Facebook.

Her luggage was searched but no further drugs found, however officers did seize the defendant’s mobile phone and found text messages between Meadowcroft and Couzins, where they discussed how to smuggle the drugs back into the country. The court heard how Couzins was the mastermind.

In the messages, Couzins discussed with Meadowcroft, of Argyle Street Darwen, Lancashire, where she would go and whether she would be travelling business or standard class. He also organised their tickets, passports, and transport from the airport.

After his mother and friend were arrested, Couzins was arrested at a later date on August 7, where he was also charged with assault of an emergency worker after he attempted to smash his phone out of an National Crime Agency officer’s hand and in doing so caused a “deep cut” on her finger, the court heard.

Prosecutors told the court how after all 14 packages were inspected, they were found to “contain mostly cutting agents”, meaning it was not “pure cocaine” which they believed to have been smuggling into the country. Christopher Green, an expert witness, said that if the drugs were of a high quality, they were worth up to £294,000.

A judge told the pair they had been ‘duped’.

‘This criminal family went to great lengths’

The court heard how Couzins, of Gillibrand Street Darwen, Lancashire, has 25 previous convictions, and Meadowcroft has 49 with one similar offending case in which she smuggled around 30kg of cannabis and received a 10 month suspended sentence.

Kristian Cavanagh, defending Couzins, said the defendant recognised it was a “stupid decision” and believed that he had shown genuine remorse. While in custody, Couzins saw a trauma therapist with Mr Cavanagh adding that he “engaged in all courses”.

He told the court Couzins wanted to live a “law-abiding” life, and that having a son of his own added to this motivation.

Amber Weir, defending Meadowcroft, said how there was a “degree of intimidation” from Couzins, and, in a letter Her Honour Judge Manley received before the sentencing, Meadowcroft said that she was “scared” of Couzins and that he could be “violent”.

Weir added Meadowcroft felt “ashamed” and noted her past issues with “drug dependency” has led her feeling “genuine shame” for contributing to that drug cycle.

At the time she was serving a suspended sentence for a previous smuggling conviction.

Meadowcroft has two other children, 25 and 28, as well as being a grandmother and is “motivated to be a productive member of society”, the court was told. Both pleaded guilty to fraudulent evasion of a prohibition by bringing into or taking out of the UK a controlled drug.

Sentencing, Judge Hilary Mandley said: “The facts are simple, you flew from the Dominican Republic to Manchester with luggage that contained cocaine. It was of low purity, and it appeared you had been duped. The fact that the cocaine was of low purity is neither here nor there. I will temper [your sentence] to a degree to reflect that purity was low.”

A teary Meadowcroft apologised as she was sentenced to seven years imprisonment, whereas Couzins was sentenced to seven years and six months imprisonment.

Charles Lee, NCA Senior Investigation Officer, said: “This criminal family went to great lengths to source and smuggle class A drugs into the UK. The duo planned and executed an operation born out of greed, culminating in a violent assault on an NCA officer. Thankfully the officer made a full recovery.

“Alongside key partners such as Border Force and Lancashire Police, the NCA will continue to disrupt supply chains and bring criminals like Meadowcroft and Couzins to justice.”

The woman arrested alongside Meadowcroft was initially charged but subsequently released with no further action.

The Department for Communities released advice on Friday

Details of payment dates for benefits over the St Patrick’s Day bank holiday have been announced.

Over the March Bank Holiday period, March 17 2026, the Department for Communities has said that benefits recipients in Northern Ireland will still be paid by this date.

All benefits are paid on different dates, however, recipients should not receive payments later than the day it is typically due.

A Department for Communities spokesperson said: “Benefit Payment Dates – March Public Holiday. If your payment is due on 17 March, you will still be paid by that date.

“All benefits operate on different payment systems but you will not receive your payment later than the day it would normally be due.”

For more information, go to the Department for Communities website here.

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Coronation Street is frequently chastised at the moment for being absolutely stuffed with baddies.

Domestic abuser and all around beast, Theo Silverton (James Cartwright), single white female-coded Jodie Ramsey (Olivia Frances-Brown), money-and-tail chasing Carl Webster (Jonathan Howard), historic murderer Maggie Driscoll (Pauline McLynn) and paedophile Megan Walsh (Beth Nixon) are all operating at the same time in Weatherfield at the moment, though their ranks will be thinned in an upcoming murder twist that will see one of them killed.

One certified baddie that’s apparently managed to escape the chopping block, though, is Mal Roper (Tim Treloar), a slimy, insidious stalker, who’s obsession with Bernie Winter (Jane Hazlegrove) is as grotesque as it is unwanted…and is set to get a lot worse.

Metro understands that an upcoming storyline twist will see Mal use his knowledge of Bernie’s son, Kit Green’s (Jacob Roberts) violent attack on him to his advantage.

In order to keep quiet over who put him in hospital, Mal will make it clear that the only way he’ll keep his mouth shut is if Bernie has sex with him, leaving Bernie with a hideous decision to make; spend the night with a man who’s tortured her and cheat on her beloved husband, Dev Alahan (Jimmi Harkishin), or risk Mal destroying Kit’s life.

Mal’s stalking of Bernie so far

Preying on Bernie when she was at her lowest ebb, following the loss of her son, Paul Foreman’s (Peter Ash) true love, Billy Mayhew (Daniel Brocklebank), Mal found her in a seriously inebriated state and spent a drug-fuelled night with her. Despite refusing to cheat, Bernie’s relapse left her riddled with guilt and terrified that Dev would find out.

Bernie made it perfectly clear to Mal, she wanted absolutely nothing further to do with him and he was to leave her alone…

…except, he didn’t.

Preying on Roy Cropper (David Neilson) and taking on an ever-lengthening job re-wiring his café, Mal has place himself as close to Bernie as possible, while standing outside of her house in the middle of the night, with things reaching a violent crescendo when he locked himself in the cafe alongside her.

Despite Bernie’s protestations that he leave, Mal was completely undeterred, launching into a desperate monologue about his inability to stop thinking about her, chillingly referring to her as ‘my Bernie’.

When Bernie reminded him that she wasn’t his and was married to Dev, Mal darkened further, accusing her of being a ‘cheap tease’ and gripping her wrist when she tried to escape up to the flat…

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…enter Kit, who only earlier, Bernie had opened up to and informed just how terrifying Mal was becoming. Kit battered Mal, triggering a heart attack and landing him a bed at Weatherfield General. While Bernie was initially arrested for the attack, she was released and headed straight for her dodgy-copper son, who confessed to the assault.

Though Bernie was horrified at Kit’s actions, she understood his reasoning. Fleeing to Tenerife for a holiday with Dev, she pled with Kit to keep out of trouble while she was away. While he agreed, one thing neither of them banked on?

Mal waking up.

Next week sees Kit become aware that a witness to the attack has come forward, forcing him to think on his feet and attempt to shut the new threat to his secret down, though he’s shaken even further to learn that Mal himself has regained consciousness…

…and judging by what’s to come, it’s clear that he either remembers, or quickly learns who attacked him.

Nearly every part of the United States is getting walloped by wild weather or just about to be.

Days of downpours have begun in Hawaii. The Southwest will soon bake with day after day of record 100-degree-plus (38 Celsius-plus) heat. Two storms will dump snow by the foot over northern Great Lakes states. And the dreaded polar vortex will again invade the Midwest and East with soul-crushing Arctic chill.

This forecast of extremes comes as weather whiplash already hit much of the East. On Wednesday, Washington, D.C. residents walked around in shorts in record-breaking 86 degrees Fahrenheit (about 30 Celsius). On Thursday, it snowed.

“All of the country, even if you’re not necessarily seeing extremes, are going to see generally changing from cold to warm, or warm to cold to warm,” said meteorologist Marc Chenard of the weather service’s Weather Prediction Center in Maryland.

Former National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Ryan Maue said he expects extreme weather in all 50 states.

Triple-digit heat persists in Southwest

A heat dome will form early next week and park over the Southwest, baking temperatures to triple digits that haven’t been seen this early in the year, Maue and Chenard said.

Some forecasts see 98 (almost 37 Celsius) in Phoenix on Tuesday, followed by 103, 105 and two days of 107 (almost 42 C). In 137 years of record-keeping, Phoenix never hit 100 before March 26 and usually hit its first 100-degree day in early May, according to the weather service, which warned people: “Since we are not acclimated to this level of heat this early in the year, it will be more impactful than usual.”

It has already started in Los Angeles with unusual 90-degree March weather that had people in shorts and tank tops seeking shade anywhere they could get it, even if it was as slender as a light post.

Shane Dixon, 40, usually runs about 5 miles near his home in Culver City without much effort, he said, his face glistening with sweat and his T-shirt tucked into his shorts. But Thursday was hard because of the heat, and he had to cut it short.

“The back of my neck was melting,” he said. But he preferred it to the cold and snow that will hit elsewhere.

“I could go literally soak myself and walk out in the sun and I’ll make it home fine. If it was freezing cold I could not do this,” he said.

Single-digit cold invades North

Around the same time as the heat starts blasting Phoenix, the polar vortex — a system that usually keeps frigid air penned up near the North Pole — is forecast to send its chill deep into the Midwest and East, even bordering some of the Southeast, Maue said

Minneapolis will hover around zero for a low, and Chicago will be in the single digits Tuesday. The next day “temperatures in the teens and 20s in the northeast and 20s in the Mid-Atlantic,” Maue said. Even Atlanta could drop to the 20s.

One-two snowstorm punch

Two storm systems in a row — one Friday, then another Sunday into Monday — will chug along the country’s northern tier and Great Lakes and between them could dump 3 to 4 feet of snow in places, Maue said.

That bigger second storm system will see its barometric pressure drop so quickly and sharply — meaning it is intensifying and winds are strengthening — that it will qualify as a bomb cyclone, which is quite unusual to develop over land. Normally bomb cyclones get their energy from warm ocean waters, but this one will draw power from the polar vortex.

Even Alaska and Hawaii aren’t quite right

Maue said Hawaii is getting an atmospheric river that will have such persistent heavy rain that flooding will be a major issue. Oahu is under a flash flood warning.

And Alaska is normally frigid now, but it will be about 30 degrees colder than usual, he said.

It is “the time of year where we can see stuff like this,” Chenard said. “But this does seem even anomalous from what you would typically see. I mean, some of these areas will be setting records. Record-high temperatures for March and maybe multiple times.”

In the past week or so, tornadoes have killed at least eight people in Oklahoma, Michiganand Indiana. The forecast for severe storms doesn’t look as big or widespread for the next week, but dangerous thunderstorms could pop up “anywhere from the Mississippi Valley toward the East Coast” on Sunday or Monday, Chenard said.

The jet stream goes nuts

Underlying this is a jet stream gone wild, Maue and Chenard said.

The jet stream is the river of air that moves weather from west to east on a roller-coaster-like path. Usually the plunges are as mild as a kiddie roller coaster. But now that jet stream is going on near-vertical, scream-inducing drops following by straight-up ascents.

“Which means you get a lot of extremes next to each other,” Maue said. Storm fronts coming from the Pacific hit that high pressure heat dome in the Southwest and are pushed north to climb that mountainous jet stream peak, “grab access to that cold air reservoir up there” and bring it back down south down the other side of the hill, he said.

Numerous studies have connected unusual jet stream and polar vortex activity to shrinking Arctic sea ice and human-caused climate change.

But there is hope.

“The first day of spring is 20th (of March), and then after that we get recovery,” Maue said.

___

Associated Press writer Dorany Pineda contributed from Los Angeles.

___

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

Hayes, understandably, is seeking compensation and is suing UBS in the US for $400m. ‘My life was ruined by the bank’s actions – I lost my liberty and my marriage, missed out on my son’s childhood, and my physical and mental health suffered terribly,’ said Hayes. ‘UBS also destroyed my reputation and career.’

BERLIN (AP) — Ali Darwich, a gay Muslim influencer in Berlin, picks up a date from his plate, takes a sip of water, and addresses the 15 friends sitting around the table and breaking the Ramadan fast with him.

The 33-year-old German with Palestinian and Lebanese roots — who goes by @alifragt or “Ali asks” on Instagram — has a quickly growing following on Instagram, where he draws attention to the difficulties of living as a young, queer Muslim and calls for more tolerance and inclusiveness.

“Tonight we want to send a message that no matter where a person comes from, no matter who that person loves, no matter how queer that person is, they cannot be too queer … because they are exactly as they should be,” Darwich says, smiling at the diverse group of Muslims and Christians, Germans and immigrants, gay and straight people sharing this meal with him as the sun sets over Berlin.

Indeed, attacks against LGBTQ+ people and gay-friendly establishments are rising across Germany, including in Berlin, a city that has historically embraced the community.

According to the latest figures from 2024, there was a 40% increase in violence targeting LGBTQ+ people in 12 of Germany’s 16 federal states as compared to 2023, according to the Association of Counseling Centers for Victims of Right-Wing, Racist and Antisemitic Violence.

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Brunch Time York at 2 Oak Street, Holgate, was visited by City of York Council inspectors on January 23.

The Food Standards Agency website says that for hygienic food handling, the business was rated as ‘improvement necessary’. The same rating was also given for the cleanliness and condition of the facilities and the building.

However, for management of food safety, the rating was ‘major improvement necessary’.

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The Press submitted a Freedom of Information Request to City of York Council asking for a copy of the inspector’s report, which we have yet to receive.

Brunch Time York receives good reviews on Google, which gives it 4.5 stars out of five based on 52 reviews.

Brunch Time York is popular for food but hygiene inspectors only gave it one-star. (Image: Street View)

Just Eat awards five stars out of five, based on 105 reviews.

The most recent Google review was seven months ago.

It said: “I ordered a cheese sandwich and a tuna salad along with a vegetarian breakfast.

“The owner was attentive and even cooked my hash browns in new oil as I don’t do pork.

“The shop is bright well-lit with a few stools inside, there are two tables outside.

“The shop is very clean and looks appealing as it hooked me from my driving.
I even turned around as I was hungry.

“I paid £16 for the selection and was impressed.

“I would order ahead as it took about 20 mins to cook the breakfast.

“Food was banging and the huge cob roll was like a dinner plate.”

Brunch Time York did not respond to our requests for comment.

Should they do so, we are more than happy to report on what they have to say, along with the results of any future re-inspection.

Italy conjures visions of Roman holidays à la Audrey Hepburn, and romantic adventures in the cobbled streets of Florence, Milan, and Naples.

It’s safe to say that the world loves channelling La Dolce Vita. In 2025, it welcomed some 104 million international visitors, according to data from the Ministry of the Interior.

But with several Italian cities taking action against overtourism, including Florence’s ban on Airbnb-style self-check-in keyboxes and Seceda’s €5 turnstile charges, a growing number of travellers are veering off the beaten track.

It will be welcome news, then, that a little-known city in the Emilia-Romagna region has had a direct UK flight reinstated for the first time in 18 years.

Between June and October, Ryanair is reviving its route from London Stansted to Forlì, a quiet city of ancient churches and elegant piazzas that dates back 2,200 years.

The route originally operated between 2001 and 2008, but was pulled when the airline started serving Bologna.

Flights will run twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, providing plenty of time to fit in an Aperol Spritz or two.

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And it won’t break the bank. Flights departing on June 6 and returning on June 13, for example, are currently £46 return.

The route’s revival is set to make travel easier for locals. As it stands, the only year-round option from London is to Bologna, which is 36 minutes away on the IC train, not including a ride on the Marconi Express from Bologna Centrale station. It’s pricey, too, at €12.80 (£11.05) for a seven-minute trip.

In the summer, flights also run from London to Rimini, which is around 50 minutes away by car from Forlì.

Ryanair has confirmed that the comeback has been made possible by the removal of the municipal tax at several Italian airports, including Forlì, which sees a fee (ranging from €6.50/£5.61 to €9/£7.77) wrapped into the cost of the plane ticket.

Alongside Forlì, eight other airports, including Parma, have also scrapped the tax. Ryanair says the changes bring its Italian slate to 20 routes.

It means the airline will serve an extra 660,000 passengers each year and increase traffic by more than 50%.

Top things to do in Forlì and Emilia-Romagna

Looking for a reason to visit? Food should be top of your list.

The Emilia-Romagna region is famous for simple dishes made with local ingredients, thanks to its location close to both mountains and sea.

Some of the most popular things to eat here include mortadella (a type of ham that’s been mimicked as ‘baloney’ elsewhere in the world), Parmesan, and piadina, a type of flatbread best enjoyed with something like squacquerone, a form of soft cheese that’s not hard enough to have a rind, but not mushy enough to be considered cottage cheese.

Wine lovers should indulge in a glass of Sangiovese, a red that’s so embedded in the culture of the region that, in Romagnol (the regional dialect), it’s simply called ‘e be,’ which translates to ‘the drink.’

You’ll find a delectable tagliatelle al ragù (that’s right, it’s not called spaghetti bolognese) at Trattoria ‘petito, or a more rustic meal at La Piadineria.

Culture-wise, the Museo Civico San Domenico is also worth a look, as this year, it’s running an exhibition on Baroque art.

For history, the Rocca di Ravaldino, a Medieval fortress dating back to the fourteenth century, which, alongside being an important historical site, hosts a cultural festival in the summer. Expect music and cinema.

In nearby Cesena, those with a sweet tooth will be delighted by Babbi Café.

Founded in 1952, it’s a local legend renowned for chocolate spreads, wafers, and ice cream (which is served up all year round, not just during the summer).

Once you’ve filled your belly, Cesena has a rich history to absorb. It was referenced as early as Dante in 1321, who described the city centre as being ‘between the plain and the hills.’

It’s also home to the oldest public library in the world: the Malatestian Library, which holds such a fundamental place in Cesena’s constitution that it was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005.

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