The region of Emilia-Romagna consists of nine provinces and covers an area of 22,124 km². Nearly half of the region (50%) consists of plains while 25% is hilly and 25% mountainous. The Emilia-Romagna section of the Apennine Mountains is marked by areas of flisch, badland erosion (calanques) and caves. The mountains stretch for more than 300 km from the north to the south-east, with only three peaks above 2,000 m - Monte Cimone (2,165 m), Monte Cusna (2,121 m) and Alpe di Succiso (2,017 m).

About a half of the region consists of the Padan Plain, an extremely fertile alluvial plain crossed by the river Po. The plain was formed by the gradual retreat of the sea from the Po basin and by the detritus deposited by the rivers. Almost entirely marshland in ancient times, its history is characterised by the hard work of its people to reclaim and reshape the land in order to achieve a better standard of living. The geology varies, with lagoons and saline areas in the north and many thermal springs throughout the rest of the region as a result of groundwater rising towards the surface at different periods of history. All the rivers rise locally in the Apennines except for the Po, which has its source in the Alps in Piedmont and follows the northern border of Emilia-Romagna for 263 km.

Vegetation in the region may be divided into belts: the common oak belt which is now covered (apart from the mesóla forest) with fruit orchards and fields of wheat and sugar beet, the pubescent belt and Adriatic oak belt on the lower slopes up to 900 m, the beech belt between 1,000 and 1,500 m, and the final mountain heath belt.