5 Days in Bologna

Piazza Maggiore is the living room of Bologna. The square was reshaped under papal orders in the 1560s, when the Archiginnasio went up on one side and the Fountain of Neptune on the other, and it still works the way it was meant to: students sit on the steps of San Petronio, office workers cross it with a coffee and nobody hurries. Cardinal Charles Borromeo commissioned the fountain to celebrate his uncle's election as Pope Pius IV, and the bronze Neptune is an early work by Giambologna, from around 1566.

Walk a full circle before you go anywhere. The Palazzo d'Accursio is the town hall, the Palazzo del Podestà opposite was the seat of the first city government, and Palazzo Re Enzo behind it is named after Enzo, King of Sardinia and son of Emperor Frederick II, who was held prisoner there from 1249 until his death. Best before 9am or after dark, when the red brick glows.

San Petronio was built as a civic temple, not a bishop's church: the city council began it in 1390 as a statement of what Bologna could afford. Six centuries later the facade is still half bare brick, half marble. The basilica is dedicated to Saint Petronius, the 5th-century bishop who is the city's patron, and his relics have rested here only since 2000. Emperor Charles V was crowned in one of its chapels in 1530.

Walk down the left aisle to the meridian line that the astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini laid into the floor in 1655, a strip about 67 meters long that marks local noon. The paid chapels are the Magi, San Sebastiano and San Vincenzo Ferrer: the Chapel of the Magi has a 15th-century fresco cycle by Giovanni da Modena that includes a scene from Dante's Inferno, which made the basilica the target of foiled plots in 2002 and 2006. The panoramic terrace is permanently closed after its restoration.

Behind San Petronio stands the old main building of the University of Bologna. Pope Pius IV had it built so that law and medicine could be taught under one roof, instead of in rented rooms across town. It went up fast, started in 1562 and inaugurated on 21 October 1563, and its walls carry some six thousand coats of arms of students from across Europe. Today it's the municipal library.

The reason to book is the Anatomical Theatre upstairs, built in the late 1630s: a hall of fir wood with a coffered ceiling, carved statues of famous doctors and a lecturer's chair held up by two skinless figures called gli spellati, "the skinned ones". An Allied bombing raid on 29 January 1944 almost destroyed it, and it was rebuilt from the original pieces recovered from the rubble. The visit is short.

Cross Piazza Galvani and you're in the Quadrilatero, the grid of medieval lanes where Bologna has bought its food for centuries. The street names tell you who worked where: Via Pescherie Vecchie (old fishmongers), Via Drapperie (cloth), Via Orefici (goldsmiths). Today the stalls sell fresh pasta, fish, meat and vegetables, the historic shops sell cured meats and cheese, and the Mercato di Mezzo, a covered food hall on Via Clavature, has stands for sandwiches and a glass of wine.

Two shops are worth a stop. Tamburini, on the corner of Via Caprarie and Via Drapperie, has sold cold cuts and cheese since 1932. Paolo Atti & Figli on Via Caprarie is a family bakery and pasta maker that dates itself to 1880. Buy a mortadella sandwich or a plate of tortellini, and expect a queue.

This is the tower you can climb. The Clock Tower was added to Palazzo d'Accursio in the 15th century, and the visit starts in the Sala Farnese on the second floor of the town hall. It takes about 40 minutes, with an audioguide and two terraces, and it's the best substitute for the Asinelli view: red roofs, the two leaning towers over the Quadrilatero and the hills behind. Entries run three times an hour (:00, :20, :40), every day from 10:00, last entry 18:20 on the schedule to 31 December. It's 10 EUR, reservation is compulsory, and there's no lift.

The Collezioni Comunali d'Arte are in the same palace and covered by the same ticket: Crespi, Ludovico Carracci and Bolognese baroque, a calm hour. They open Tuesday and Thursday 14:00-19:00, Wednesday and Friday 10:00-19:00, weekends 10:00-18:30, closed Mondays.

Walk fifteen minutes north-east, past the university, to Via delle Belle Arti, where Trattoria Anna Maria is known for its tagliatelle al ragù. The ragù is the whole point. The city's recipe was deposited at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce on 17 October 1982, with a notarized update in April 2023: a slow-cooked meat sauce that goes on hand-cut egg tagliatelle, never on spaghetti.

Order tagliatelle or tortellini as a first course and a glass of Lambrusco or Pignoletto with it. Dinner here is a full two hours, and the right pace.

Start on Via Clavature with the most dramatic sculpture in town. The Compianto sul Cristo morto by Niccolò dell'Arca, a group of terracotta figures weeping around the dead Christ, is dated 1463, and the faces are raw enough to stop you. It stands in a Baroque church begun in 1687 on the site of a medieval hospital that a confraternity of flagellants ran from 1275.

The adjoining Oratorio dei Battuti is the second reason to buy the ticket: a Venetian-style ceiling and the Transito della Vergine, 14 terracotta statues from 1522 by Alfonso Lombardi. The audio guide is included. Open daily 10:00-18:30 (last entry 18:00) and much quieter than Piazza Maggiore.

The Asinelli and the Garisenda are the symbol of Bologna, traditionally credited to two rival families who built them between 1109 and 1119, though the documents from that period are thin. The Asinelli is 97.2 meters tall with 498 steps. The Garisenda, cut down to about 48 meters in the Middle Ages, leans more than 3 meters off vertical, and Dante used it as a comparison for a stooping giant in the Inferno.

The status, checked on 22 October 2026: Bologna Welcome's booking page for the Asinelli says the tower is closed for maintenance in the area, with no reopening date. It has been shut to visitors since October 2023, when the city fenced off the area around the Garisenda, and a six-meter wall of stacked containers now stands around its base. The consolidation project uses the steel ties that were used on the Tower of Pisa, and the Comune says the works end in 2028. There has been talk of the Asinelli reopening earlier than the Garisenda works, but no date is fixed, so check before you count on it. Don't plan around climbing it. Look at both towers from Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, then use the Clock Tower for the view.

A three-minute walk from the towers, Piazza Santo Stefano is the prettiest square in the center. At its head is a cluster of churches known as Sette Chiese, the Seven Churches. Tradition says Saint Petronius built it in the 5th century over a pagan temple, to recall the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, and it still feels like a small Jerusalem: a round Holy Sepulchre, a crypt with columns of mismatched styles, the Courtyard of Pilate and a cloister.

Start in the Basilica of Saints Vitale and Agricola, the oldest part, then go through the Sepulchre, the courtyard and the cloister, the most peaceful corner in the center.

Bologna's pasta is made with a rolling pin, and you can learn the move. Sfoglia is the thin sheet of egg dough that becomes tagliatelle, tortellini or lasagne, and the women who roll it are called sfogline. Portici Academy on Via Zamboni runs a two-hour tagliatelle class sold through Bologna Welcome (about 54 EUR, with an optional lunch at 15 EUR). You make the dough, cut it and eat what you made.

Bologna Cucina on Via del Pratello also lists a 3-hour class with dinner (68 EUR). You won't master it, but you'll understand why fresh pasta costs what it does.

Walk down Via Santo Stefano under the portico to Cremeria Santo Stefano at number 70, a name that comes up on most local best-gelato lists. Go for the seasonal fruit or the pistachio, and judge any shop by whether the colors look natural: good gelato is dense and served in modest scoops, not piled in a tower.

The alternative, back toward the center, is Gelatauro on Via San Vitale (number 98/b, open since 1998).

Ten minutes west is the Basilica of San Domenico. Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican order, died in Bologna in 1221, and the church that grew around his grave became a model for Dominican churches elsewhere. The marble shrine, the Arca di San Domenico, is by Nicola Pisano and his workshop, with later additions by Niccolò dell'Arca and the young Michelangelo.

Outside, in Piazza San Domenico and nearby Piazza Malpighi, stand the Tombs of the Glossators: 13th-century tombs of the law scholars who annotated Roman law and made Bologna's university famous.

Modena's historic center is small enough to walk in an hour, and the cathedral, the Ghirlandina bell tower and Piazza Grande have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site together since 1997. The cathedral was consecrated in 1184 and is one of Europe's important Romanesque buildings, dedicated to Saint Geminianus, the city's patron. Stand in front of the facade before you go in.

The Ghirlandina is the city's tower and symbol. The climb costs 6 EUR with a timed slot booked on visitmodena.it (you pay at the ticket office), open daily 9:30-18:00 from October to March.

The Albinelli is Modena's covered market, opened in 1931 in Liberty style to replace the open-air market that used to fill Piazza Grande. A fountain with a fruit-bearer by Giuseppe Graziosi stands in the middle, with butchers, cheesemongers and salumerie around it. Have a sandwich at Bar Schiavoni or a sweet from the bread gallery.

Go for the Modena specialties: gnocco fritto, puffed fried bread eaten with cured meats, and tigelle, small round breads from the hills around Modena, traditionally filled with a lard spread or cold cuts. Wash them down with Lambrusco, the sparkling red of the area. The stalls run 7:00-15:00 Monday to Friday and 7:00-19:00 on Saturday (14 September to 31 May), and the market's restaurants open 11:00-15:00 and 18:30-22:30 every day.

Balsamic vinegar is where Modena puts its pride, and there are two products that aren't alike. Traditional Balsamic Vinegar is cooked grape must aged in a series of wooden barrels for at least 12 years under a PDO. The cheap supermarket Balsamic Vinegar of Modena is made with wine vinegar and grape must under a looser rule. A tasting off a spoon is the only honest way to see the difference.

The Consorzio lists producers that take visitors, nearly all by appointment and outside the center. Acetaia Giusti, at Strada Quattroville 52, says it's open seven days a week for groups of 1 to 100 in five languages, by reservation, and presents itself as the oldest producer in Modena, founded in 1605. Giusti is a few kilometers from the center, so plan on a taxi.

The Museo Casa Enzo Ferrari has two buildings: the house and workshop of Enzo Ferrari's father, and a new hall by the architects Future Systems with a gallery of Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Maserati cars and a large video on the founder's life. It's about a 10-15 minute walk north of the cathedral, and the one stop today about cars, not food.

Ferrari's 2024 museum brochure listed an adult ticket of 27 EUR, 38 EUR for a pass with the Maranello museum, and hours of 9:30-18:00 (to 19:00 from April to October). The Maranello museum, about 15 km south of Modena, is a separate trip for car enthusiasts.

Via Zamboni is the spine of the University of Bologna, which has taught since around 1088 and is the oldest in continuous operation in the world. Today the street is bookshops, cheap bars, graffiti and students, and the loudest in the center. Walk it from the towers up to Piazza Verdi, where the Teatro Comunale stands and students sit on the ground.

Palazzo Poggi, on Via Zamboni, has been the university's seat since 1803, when the Archiginnasio stopped being its home, and houses museum collections that keep their own hours.

The National Gallery is in a former Jesuit novitiate in the university district, and it's Bologna's answer to the Uffizi on a much smaller scale. It's the place to understand Bolognese painting, from medieval altarpieces to the Carracci and Guido Reni, and it holds Raphael's Ecstasy of St. Cecilia.

Don't try to see everything. Pick the medieval rooms, the Carracci and the Raphael. It's open Tuesday to Sunday 9:00-19:00 (last entry 30 minutes before closing) and closed Mondays, with a full ticket of 12 EUR and 2 EUR for ages 18-25.

The Portico di San Luca is 3,796 meters long, with 666 arches, and links Porta Saragozza to the sanctuary on the Colle della Guardia, about 300 meters above the plain. It was built between 1674 and 1793 to shelter the annual procession that carries a Byzantine icon of the Virgin between the sanctuary and the cathedral, a tradition dating from 1433. It's the longest portico in the world and part of the UNESCO porticoes of Bologna.

The first stretch from Porta Saragozza is flat. At the Arco del Meloncello the climb begins, and the arches follow the slope with fifteen chapels for the mysteries of the Rosary. Plan on an hour or more uphill at an easy pace. If your legs say no, take bus 20 to Villa Spada and then the infrequent bus 58, or the San Luca Express (15 EUR, about an hour, from Piazza Maggiore).

The sanctuary at the top is a centrally planned church designed by Carlo Francesco Dotti in 1723, and it keeps the icon of the Virgin the portico was built for. Tradition says a pilgrim brought it from Constantinople in the 12th century, and the bishop gave it to a hermitage on this hill in 1160. Inside, look for the Assumption by Guido Reni.

The view is why most people come: the red roofs, the towers and the plain. The road up is a famous cycling climb used by the Giro d'Italia, so expect cyclists.

Finish near the old center's western edge, at All'Osteria Bottega on Via Santa Caterina, a food guide's pick for tortellini in brodo. It isn't cheap: a local guide gives 45-65 EUR a head. Ask for a table in the back room.

Tortellini in brodo is the dish to order. The shape is said to echo Venus's navel, a legend tied to Castelfranco Emilia, and Bologna and Modena both claim the dish. The recipe was deposited at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce on 7 December 1974: thin dough, a filling of pork loin, prosciutto, mortadella, 24-month Parmigiano and nutmeg, in capon broth.

Mercato delle Erbe, on Via Ugo Bassi, is the largest covered market in the historic center. The shops and stalls are open 7:00-19:30 Monday to Saturday and closed on Sundays, when only the food stands open. It has greengrocers, butchers, cheesemongers, bread and fish. It also has two lives: shopping in the morning, an aperitivo in the evening when the stands turn into bars, and a quiet stretch in between.

Buy something to taste: a wedge of Parmigiano Reggiano, a few slices of mortadella, a bag of fruit for the afternoon.

Bologna was once a city of canals. The Reno canal, dug in the 12th century, fed the Canale delle Moline, and the water powered the city's workshops before the channels were covered over. In 1998 a few views onto the canal were reopened, and the best known is the little window on Via Piella, the Finestrella, where you look down a canal framed by old houses. It's what Wikivoyage calls the Little Venice of Bologna.

It takes two minutes, a short walk from the market. Other openings are on Via Malcontenti and Via Oberdan.

If you book one guided thing in Bologna, make it this. A food tour walks you through the Quadrilatero and its old shops with a local, with tastings of tortellini, mortadella, aged Parmigiano, wine and gelato. Eating Europe, Taste Bologna and Do Eat Better Experience run small-group versions: Eating Europe lists a 3-hour tour from about 69 EUR with at most 12 guests, and others cost 80 to 130 EUR. Confirm price, stops and meeting point.

Pick a tour that names what you'll eat, keeps the group small and stays in the center. Skip anything that is really one shop or one restaurant. By day five you've walked the streets, so the tastings will make sense.

A climb south of the center, San Michele in Bosco is a former Olivetan abbey on a hill above the old city. In 1880 a surgeon bought it and donated it to the province, and it has housed the Rizzoli Orthopedic Institute since, so you're walking through a working hospital's grounds. The reward is a terrace with one of the best views of the red roofs and towers, best in the late afternoon.

Walk up from the center or take a city bus (Wikivoyage names bus 30, check TPER). Go in the late afternoon, come down before dark, and keep your voice down.

For the last night, finish in the Pratello quarter, centered on a porticoed street about 600 meters long west of the center. It's a lively, mixed neighborhood of bars, osterie, vintage shops and a lot of students. It isn't smart, which is the point.

Walk it end to end before you sit down. Share a plate of cold cuts with tigelle or gnocco fritto, order Pignoletto or Lambrusco by the glass, and finish with an Amaro Montenegro, the herbal bitter made in Bologna since 1885.