Bologna (La Grassa, La Dotta, La Rossa — "The Fat, the Learned, the Red": three epithets that define the city perfectly) is the capital of the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and the gastronomic capital of Europe, a claim no other city can seriously dispute: the ragù alla bolognese (the meat sauce that the world knows as "Bolognese"), the tortellini (the egg pasta ring filled with a mixture of pork, prosciutto, mortadella and Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese), the tagliatelle (the handmade egg pasta cut to exactly 1/12,270th of the height of the Asinelli Tower — the official measurement registered at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce in 1972), the mortadella (the pink pork sausage with pistachio and myrtle berries, the original "bologna" of American lunch meat), and the Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano-Reggiano (both produced in the neighbouring province of Parma) — all concentrated in a single city. Bologna is also "La Dotta" (the Learned) because it has the oldest university in the world (the University of Bologna, founded 1088 — the first university in Western civilization, from which all universities derive their model, structure and vocabulary). And it is "La Rossa" (the Red) for both the red medieval brick of its 38km of covered porticoes (the portico system of Bologna — the longest in the world, stretching 38km through the city — is the most distinctive urban architectural feature in Italy) and for its tradition as the most consistently Communist-voting city in Italy from 1945 to 1999.
Piazza Maggiore (the main square of Bologna — the largest square in the city (6,000 sq m): the Basilica di San Petronio (the 14th-century Gothic church begun in 1390 and still not complete — it was originally intended to be larger than St Peter's in Rome, but the Pope intervened to prevent this and the nave was truncated at half the intended length: still the 5th largest church in the world by floor area), the Palazzo d'Accursio (the medieval town hall from 1290, with the collection of medieval civic art in the gallery), and the Palazzo del Podestà. Adjacent: the Piazza del Nettuno with the Neptune Fountain (Giambologna, 1566 — the bronze Neptune with water gushing from his trident, the finest Mannerist fountain in Italy).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Due Torri (the Two Towers of Bologna — the most iconic medieval monuments of the city: in the 12th and 13th centuries, Bologna had 180 towers built by the wealthy families as symbols of power and as defensive fortresses within the city. Only 24 survive. The Asinelli Tower (97.2m, built 1109–1119 by the Asinelli family — the tallest medieval tower in Italy and the tallest leaning tower in the world after Pisa's) and the Garisenda Tower (48m, built approximately 1110, now leaning 3.2° from vertical (Dante mentioned the Garisenda in the Inferno). The 498 steps to the top of the Asinelli give the most comprehensive view of the Bologna roofscape and the red porticoes of the city below.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideQuadrilatero (the medieval market district immediately east of Piazza Maggiore: the cluster of four streets (Pescherie Vecchie, Via Drapperie, Via Caprarie, Via degli Orefici) forming a grid of food shops and market stalls that have been trading in the same location since the 13th century: the mortadella shops (the mortadella is the most characteristic product of Bologna — the pink cooked pork sausage with pistachio and whole black peppercorns, studded with the characteristic lard cubes (the lardelli), the prosciutto and culatello shops, the Parmigiano-Reggiano dealers, the fresh pasta shops (the sfogline — the women who roll the pasta by hand, the art of the Bolognese egg pasta tradition), and the market fish stalls (pescherie — from which Pescherie Vecchie takes its name).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe real ragù alla bolognese (the recipe registered with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce in 1982: the specific ingredients are beef (the coarse mince of the bovine chuck), pancetta, onion, carrot, celery, dry white wine (not red), whole milk (added to tenderize the meat and mellow the acidity), and tomato paste in a very small amount (the authentic Bolognese is primarily meat and milk, not tomato) — cooked slowly for 4–6 hours. The pasta: tagliatelle (the pasta cut to 1/12,270th of the Asinelli height = 8mm wide when cooked) — NOT spaghetti (serving ragù alla bolognese on spaghetti is the most serious culinary offense one can commit in Bologna). Trattoria Anna Maria (Via delle Belle Arti 17A — the most beloved trattoria in central Bologna for traditional Bolognese cooking).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideArchiginnasio di Bologna (Piazza Galvani 1 — the 16th-century seat of the University of Bologna (the oldest university in the world, founded 1088 — the first institution where students paid fees for individual lectures, from which the university model spread across Europe): the Teatro Anatomico (the Anatomical Theatre — the 17th-century carved wooden amphitheatre where anatomy lessons were held with actual cadavers on the central dissection table: the two male and female figures in carved wood standing above the table (the "Spellati" — the flayed figures) flank the professor's chair, and the carved wooden ceiling shows a canopy from which the cadaver was lowered (a pulley system was required as the windows were too small to carry bodies in). The most macabre and beautiful academic room in Europe. Also the library (with the 130,000 books in the walls of the Archiginnasio).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideTortellini in brodo (the tortellini in broth — the defining dish of Bolognese cuisine and the most important Italian pasta dish by cultural significance: the tortellino (the small ring of egg pasta folded around a filling of pork loin, prosciutto crudo, mortadella and Parmigiano-Reggiano, the exact proportions disputed between every nonna in Bologna) served in a clear golden broth (the capon broth — the broth of the entire boiled capon, with carrot, celery and onion, clarified to crystal clarity). The legend: the tortellino was modeled on the navel of Venus, seen by an innkeeper at Castelfranco Emilia (a town between Bologna and Modena) through a keyhole. Osteria Bottega (Via Santa Caterina 51) is the finest traditional osteria for tortellini in Bologna.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideThe Portico di San Luca (the covered walkway from the Porta Saragozza (the medieval city gate at the southwest corner of the old walls) to the Santuario di San Luca on the hill above the city: 666 arches covering 3.8km of continuous covered walkway (the longest portico in the world) built between 1674 and 1793 specifically to allow the icon of the Madonna of San Luca (believed to have been painted by Saint Luke himself) to be carried down to the city for festivals without being exposed to rain — a procession that still happens annually. The Santuario di San Luca (the baroque oval church at the top of the Colle della Guardia, 280m above the city — with the finest view of Bologna and the Po Plain beyond).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideCrescentina (the gnocco fritto — the fried squares of raised dough that are the traditional Emilian accompaniment to salumi (cured meats): the pillowy, slightly crisp fried dough squares served hot with the selection of Emilian salumi (mortadella (the Bologna specialty), culatello (the rump of the prosciutto, the most refined cured meat in Emilia), the Prosciutto di Parma (the air-cured leg of pig from Parma, the most internationally known Italian ham), the salame felino (the Parma specialty coarse-ground salami with garlic and white pepper). Osteria dell'Orsa (Via Mentana 1 — the most beloved osteria in the university district, constantly full with students, locals and professors).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideMAMbo (Museo d'Arte Moderna di Bologna — Via Don Minzoni 14: the most important modern art museum in Emilia-Romagna (housed in the former city abattoir building, a 1915 Art Nouveau industrial structure repurposed as a museum in 2007): the permanent collection includes the most important works of the Bolognese avant-garde (the Arte Programmata movement, the Concettuale, and the Transavanguardia represented by Enzo Cucchi and Francesco Clemente), the works of the Bologna-born Morandi (Giorgio Morandi (1890–1964) — the painter of endlessly repeated still-lives of bottles and vessels, the most meditative and profound Italian painter of the 20th century: the largest collection of Morandi's work outside his dedicated museum in the Palazzo d'Accursio).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideModena (45 min by regional train from Bologna Centrale, €4 — the Emilia-Romagna food capital that competes with Bologna for the title of Italy's finest food city: the specific Modena specialties: Aceto Balsamico Tradizionale di Modena DOP (the traditional balsamic vinegar — not the industrial product (which is vinegar with caramel and flavoring), but the real balsamic: grape must from Trebbiano Modenese grapes, cooked and aged for a minimum of 12 years (minimum) in a battery of progressively smaller barrels of different woods, each barrel as it fills up from the next size up (chestnut, cherry, juniper, mulberry, oak) — the 25-year (extravecchio) variety sells for €80/100ml), and the Enzo Ferrari Museum (the birthplace and museum of the founder of Ferrari, with the original Ferrari factory on the same street).
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuideSimoni (Pescherie Vecchie 3, the Quadrilatero market — the finest salumeria in Bologna for a mortadella sandwich (the tigella: the small, thick, toasted circular flatbread typical of the Modena-Bologna Apennine tradition, served warm and filled with the sliced mortadella): the Bolognese tradition of the morta-della sandwich in a tigella or michetta bread roll (the ciabatta of Bologna) is the most satisfying street food in northern Italy. The mortadella from Simoni is the finest available: the specific DOP mortadella from the Bologna province, pistachio-studded and myrtle-berry flavored, a very different product from the American "bologna" that derived from it.
🎫 Book tickets via GetYourGuide