Bologna earned the nickname La Grassa by feeding itself first and visitors second. Three days here means egg pasta rolled at dawn, 30-month Parmigiano, mortadella cut by hand and Lambrusco poured in an osteria trading since 1465.
Bologna's covered market since 1910, under a glass-and-iron roof on Via Ugo Bassi 25. Greengrocers, fishmongers and salumi counters trade from 07:00 Mon–Sat, with an inner food hall pouring Pignoletto and Lambrusco by the glass from €3.
Fourth-generation trattoria on Via San Felice 50/a run by Elisa Rusconi, where tortellini in brodo are hand-closed each morning and the cotoletta alla bolognese arrives buried under melted Parmigiano. Two courses at lunch run about €35.
The Simoni family's tasting room on Via Pescherie Vecchie 1/b carves 30-month Parmigiano Reggiano, mortadella IGP and culatello di Zibello onto wooden boards. A tagliere for two with a bottle of Pignoletto lands around €40.
Open since 1465 and the oldest osteria still trading in Italy, hidden down Vicolo Ranocchi 1/d. It sells only wine — glasses from €2 — so regulars carry in bread and mortadella from the surrounding shops and share long communal tables.
Alessandra Spisni's pasta school on Via Malvasia 49, where sfogline roll egg dough by hand with a metre-long mattarello. Half-day classes cover tagliatelle and tortellini from scratch and finish by eating them, around €100 per person.
A two-room trattoria in the Bolognina district north of the station, sourcing almost everything from small Emilian producers. The tagliatelle al ragù and crescentine with squacquerone are why the booking book fills a month ahead.
Rolling pasta and baking on Via Caprarie 7 since 1868, behind marble counters and gilt lettering. Trays hold fresh tortellini, tortelloni and the spiced certosino cake; a kilo of tortellini is about €30, single portions from €6.
Daniele Minarelli's twelve-table osteria on Via Santa Caterina 51 serves culatello aged 30 months, tortellini in capon broth and ragù cut by knife rather than minced. No printed menu; mains sit between €18 and €26.
Stone-milled sourdough bakery on Via Galliera 34 using organic Emilian grain, open from 07:30. Cappuccino and a cornetto cost about €4, while pizza in teglia and crescente bolognese studded with pancetta come out mid-morning.
Named for sfoglina Rina Poletti, this Via Castiglione 5/b counter sells fresh sfoglia by weight and cooks it in the room next door. Tortelloni burro e salvia or ragù plates arrive in minutes for €9–12 — sit-down food at street-food speed.
Italy's oldest chocolate house, founded in Bologna in 1796 and still selling from Via de' Carbonesi 5. The Fiat cremino — four layers of gianduia and almond created in 1911 for a car launch — is the signature; a 200g box is around €14.
Aperitivo inside the frescoed 16th-century private chapel of the Bentivoglio family on Via del Borgo di San Pietro 1. Cocktails near €9 come with a spread of crescentine, mortadella cubes and squacquerone served under the painted vaults.