Bologna stories
19 stories from bolognacitybreaks.com, newest first.
Where to Roll Tagliatelle by Hand in Bologna
Seven places in and around Bologna teach the sfoglia, and the Quadrilatero counters tell you whether yours came out right.
Standing Under Bologna's Medieval Merchant Court
The loggia at Palazzo della Mercanzia is free, open to the street, and worth about ten minutes on its own; a short walk nearby is what makes it legible.
The last open stretch of Bologna's canal, seen from via Piella
Bologna's mill canal surfaces for one short run behind the houses, and the free window that frames it takes five minutes of patience at the wrong hour.
Bologna Never Finished San Petronio Basilica
Europe's largest brick church is free to walk into, its floor carries the world's biggest indoor sundial, and the best delis in Bologna are ninety seconds away.
Bologna's Piazza Maggiore in October, Hour by Hour
What Bologna's main square is really like in October, and how to spend a day there without paying for a view that no longer exists.
Bologna's Leaning Towers and the Rivalry That Built Them
The tallest one is shut, the crooked one is in a steel corset, and the family feud behind both is still legible three streets in every direction. Here is how to read the towers in 2026.
Bologna's Buried Canals, Traced From Street to Tunnel
Beneath Bologna's porticoes runs the silk-trade canal network the city spent a century burying, and this is where it still surfaces, above ground and below.
Bologna's Medieval Race to Build the World's First Skyscrapers
Nine centuries after rival families built brick towers to outrank each other, only one of Bologna's original skyscrapers can still be climbed. Here's the full vertical history, tower by tower.
Red Bologna: The Last Communist City in Western Europe
Beyond the towers and the tortellini, Bologna's murals, co-op supermarkets and self-managed social centres still carry the political identity that earned it the name La Rossa.
Life Under the Arches: Bologna's 40 Kilometres of Porticoes
A walking guide to the only city on earth built to be crossed dry — from the pilgrim's climb to San Luca to the working-class arches most visitors never reach.
Bologna's Hunger: How Food Built the Soul of the City
A local writer's honest, plate-by-plate guide to eating in Bologna la Grassa — from the city's most obsessive ragù to a 1465 wine tavern where you bring your own dinner.
Parmesan, Prosciutto, and Gold: A Day in Bologna's Food Valley
The porticoes get the postcards, but the real Bologna is out on the plain — where Parmigiano is formed at dawn, balsamic ages for a quarter-century in attic barrels, and the ragù is finally worth the drive.
The Best Food Tours in Bologna
Ten tours that actually earn their fee — from a 7am producer run through Parmigiano country to a backstreet crescione crawl — honestly ranked for couples, groups and cooks.
Via del Pratello, Bologna: the city’s loudest, cheapest, most defiant street
Six hundred metres of porticoes, pubs and politics west of Piazza San Francesco, Via del Pratello is where Bologna drinks late, eats cheaply and keeps its counter-culture history in plain sight.
University District, Bologna: student life, late-night bars and the old university
From Via Zamboni to Piazza Verdi, Bologna’s Zona Universitaria is where the city turns young, cheap and gloriously lived-in, with centuries of scholarship beside spritzes, jazz and ragù.
Saragozza, Bologna: the hill district where the porticoes begin
A quieter, greener Bologna unfolds west of the old gate, where Via Saragozza climbs toward San Luca under the longest covered walkway in the world.
Santo Stefano, Bologna: the triangle where the city slows down
A walk through Bologna’s most cinematic neighbourhood, where the Seven Churches, old porticoes, wine bars and gelato counters turn a simple piazza into an evening ritual.
Quadrilatero, Bologna: where the city eats, shops and spills into the street
Behind Piazza Maggiore, Bologna’s Roman grid still trades in mortadella, tortellini and Lambrusco, then turns into the city’s most convivial open-air bar by dusk.
Bolognina, Bologna: the city’s working quarter with a pulse of its own
North of Bologna Centrale, Bolognina trades postcard polish for rail-side realism, serious eating and a neighbourhood life that still feels lived in rather than staged.