Where to Stay
Interessted in the the 900 year-old Tower that can be your Private Hotel Suite?
Without knowing your budget, here are some other ones worth checking:
Palazzo Trevi
Eating & Drinking
Try some excellent Natural wines at Enoteca Storica Faccioli, cute and perfect for aperitivo before dinner and find real local Bolognese cuisine at Trattoria della Santa. Book a table on the terrace.
Breakfast on the canal at Opera Caffè e Tulipani, a romantic little bistro with a terrace at the back overlooking the water.
For traditional Bolognese dishes & Italian wines in a cozy trattoria lined with photos of opera stars try Grassilli.
Trattoria Serghei is family run in a cozy wooden cabin style atmosphere.
Casamerlò for bold art decor and extremely well executed traditional dishes, with signature plates inspired by the 1980s, an exuberant wine list, and interiors mixing modern art and fine antique. A few kilometeres outside of the city you can find the Casa Merló Locanda “inn” where you can dine amidst the greenery of the serene surroundings of Calderara di Reno.
Bologna’s herbal market: always crowded and boisterous with a lively mix of locals and tourists trying local dishes from various stalls at the communal tables
Lunch or casual dinner at the lovely and rustic Ruggine.
The best and cheapest authentic pasta at Osteria dell’Orsa, eat with students and get a feel for what a typical osteria in Bologna would have been during the early age of its prestigious University.
Seeing & Doing
Discover an emporium of objects (like a prop house), a beautiful bazar, a collector’s haven named after Shakespeare’s The Globe.
Visit Casa Morandi: House of painter Giorgio Morandi, just as he left it when he died in 1964. Another, more eccentric house museum, this time of Lucio Dalla, one of the most famous singers in Italian history. It’s open to the public every Friday.
Discover an emporium of objects (like a prop house), a beautiful bazar, a collector’s haven named after Shakespeare’s The Globe.
Villa Spada, a Neoclassical building from the 18th century, a wonderful garden and villa that offers a view over all of Bologna
If you love libraries like we do, don’t miss the Biblioteca Comunale dell’Archiginnasio, only one of the greatest historical libraries in the world, with codes, manuscripts, ancient books. On the first floor, with just 3 euros, you can visit the “Dissecting Room”. In this room, the corpses were dissected during the anatomy lessons. Visiting info.
The workshop of Flavio Belletti, woodcarver and restorer who always keeps the doors to his workshop open for you to dive into the past.
Another Aladdin’s cave that leaves its doors open, this time for wrought iron artistry. It’s located in one of the most picturesque neighborhoods of Bologna – the Ghetto.
See if anything strikes your fancy on the programming at the city’s stunning Teatro Communale. Program info here.
Day trips:
Modena for balsamic vinegar and cars, Parma for cheese and ham, Ravenna for mosaics, or Ferrara for a quieter Renaissance city.
Modena
Climb the Ghirlandina Tower
Eat at Mercato Albinelli food market.
Trattoria Ermes Tiny, folkloric, communal, very local. More “authentic Modena institution” than elegant antique, but it has that lived-in, old tavern feeling.
Osteria di Rubbiara / Acetaia Pedroni Just outside Modena, but very worth it for atmosphere. It’s in a farmhouse connected to a historic balsamic vinegar producer, so you get rustic Emilian food.
Do a balsamic vinegar tasting
Visit an acetaia to taste real traditional balsamic vinegar — one of the best reasons to go to Modena. The city is famous for balsamic vinegar, including IGP Aceto Balsamico di Modena.
See the Galleria Estense
A refined art museum with works connected to the Este court — good if you want something quieter and cultural.
Parma
Piazza Duomo
The most beautiful part of the city: the Cathedral, Baptistery, and surrounding medieval square. The cathedral is especially worth entering for Correggio’s frescoed dome.
Palazzo della Pilotta
A huge, atmospheric palace complex with the Teatro Farnese, National Gallery, Archaeological Museum, and Palatine Library. The wooden Teatro Farnese is the showstopper.
Teatro Regio
Parma is a serious opera city, and this is its great opera house. Even if you don’t see a performance, check whether tours are running.
Camera di San Paolo
A small, magical room frescoed by Correggio. Easy to miss, but very worth it if you like intimate, jewel-box interiors.
Eat all the Parma things
Prosciutto di Parma, culatello, Parmigiano Reggiano, torta fritta, anolini, tortelli d’erbetta, and Lambrusco. Parma is very much a food-first city.
Do a Parmigiano or Parma ham tour
A morning dairy visit is one of the best things to do around Parma, especially because Parmigiano production happens early. Italia’s tourism site also highlights the local food museums dedicated to Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma ham, tomato, and Felino salami.
Visit the Labirinto della Masone
Outside Parma near Fontanellato: a giant bamboo labyrinth created by Franco Maria Ricci, with an art collection and exhibitions. Very unusual and visually memorable.
Fontanellato / Rocca Sanvitale
A charming little town outside Parma with a moated castle and Parmigianino frescoes — good to combine with the Labirinto della Mason