Bologna Things to Do

Torre Asinelli, the largest medieval tower, can be climbed. A perfect way to burn some of the calories that you have assembled sampling the local food specialities. I did that during my first visit so...

The Cortile de Pilato...Pilate's courtyard...is an open space surrounded by cloisters which lies behind the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. From there you can get an excellent view of the intricate...

San Petronio is the main parish church of the city. Its façade occupies the southern side of Piazza Maggiore. It is not the cathedral, though – the Duomo is located round the corner in Via...

Together with the adjacent Piazza del Nettuno and Piazza Re Enzo, Piazza Maggiore is the heart and salon of the city. The most important public buildings are grouped around it: Palazzo d’Accursio or...

I can find out very little about the history of this building but I liked it very much. It certainly dates from the 1500s and is apparently an example of 'bourgeois' architecture. I'd guess that...

With today more than 85.000 students, Bologna’s university is considered to be the oldest university in the world, older than famous Oxford. It is not quite clear when it all started but 1088 has been...

Founded in 1936, Il Palazzo Comunale di Bologna le Collezioni Comunali d’arte (Bologna’s Municipal Art Collection) is located in what was once the winter apartments of the Cardinal Papal Legates on...

The Archiginnasio was once the centre of Bologna's ancient university. It was built in the mid-1500s with the express intention of bringing together under one roof the various university departments...

I wasn't expecting much when I followed a couple of other people 'round the back' of the altar (access is to the right). I didn't mind putting a small entrance fee into the machine (2 euro, if memory...

Sala Borsa is the city multimedia and general information library which every day provides users of all ages with books, newspapers, magazines, videos, CD's along with cabled and wi-fi internet...

Basilica di San Luca is a great Bologna landmark. Wherever you are in town or in the villages around you can always see it and it help you navigate the area. The church story start around the XII...

Bologna has more arcades (covered walkways) than I've come across in any other Italian city or town so far. It also has what is considered to be the longest arcade in the world, the 4km long Portico...

In 126 the city authorities gave the friars of the Bologna Franciscan monastery the parcel of land on which Basilica San Francesco now stands, so that they could build their own church. By 1251 the...

Via dell’Independenza is the elegant shopping street of Bologna. It leads from Piazza del Nettuno in the centre in northward direction past the cathedral and then straight on towards the train...

Absolutely no photos are allowed inside this large and airy church (and there is a 'guardian' to keep an eye on you). That is a pity because it has many points of interesr, including the rather lovely...

Those travellers who regularly visiting Italian towns probaly know what is the meaning of podesta. It derives from Latin word podestas, meaning power. In the Middle Ages each town had podesta, a high...

Sanctuario Santa Maria Della Vita lies on Via Clavature, one of the 'Medieval market' streets (according to the tourist information map) which run off Piazza Maggiore to the east. It's quite an old...

I thought I'd make a separate tip for this imposing structure because, if you arrive in Bologna by train or bus it's likely to be one of the first things that strikes you. The Porta Galliera is one...

On Via Indipendencia, the large north-south main street in Bologna is this church, the cathedral of Bologna. Somehow it is very difficult to see, or better might be unnoticed because it is located...

“The art of Bologna in its earlier phases shows the mediaeval school represented by numerous Byzantine-Romanesque panels and manuscript illuminations (Bologna Museum and elsewhere).” — from “A Short...

Due to its importance as university town already since middle ages, it seems only logical that holding markets was very important. And the more goods were sold the more important it was to establish...

“Upon another hill, stands the celebrated church of the Madonna di St. Luca, three miles from Bologna. A portico consisting of seven hundred arcades reaches from it to the gate of the city. The church...

One of many streets with that old-town atmosphere which is so characteristic for Bologna. Via San Vitale begins behind the Due Torri and leads straight east towards Porta San Vitale. The street is...

At last, a bit of Bologna's Roman heritage! The Museo Civico Archeologico di Bologna is housed in the rather lovely (and very impressive) 15-th century Palazzo Galvani (a building which was...

One building around Piazza Maggiore, more precisely north of Palazzo del Podestà and the street Via Rizzoli, is quite interesting: Palazzo di Re Enzo. Enzo of Sardinia, illegitimate son of Holy Roman...