Are you coming to Bologna by car?
Greta won’t love you, but if you park in the right place without wandering around and getting a ticket, we can make her happier.

​Here are my suggestions to park in Bologna and avoid tickets in the relentless ZTL (traffic limited zone).

There’s an area in Bologna that you mustn’t cross: it’s the ZTL.
​It’s a limited area that covers almost the whole city inside the old walls and it’s forbidden to non-residents from 7am to 8pm.

It’s important to know in advance where the area begins, because the road signs aren’t clear and well visible.

​My suggestion is to never enter the walls of Bologna with your car: you will get crazy to find parking and you can easily go to a street that is forbidden.

Let’s say it loud and clear: in Bologna there is no free parking.
Whatever you leave your car in a garage or in public parking, you have to pay.

Here are the different options:

You have to look for the blue lines. If you find it white, you’re not lucky, you’re inside a resident zone and your car will be removed.
Even worse with yellow lines that are for buses, taxi or people with disabilities.

The blue lines have different prices and time ranges according to the area where you are. Nothing cheaper than 1,5€/hour.
​Also you need coins to pay in the red machine, hopefully working.

This is the best option to park your car and safely enjoy your time in Bologna. There are many garages in good locations to visit the city center or get to Piazza Maggiore, where our Bologna food tours start:

- Garage Autostazione
Close to the train station, it’s easy to reach without risks of a ticket.

15 minutes walking to Piazza Maggiore.
Piazza XX Settembre, 6 – 40121 Bologna (BO)
Price: 18€/day (every day but Saturday), 2,2€/hour.

- Nuovo Parcheggio Stazione
Just next to the new train station, it’s a multilevel parking lot with 800 spots. Good if you need to get the train, but in an area with lots of cheaper blue lines.

25 minutes walking to Piazza Maggiore.
Via Fioravanti, 4 – 40129 Bologna (BO)
www.nuovoparcheggiostazione.it
Price: 13€/day, 2€/hour.

- Parcheggio VIII Agosto
It’s an underground multilevel parking lot in a very central location. Not cheap but worth it. Be careful to arrive at it only from Via Irnerio, otherwise you’re surely getting a ticket.

10 minutes walking to Piazza Maggiore.
Piazza VIII Agosto, 40126 Bologna BO
www.apcoa.it/parcheggi-in/bologna/piazza-viii-agosto/
Price: 20€/day, 2,6€/hour.

- Parcheggio Tanari
One of the best options. It’s huge and free if you leave the car there and get the bus to arrive in the center.

30 minutes with bus+walk to Piazza Maggiore.
Via Tanari, 17 – 40131 Bologna (BO)
Price: 5€/day, 0,6€/hour or free if you buy a 1,50€ bus ticket.

- Parcheggio Ex-Staveco
​In the southern part of Bologna, perfect to visit Giardini Margherita park.

15 min walking to Piazza Maggiore
Viale Panzacchi, 10 – 40136 Bologna (BO)
Price: 12€/day, 2€/hour.

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You landed in the Italian food capital but you have only one day to spend there?
Don’t panic. It’s possible to get the best from Bologna in one day if you know how to mastermind distances, sightseeing and – of course – carbs.

Here’s my recipe to have the perfect day in Bologna: amazing food, a bit of culture and something unexpected.

A whole foodie day awaits you.
The temptation to skip breakfast can be strong, but don’t fall into it. 
​
Since Italians eat a little in the morning, it will take only a few minutes, but you’re definitely going to need those energies!
There’s a full post about the best breakfasts in Bologna with the addresses you shouldn’t miss.

My tip
Sit at the counter, order a cappuccino and a savory croissant (we call it “La Salata”). It’s light, fast and with enough butter to start the day with a big smile.

Bologna is the perfect city to spend all morning looking at the shops in the food markets. 
Especially if you were wondering in how many different ways pork can be cooked (Spoiler: soooo many).

Our Bologna food tours can save you time and bad tastes, but if you prefer to go on your own walk around Mercato di Mezzo.
The medieval Piazza Maggiore, the two towers and the intricate complex of Santo Stefano are just a few steps away from the mortadella.

My tip
Is it noon-ish? Get inside the Basilica of San Petronio and see the longest sundial in Europe working.
It happens only at noon, but it has to be the astronomical noon. How to know when it is exactly? Play with maths or just look at the chart next to the entrance of Bolognini Chapel.

Make sure to take your time for lunch, it will probably be your most vivid memory.
Best way to experience the living culture of the town is to put your legs under a table, grip a fork and relax.

At Sfoglia Rina, the menu is written on a blackboard on the wall, and – apart from the very traditional unchangeable dishes – it’s renewed every week.
Pasta is the freshest you can have, and they have special attention to the details.

My tip
Since you have one day, but unfortunately only one stomach, focus on the fab four:
1. Tortellini in brodo
2. Tortelloni with ricotta and parsley 
3. Lasagne alla bolognese 
4. Tagliatelle al ragù

Impossibile choice?
​Try one and learn to make the others during our cooking class in Bologna, because new cooking skills are the best souvenir you can get here.

Bologna isn’t only famous for tortellini. 
The University here was established in 1088 and it’s the oldest in the western world. 

Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio had been its venue for almost three centuries. You can read the students’ names in the 6000 coat of arms painted on the walls, and try to guess which country in Europe they came from.

Don’t miss Teatro Anatomico at the first floor, with its wooden stands around the marble table for the human bodies dissections.

My tip
Dig into the weird old studying methods at Museo di Palazzo Poggi. Anatomical waxes, optical experiments and old maps will make your day.
Plus, it’s in the southern part of the city, so you can have a nice walk through the former Jewish ghetto to get there.

Too early to go to dinner, too late to visit anything else: it’s time to have aperitivo.

During the summertime, relax at Le Serre inside the city’s most lovely park: Giardini Margherita. 
Besides the cool location, with trees and light bulbs everywhere, the menu is getting more and more interesting every year. 
Plus, they have an exciting program of live music and new-wave cinema, a nice way to keep you thoughtfully entertained while you’re sipping your freshly minted Hugo.

When it’s too cold to drink outside, MamBo (Bologna Museum of modern art) is one of the best aperitivo in Bologna.

My tip
Aperol Spritz is the king of aperitivo.
Craft beers, natural wines or a tailor-made cocktail work pretty well too. 

If you just one night in town, you should go for something really traditional. 
At Cantina Bentivoglio, they kept the vibes of the old restaurants and the recipes of the grandmothers. Their tortellini in brodo is legendary. After dessert, you could listen to some jazz music coming out of the cellars. 
If it happens, stay and enjoy: their concerts worth every penny.

My tip
Bologna is a perfect city to walk. Its almost 40 km of porticoes will cradle you around.
​It’s even more fascinating in the night, when the red light turns on and the music comes out of the windows.

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Summer in Bologna is like a chocolate box, sorry Forrest. Rich and tasty, but ends always too soon.
Here’s my guide for the best places to enjoy and never miss any crumb of it.

You’ve drunk all the water of Nettuno fountain.
Jump between the shadows of the porticos.
Spend a full day through crypts and ice caves (yes, we have a lot of them).

But it’s hot, still.

Summer in Bologna can be very hot.
The good news is that you can find an escape in the green. 

Giardini Margherita is our Hyde Park.
People jogging in the evening, a small lake and a light, unexpected breeze.
From 2014 it also hosts my favourite place to spend a summer night in Bologna.

Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita are former greenhouses brought back to life by Kilowatt association. Photos hardly describe the atmosphere of this place. Enjoy one of the best aperitivo in Bologna, listen to live music or just relax between rosemary and thyme. 

Rudere is the next big thing.
Literally translated as “the ruin”, Rudere is another example of regeneration of a forsaken place. Free-grill, live music and craft beer on a hill with a view on San Luca Basilica. Not bad, uh?

Not exactly a place for aperitivo, but once you’ve tried Scaccomatto agli Orti then it’s hard to not talk about it.
An oasis of peace and harmony hidden behind a gate.
A secret vegetable garden where you can have dinner under fig trees.
A chef, Mario Ferrara, who greets you with a smile and surprises with his dishes.
Fixed menu that changes every evening. Be sure to book in advance.

Info

Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita
Via Castiglione, 134, 40136 Bologna
leserre.kilowatt.bo.it

Rudere
Via Gaibara 1, 40136 Bologna
www.rudeosteria.it
Tel. 051 235944

Scaccomatto agli Orti
Via della Braina 7, 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051 263404
www.ristorantescaccomatto.com

When I was 8, I used to wait for the new collection of Panini soccer stickers.
When I was 20, for the new Radiohead album.
Now, for both of them still, but also for the program of Sotto le Stelle del Cinema.

From mid-June to August 15th, Piazza Maggiore becomes a cinema. The best cinema I’ve ever seen.
 
First Cinema Ritrovato Festival brings back to life old masterpieces, restored by the lab of Cineteca di Bologna.

Then Sotto le stelle del cinema enlightens the biggest screen in Europe with old Italian movies, the hidden gems you’ve missed in the last season, and some unique events like silent movies with an orchestra. 
All movies are in original language, with English subtitles if Italian. 

June is also the month of Biografilm Festival: a month of previews, small productions and documentaries that enrich the park of Cavaticcio day and night. After the movie, you can have some street food in a park and enjoy live music near the old Cavaticcio canal. 

If you speak a bit of Italian, or you’d like to learn it, Arena Puccini is another open-air theatre to consider.
Not only because of the selection of movies, mostly last season highlights.
The park around it called DLF (former after-work railway area) now hosts beach-volley playing fields, a nice restaurant and the great pizza of Pizzartist. 

Info

Cinema Ritrovato
June 23rd – July 1st 2018
Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it

Sotto le stelle del cinema
July 2nd – August 15th, 2018
Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
www.cinetecadibologna.it

Biografilm Festival
Parco del Cavaticcio, Via Azzo Gardino, 40122 Bologna
Tel. 051 219 3111
www.biografilm.it

Arena Puccini
Mid June – first days of Sept
Via Sebastiano Serlio, 25/2, 40128 Bologna
www.cinetecadibologna.it

Live music in Bologna is a big thing.
Name a rock star, a pop idol or a jazz master and you can be sure he made a walk under the porticoes.

The most important clubs move their stages outdoor during summer.
Botanique offers a wider range of concerts, but it’s also a place to get a beer and relax sitting on the grass.

Jazz lovers, we don’t forget about you. 
Via Mascarella, the street of jazz, closes for pedestrians in summer and becomes a living room.
During Salotto del Jazz Festival, hosted by Cantina Bentivoglio and Bravo Caffè, Moustache and Cinema Odeon, you can relax with a glass of wine and a dish tagliatelle al ragù while the brushes are drumming.
 
Enter the old gate of Palazzo Re Enzo in Piazza Maggiore for Round Midnight Jazz Club. A temporary jazz club with live concerts and jam session after midnight. With a view on Neptune’s fountain. Not bad, huh? 

Info

Botanique
June 16th – July 22nd, 2018
Via Filippo Re, 40126 Bologna
www.botanique.it

Bravo Caffè
Via Mascarella 1, 40126 Bologna
Tel. 051 266112
www.bravocaffe.it

Cantina Bentivoglio
Via Mascarella 4/b, 40126 Bologna
Tel. 051 265416
​www.cantinabentivoglio.it

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Commissioned by a Pope, designed by an architect, created by a Belgian artist, the fountain of Neptune is one of the symbols of Bologna.
​Here are 5 curious stories that hard to find on your pocket Lonely Planet.

Originally Neptune fountain should have been set in the centre of Piazza Maggiore.
During ’500 century, Piazza Maggiore was a noisy open-air food market (that’s why we start all our food tours in Bologna there).

Sometimes the Crescentone, the thicker step in the middle of the square that takes its name from a typical bread, became a theatrical setting or a sports field. Once it was even used as a naval battlefield, with a big swimming pool in the middle, and also today it becomes an open-air cinema every summer.

​For all these reasons Piazza Maggiore wasn’t the right stage to exhibit the giant: he found his place just next door, with all the lights on him.

For about 300 years Bologna was controlled by the Pope.
You can tell it by walking through churches and monasteries or looking at the statue on Palazzo D’Accursio. But also Neptune statue has a deep relationship with the head of the Catholic Church.

In 1563 Pio IV became Pope. To assert his power over Bologna and take back the reins of the city, he conceived a symbol. 
An imposing and severe God, that with his left hand calms the waters beneath him, controls the rebel Bolognese people and brings water to the city. 
​
As Neptune dominates the waters, so the Pope dominates the world.

Sometimes prohibition develops wit. For sure Giambologna, sculptor of the Neptune, didn’t lack that.

The Belgian artist wanted to give Neptune a more manly look, far from the rigorous dictates of Catholic Church. So he did with a clever expedient. 

To see his trick just look for a darker stone, called Pietra della Vergogna (the stone of shame), just behind the statue.
Surprise!
​Standing on that point, the God looks powerful in every way.

Bologna isn’t only the city of food. Outside the city walls you find some of the best car and motorcycle producers like Ferrari, Lamborghini and Ducati. 

Maserati is a luxury car brand born in Bologna, in a small garage near Piazza Santo Stefano, where on the walls you can still see some of the first design projects.

Mario Maserati, one of the founders’ brothers, created the company logo inspired by Neptune’s trident, which he precisely reproduced. Since 1926, when their first car “Tipo 26″ started to run, the trident proudly stands on every model.

As Amelie’s famous garden gnome travels the world, as the Neptune isn’t just set in Bologna.
Bolognese travelers will be happy to find 3 copies of Neptune scattered around the world. 

The first is in Brussels, next to where his original sculptor Giambologna was born, and was commissioned by the king of Belgium Leopold II. 

The second is all covered with gold and is set in Batumi, Georgia, on the Black Sea. 
​
The last copy is in California, on the beach between Long Beach and San Diego. A perfect location to dominate the Ocean.

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Summer in Bologna is like a chocolate box, sorry Forrest. Rich and tasty, but ends always too soon.
Here’s my guide for the best places to enjoy and never miss any crumb of it.

You’ve drunk all the water of Nettuno fountain.
Jump between the shadows of the porticos.
Spend a full day through crypts and ice caves (yes, we have a lot of them).

But it’s hot, still.

Summer in Bologna can be very hot.
The good news is that you can find an escape in the green. 

Giardini Margherita is our Hyde Park. People jogging in the evening, a small lake and a light, unexpected breeze.
From 2014 it also hosts my favourite place to spend a summer night in Bologna.
Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita are former greenhouses brought back to life by Kilowatt association. Photos hardly describe the atmosphere of this place. Get a drink and listen to live music or just relax between rosemary and thyme.

Rudere is the next big thing of 2018.
Literally translated as “the ruin”, Rudere is another example of regeneration of a forsaken place. Free-grill, live music and craft beer on a hill with a view on San Luca Basilica. Not bad, uh?

Not exactly a place for aperitivo, but once you’ve tried Scaccomatto agli Orti then it’s hard to not talk about it.
An oasis of peace and harmony hidden behind a gate.
A secret vegetable garden where you can have dinner under fig trees.
A chef, Mario Ferrara, who greets you with a smile and surprises with his dishes.
Fixed menu that changes every evening. Be sure to book in advance.

Info

Le Serre dei Giardini Margherita
Via Castiglione, 134, 40136 Bologna
leserre.kilowatt.bo.it

Rudere
Via Gaibara 1, 40136 Bologna
www.rudeosteria.it
Tel. 051 235944

Scaccomatto agli Orti
Via della Braina 7, 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051 263404
www.ristorantescaccomatto.com

When I was 8, I used to wait for the new collection of Panini soccer stickers.
When I was 20, for the new Radiohead album.
Now, for both of them still, but also for the program of Sotto le Stelle del Cinema.

From mid-June to August 15th, Piazza Maggiore becomes a cinema. The best cinema I’ve ever seen.
 
First Cinema Ritrovato Festival brings back to life old masterpieces, restored by the lab of Cineteca di Bologna.

Then Sotto le stelle del cinema enlightens the biggest screen in Europe with old Italian movies, the hidden gems you’ve missed in the last season, and some unique events like silent movies with an orchestra. 
All movies are in original language, with English subtitles if Italian. 

June is also the month of Biografilm Festival: a month of previews, small productions and documentaries that enrich the park of Cavaticcio day and night. After the movie, you can have some street food in a park and enjoy live music near the old Cavaticcio canal. 

If you speak a bit of Italian, or you’d like to learn it, Arena Puccini is another open-air theatre to consider.
Not only because of the selection of movies, mostly last season highlights.
The park around it called DLF (former after-work railway area) now hosts beach-volley playing fields, a nice restaurant and the great pizza of Pizzartist. 

Info

Cinema Ritrovato
June 23rd – July 1st 2018
Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
festival.ilcinemaritrovato.it

Sotto le stelle del cinema
July 2nd – August 15th, 2018
Piazza Maggiore, Bologna
www.cinetecadibologna.it

Biografilm Festival June 1st – 24th 2018
Parco del Cavaticcio, Via Azzo Gardino, 40122 Bologna
Tel. 051 219 3111
www.biografilm.it

Arena Puccini
Mid June – first days of Sept
Via Sebastiano Serlio, 25/2, 40128 Bologna
www.cinetecadibologna.it

Live music in Bologna is a big thing.
Name a rock star, a pop idol or a jazz master and you can be sure he made a walk under the porticoes.

The most important clubs move their stages outdoor during summer.
If Covo Summer Club is the Mecca of indie-rockers, Botanique offers a wider range of concerts, but it’s also a place to get a beer and relax sitting on the grass.

Jazz lovers, we don’t forget about you. 
Via Mascarella, the street of jazz, closes for pedestrians in summer and becomes a living room.
During Salotto del Jazz Festival, hosted by Cantina Bentivoglio and Bravo Caffè, Moustache and Cinema Odeon, you can relax with a glass of wine and a dish tagliatelle al ragù while the brushes are drumming.
 
Piazza Verdi is the most controversial square of Bologna.
Coen’s brother would say that the heart of University area is not a country for old men.
A​ stage for concerts and public conferences tries to change its mood, by bringing some great musicians like trumpeter Paolo Fresu. Keep an eye on it.

Info

Covo Summer Club
June 7th – July 14th, 2018
Viale Zagabria 1, 40127 Bologna
Tel. 051 505801
covoclub.it

Botanique
June 16th – July 22nd, 2018
Via Filippo Re, 40126 Bologna
www.botanique.it

Bravo Caffè
Via Mascarella 1, 40126 Bologna
Tel. 051 266112
www.bravocaffe.it

Cantina Bentivoglio
Via Mascarella 4/b, 40126 Bologna
Tel. 051 265416
​www.cantinabentivoglio.it

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It’s easy to fall in love with Bologna.
It happens to me every day: under a portico, wandering at night in Piazza Maggiore or riding fast through my secrets streets.

​​To live Bologna without a hitch, however, there are a few helpful things to keep in mind.

Bologna has always been in a strategic position. In the past to trade, now to travel.
​
You can use Bologna as a basis to visit some of the greatest cities of Northern Italy.
With high speed trains Florence (40min), Milan (60min) and Venice (90min) are just next door.

But a popular Italian proverb says that the good wine rests in the smallest barrel.

So Italy’s best is hidden in small gems like the coloured town of Dozza, the secret castle of Rocchetta Mattei or the unique mosaics of Ravenna.

My suggestion
Rent a car or use local trains to explore the most you can around Bologna.

The idea you get of a city can be influenced by the season you visit it. Not only for the weather.

Keep in mind those Italian holidays, because most of the shops, markets and restaurants can be closed:
- January 6th
- April 25th
- May 1st
- June 2nd
- August 15th
- October 4th (only in Bologna)
- November 1st
- December 8th
- December 24th to 26th
- December 31st

Bologna has something special in every season, but in July/August it could be very very hot.

During the central weeks of August Bologna falls asleep. Students come back to their families, local go on holiday and even if it could be a fascinating atmosphere, most places will be closed.

Christmas instead is not a popular time for tourists, but a great time for food: cold temperatures are perfect for a hot dish of tortellini in brodo. 

My suggestion
Avoid hot summer months and don’t worry about the rain: we have porticoes.

If you arrive in Bologna by car you have to pay a lot of attention. Most part of the city centre, inside the old walls, is forbidden to cars from 7 am to 8 pm.

It’s called ZTL, traffic limited zone, but it’s not that easy to understand where it starts.
​It usually happens too late, even for Italians.

The good news is that Bologna is small enough to be covered by walk or bike.
Here’s a map of the forbidden area you mustn’t cross. ​

I’m sure you already know this, but it’s always good to remind.
In Bologna and Italy, we only drink cappuccino until 10/11am.

Not for lunch, not for aperitivo, not for dinner.

Breakfast in Italy is usually sweet and a hot cappuccino is the perfect fit for a brioche. 

If you ask a waiter a cappuccino at the end of your lunch he won’t say no. But if you’d like to live your time in Italy as an Italian, just order a simple espresso, maybe macchiato (with milk). 

My suggestion
Enter a bar in the morning saying: “Buongiorno, cappuccino e brioche per favore”.
Have them at the counter, like if you were in a rush even if you are not at all.
Pretend to read the sports page on local newspaper like Il Resto del Carlino and seem disappointed.
There you go, you’re bolognese!

Bologna is not Florence or Venice.
Yet.
Fortunately.

But still you can see electric trains for tourists, restaurants with spaghetti bolognese on the menu or mountains of gelato that doesn’t melt even in summer with 40°.
​
Nevertheless, it’s easy to find great food in Bologna. But just don’t stop at tagliatelle al ragù or tortellini in brodo.
​
There’s a lot out there to unveil: leftover dishes like passatelli, poor and delicious meat like coppa di testa and the amazing world of Aceto Balsamico of Modena.

​During our Bologna food tours we try to dig deep inside, but even if you haven’t enough time to join us, try read, learn and taste as much as you can.

Near the train station to spend less time dragging your bags?
Close to Piazza Maggiore to live the square day and night?
Or outside the walls for a cheaper price?

The choice of your hotel or apartment in Bologna can have a huge impact on the result of your trip.

A few suggestions from someone who grew up here:
- Avoid the University area (Via Zamboni, Via Petroni, Piazza Verdi). It can be very noisy at night.

- Choose a hotel near the train station only if you need to get lots of trains. Stazione Centrale area is quite safe, but not the most fascinating of Bologna.

- The southern area of Bologna, close to the hills, is beautiful and quiet. Via Santo Stefano, Via Castiglione, Via Sant’Isaia, Via Saragozza and all the small streets around them are perfect to start your visit during the day and relax at night.

My suggestion
Read my list of Bologna’s best Airbnb or my hotel suggestions and choose first the location, than the place.

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It’s really easy to have fun and enjoy Bologna without spending lot of money. Here are my top 5 suggestions but the best recommendation I can give is to leave home your map, wear comfortable shoes and start to wander under the porticoes of the city centre without hurry. Then take your time, look up to find out some hidden towers and maybe relax with a book in Piazza Santo Stefano. You’ll be surprised about how easy is to fall in love with Bologna.

It’s hard to describe how proud I feel everytime I watch a movie in Piazza Maggiore. It’s a privilege happening from June to mid-August when the most famous square of Bologna became an open air cinema with the program edited by Cineteca di Bologna. The selection of movies is wide, from classics to indipendents productions, from docs to mainstream but always with great attention. All the movies are in original language, subtitled.
​Be sure to arrive early to find a chair or bring it from home. 

Alice, one of the guides of my food tours, usually says that the best of Bologna is hidden. To agree with her you just have to enter Sala Borsa. In the past it was a basketball arena, a bank, a market, a botanical garden and a lot more but now is a public library with tons of books, magazines and audio/visual where you can read side by side with students or just have a coffee and take some rest during hot summer. The entrance is in Piazza Nettuno, be sure to step inside but I warn you: take a look at your clock because hours pass like seconds.  

I already wrote about Certosa Cemetery, I went there on a Sunday afternoon with my camera and walked around, got lost and discovered a city inside the city. A labyrinth of streets, with porticoes of course, where you can walk and find statues of lion, angels and children and be astonished by this silent museum that a few people know but deserves to be uncovered.    

San Luca is a lot more than a church for bolognesi. Everytime I come back from a journey and recognise the Basilica up on Colle della Guardia I feel like home. A bolognese tradition is to walk up there, starting at Porta Saragozza under the 666 porticoes that bring you at the top. Take your time, it will take about 1 hour if you walk, or put your jogging shoes and run! ​And when you come back maybe stop for a cheap spritz in one of the most traditional bolognese bar, Billi Bar, you deserved it.

Bologna is not a green city, or at least it seems like that if you walk around the city centre. The gardens are hidden inside the buildings but not far from the city centre there’s a park where you can rest under a tree, have a pic-nic and view Bologna’s skyline of towers and red roofs. It’s called Villa Ghigi, walk 600m from Porta San Mamolo and when you meet the news-stand start to walk up on your right. Then pass between some blocks and keep going until you see the first vineyards. Visit that in Autumn, hand in hand with your lover.

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Not all the months are the same to visit a city, so which are the best months to visit Bologna?
SPOILER: you can find you something intereresting to do every month, Bologna is always alive :) 

July it’s still a good month to come, even if you can get some very hot days. You have the chance to see a movie every night in the amazing landscape of Piazza Maggiore with “Cinema sotto le stelle“. It’s so far the best cinema you can ever see.
Avoid August if you can and if you’re interested in food because most of the markets and food shops close for almost all the month. Anyway you are able to see a different city: without students and traffic, the city is silent and magical at night. ​

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