Bologna doesn’t look very green at first sight.

But like our best food, parks and gardens are not exhibited.
They’re hidden behind old gates or they look at Bologna’s skyline from the hills outside the city walls.

Don’t be lazy, wear you jogging shoes and go look for them.

Opened in 1879, Giardini Margherita garden take its name from the same queen of the famous pizza. 
​
During its glorious days, you could have found there a lake with renting boats, a cafe chantant, a funicular railway and a zoo for lions. 
Now most of these things are gone, but Giardini Margherita still is Bologna’s largest and most important park.

Why visit it
For a picnic amongst students and locals during spring weekends or for an aperitivo at Le Serre (former greenhouses).

Info
Viale Giovanni Gozzadini, 40136 Bologna

The University area hides one of the oldest botanic gardens in Europe. 
2 hectares, +5000 plants including a selection of carnivore, 2 greenhouses with tropical and succulent.

Why visit it
For a breath of fresh air inside the city walls or if you’re looking for original things to do in Bologna with your kids.

Info
Via Irnerio 42, 40126 Bologna

Tired of porticoes, towers and taverns? 
Impossible, but in case you can escape to the wild nature without renting a car. 
​
Villa Ghigi is a huge park on the hills behind Porta San Mamolo. 
Fondazione Villa Ghigi organizes educational activities for school, birdwatching and interesting trekking.

Why visit it
To have a wide view of Bologna and digest all the food you had around the markets.

Info 
Via San Mamolo, 40136 Bologna

Rent a bike and ride to this park on the feet of San Luca Basilica.
You can visit the old Chiusa: a Middle Age sluice to deviate and adjust Reno river and provide water to Bologna.

Why visit it
Because you can take the bike path that starts from Certosa Cemetery and follows an open canal till Casalecchio. Then you’ll deserve a lunch stop at Sfoglia Rina.

Info
Via dei Mille 9, 40033 Casalecchio di Reno BO
www.parcodellachiusa.it​

Hey, do you know that Bologna had a harbor? 
We’re far from the sea, but until 1889 small boats used the harbor to move goods and trade with the markets of the center.

This park arises from its rests and unveils the canal still flowing underground.

Why visit it
Because in June, during Biografilm festival, Cavaticcio becomes a place for street food of Bologna, with live concerts and a vibrant atmosphere.

Info
Via Azzo Gardino, 40122 Bologna

Take a deviation from Via Saragozza to enter the gate of Villa Spada park.
Not enough?
Ok, climb the 300 steps and arrive at 300 scalini, a nice place to relax with a glass of wine and get the best view of San Luca Basilica.

Why visit it
Because in the park you can also visit one of the strangest museums in Italy about upholstery and one of the libraries of Bologna.

Info
Via di Casaglia, 3, 40135 Bologna

---

The first suggestion I give to tourists who ask me what to visit in Bologna is to walk. Bologna is small enough to be covered in a few hours and walking around is the best way to discover its hidden secrets: gardens, painted porticos, canals and, most important, people are easier to meet if you walk around. Now spring has arrived so here are 3 nice day walks you can have, plus one very special trekking for the athletes readers.   

San Luca Basilica represents a lot for Bolognese. It’s the first thing you see when you arrive in town and, even for people who don’t believe, its Virgin has a mystic value around it. Walking up there, after the 666 porticoes that connect Porta Saragozza to the Basilica, is a tradition for bolognese. You can find people jogging, pilgrims praying, or just families with children for a Sunday stroll.
​I usually walk up there with my camera, especially during sunset or at night, to admire the beautiful lights and relax in the quiet of the hill. There’s also a train that will bring you directly to San Luca, but I do agree with Eliot that says: “the journey, not the destination matters“.   

Where to start: Porta Saragozza
How long does it take: 55 minutes
My tip: go up there at night, even if the Basilica is closed the portico and its silence are invaluable

Villa Ghigi’s park dominates Bologna from a hill near Porta San Mamolo. From there you get a beautiful view of Bologna’s skyline and when the sky is clear you can also see Alps mountains. This park is my favorite location for a Sunday picnic, a lot more chilled than Giardini Margherita . So grab some bread, mortadella and a bottle of Pignoletto and relax between the rows of vines. 

Where to start: Porta San Mamolo
How long does it take: 45 minutes
My tip: visit Villa Ghigi in autumn, when the grape is ripe and the colors are beautiful

​www.fondazionevillaghigi.it

A nice and unusual way to spend a sunny afternoon in Bologna is to visit Parco della Chiusa. Start your walk (or ride) at Certosa Cemetery and visit it: it’s astonishing, then skirt one of the canal whose flow rate is controlled by “la Chiusa of Casalecchio”. La Chiusa (The Gate) is one of the oldest work of hydraulic in the world and helped the economic growth of Bologna during Middle Age by providing energy to its water mills to produce silk. La Chiusa is near a huge park that in the nineteenth century Stendhal, frequent visitor of these places, compared to Paris’ “Bois de Boulogne”. Take your time to relax or enjoy a trekking to San Luca through “De Bregoli” road.

Where to start: Certosa Cemetery
How long does it take: 40min
My tip: rent a bike and ride to Parco della Chiusa. Then leave it there and start your trekking around

​www.parcodellachiusa.it

Ok, I’m lying, if you know me you don’t expect me to walk the 130km that links Bologna to Florence through the old roman road called “Flaminia Militare”. But a few athletic friends made it and told me how beautiful this walking is.
Via degli dei (The Way of Gods) is the trekking path created in the late 80s of the ’900 by a group of Bolognese hikers, mostly follows these ancient tracks to rediscover some fine pavements of the Roman road. Not exactly a walk but still a good way to be in shape after a food tour in Bologna or Modena.

Where to start: Piazza Maggiore or San Luca
How long does it take: 4/6 days 
My tip: Take in in spring/late summer to avoid the bad or hot weather

​www.viadeglidei.it

---

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.

---