Bologna

Bologna, Italy

As capital of the Emilia Romagna region, Bologna is an art city, a university centre and a place renowned for its excellent cuisine. It hosts important international trade fairs and is one of the world’s greatest motor cities. Ducati, Lamborghini and Maserati were all born in Bologna and Ferrari’s headquarters can be found in nearby Modena.

Population:

384,000

Currency:

Euro (EUR) €1 = 100 cents

Emergency Numbers:

Carabinieri: 112
Police: 113
Ambulance: 118
Fire Brigade: 115

Opening Hours:

Shops in Bologna are usually open from 9 am-12.30 pm and 3.30 pm-7.30 pm. Shops are normally closed on Thursdays and Sundays.

Newspapers:

Il resto del Carlino
Il domani di Bologna
L’Unità
La Repubblica
Metro, City and Leggo
Corriere della sera
La stampa
Il Sole24ore

The City

Italians love to define Bologna as a scholarly, fat and red city. The scholarly label refers to the site of the world’s oldest university (1088). The fat label alludes to Bolognese food, with its tagliatelle and tortellini. Finally, Bologna is a red city because of the colour of its houses and also thanks to the political traditions of the city’s administration.

Bologna is also a city of porticos, which stretch for nearly 40 kilometres in the city centre, and of the Garisenda tower, the only real leaning tower in Italy (the leaning tower of Pisa is in fact a bell tower).

As an Etruscan settlement, Bologna later became a Roman town (Bononia). During the medieval period, the city developed into a free commune which reached the peak of its power in the 13th Century. Despite falling under the control of the Papal States in the 16th Century, the city maintained legal and political autonomy.

Do & See

The centre of Bologna is one of the best conserved in Europe, and it is full of beautiful palaces and churches packed with art works that bear witness to the cultural importance of the city over the centuries. The historical city centre is also considered to be one of the largest in Europe.

Dining

Bologna is renowned for its rich cuisine. So you should, at the very least, try mortadella (a sort of salted pork meat) and tagliatelle (handmade noodles) with meat sauce and lasagne, which by the way, was invented here.

Cafés

As a student city and as the symbol of the good life, Bologna is well known for the efficiency of its services and the welcoming nature of its people, who are somewhat envied for their joie de vivre. What better place to do the same than at one of the many cafés of the city.