I’ve been to Italy 16 times, and if you give me an opening, I can work it into just about any conversation.
But surprisingly, it wasn’t Venice, Rome, or the Amalfi Coast that made me fall head over heels for the country. It was Bologna, the capital of northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region.
Bologna has it all — food, wine, art, history, architecture, and the kind of energy that makes you seriously consider missing your flight home. Sure, seeing the Colosseum is cool, but I prefer eating perfectly made tortellini with a glass of pignoletto in Bologna.
Here’s why I always recommend tourists add Bologna to their itinerary, even if they can only spare one glorious, carb-loaded night.
Bologna’s food is truly unlike anything else I’ve ever had.
Every Italian I know tells me their region’s cuisine is the best, but I’m here to tell you that Bologna is home to the best food I’ve had.
I fell hard for the mortadella, the tortellini, and the Bolognese, and I’ve spent practically every trip to Italy since chasing those foods.
One of my favorite things I did in the city was wander through the Quadrilatero, the city’s historic market district, where butcher shops, cheese merchants, and specialty food stores practically demand that you stop every few feet.
When I was there, I grabbed a mortadella sandwich and a glass of Lambrusco, then sat in one of the stunning cobblestone alleyways to people-watch.
The region is also well known for producing Parmigiano Reggiano, which always seems to taste freshest here.
For a traditional Emilian dinner, I always recommend A Balùs. The Bolognese was the best pasta dish I’ve ever had in all of Italy, and the sardines served on bread with butter literally melted in my mouth.
The city’s got history, too.
Bologna isn’t just a city where you eat extraordinarily well. It’s also a place where visitors can stumble into hundreds of years of history while walking off lunch.
One place that particularly moved me was the Archiginnasio Municipal Library, which houses rare books, centuries-old manuscripts, and other special collections.
Although, in my opinion, it might not be as visually impressive as the Trinity Library in Dublin, knowing that some of these manuscripts date back more than a thousand years made this place feel pretty extraordinary to me.
It’s a university city, but it doesn’t feel like a typical college town.
One of the city’s highlights is the University of Bologna, which dates back to 1088 and is widely recognized as the oldest university in the Western world.
But Bologna isn’t a typical college town where the bars are packed with rowdy students and every night feels like a fraternity party.
Instead, the city has a much more sophisticated energy. I saw students mingling with professors, artists, young professionals, and longtime residents, creating this incredible mix of old-world Italy and youthful enthusiasm.
I also loved visiting the Piazza Verdi, a square filled with students catching up with friends after class.
I still can’t get over how stunning the architecture in Bologna is.
One of the unique things about Bologna’s design is its porticoes. I love these eye-catching archways that line the streets, many of which date back to the 12th century.
In fact, Bologna has about 38 miles of porticoes, with the most famous being the Portico di San Luca, a pathway that extends for about 2 miles and has more than 600 arches.
Bologna is ridiculously easy to visit, even if you only have one night.
I always recommend Bologna to travelers because they don’t have to sacrifice seeing other parts of Italy to go there, since the city is one of the country’s main railway hubs.
By train, Florence is only 30 minutes away, Milan is about an hour away, and Venice is just about 90 minutes away.
Overall, I think Bologna is one of Italy’s greatest culinary and cultural destinations, and I couldn’t recommend it enough.
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