Bologna is the oldest university city in Europe, full of students and bookstores. From World War II until the last elections, when public opinion tilted to the right, “red Bologna” served as a stronghold of the Italian Communist Party. The city boasts excellent cuisine, a vibrant cultural scene and some of the liveliest cafes and bars in northern Italy. The compact city center, decorated with colonnades, retains its medieval layout.
Arrival and accommodation in Bologna
Guglielmo Marconi International Airport (Bologna Airport Transfer) is located northwest of the city center. An airport bus runs from here to the station at Piazza delle Medaglie d’Oro. Tourist information is available at the airport, and the main tourist office is located at Piazza Maggiore 6. The tour bureau offers free guides in English Talkabout and Zero, as well as 2night (Bologna nightlife) and L’Ospite di Bologna.
The largest and busiest city market is the Mercato delle Erbe in Via Ugo Bassi 2, the smaller market is in Via Draperie. Book your hotel rooms in advance, especially during the fairs. The best local campsite is the Camping Hotel and Residence with a swimming pool in Via Romita 12/4-a, near the fairgrounds.
Attractions in Bologna
In the bustling Piazza Maggiore rises the Basilica of San Petronio, which, according to the original plan, was to surpass the size of St. Peter’s Cathedral in Rome. To the left of the building you can see what remains of the side nave, and a reconstruction of the basilica plan is on display in the museum.
Another attraction of San Petronio is an astronomical clock in the form of a long metal rod set strictly on a north-south line, like the meridians on a map. A small hole is left in the roof of the basilica for the sun’s rays crossing the meridian line.
The University of Bologna is the oldest institution of higher education in Europe, although the special building for it was built only in 1565. Its most interesting part is the anatomical theater at the Faculty of Medicine, where tiers of chairs surround the teaching chair with a canopy, which is supported by figures of gli spellati (people without skin).
South of the university, Via Garibaldi leads to Piazza San Domenico with the church of San Domenico, built in 1251 to bury St. Dominic. The bones of the saint rest in a fifteenth-century basilica designed by Niccolò Pisano. The figures of the angels and the saints Proclus and Petronius, installed in the church, were made by the young Michelangelo.
In the eastern part of the historic center of Bologna the large palaces of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries house the faculties of the University of Bologna. In Piazza di Porta Ravegnana are two towers: the Torre degli Asinelli and the dangerously tilted Torre Garizenda, the only surviving towers of the hundreds that were scattered around the city during the Middle Ages.