Bologna, Italy

WHERE TO STAY?

We stayed at Hotel I Portici at Via dell’Indipendenza. Excellent location, beautiful rooms, super-friendly staff, and absolutely marvelous breakfast.
Fully recommended!

www.iporticihotel.com

FOOD

Beside endless amount of coffee and ice-cream, while in Italy, do not miss prosciutto e melone, described as “one of the dishes that strikes the perfect balance”. Works always!
You cannot visit Bologna without having at least twice ragù alla Bolognese accompanied by a glass of sparkling Lambrusco-red wine.
Heavenly combination!

The best pizza found at Il Moro (Via de’ Falegnami).

VISIT

We say this in most positive way: there are no must places to visit in Bologna. This does not mean that Bologna would be boring, vice versa! Just start walking and enjoy!
City is full of beautiful churches. Our favorite one was absolutely stunning Santo Stefano, a complex of religious edifices located on, surprise surprise, Piazza Santo Stefano.
And Bologna is known by its two towers: Asinelli Tower can be visited. 98 m high, 498 steps. We choose to climb and admire the view over the city when there was 34 degrees. Sweaty exercise, but definitely worth it. Remember to prebook your visit.
And worth to mention that there are almost 40km of Unesco-listed arcades in the city center. Stunning and unique. And very handy when it was raining cats and dogs.

SHOPPING

La Piazzola, market at Piazza VIII Agosto (and near Montagnola park), every Friday and Saturday. Endless number of different products: from clothes to kitchen facilities, shoes and handbags to flowers with over 400 colorful stalls. Remember that cash is needed, card payments are rarely excepted.
We fell in love with Injoy at Via del’Indipendenza. Hundreds of earrings, hairbands, pins. All kind of glittering, sparkling stuff, you know.