the city of arcades, which climb all the way to San Luca, the Two Towers under works, piazza Maggiore and the Neptune, the Quadrilatero of cured meats and tagliatelle, and in winter the Christmas markets under the arcades of the Servi
Bologna is the city of portici, the arcades: almost all the streets of the centre are covered, and you go round on foot even in the rain, in winter, without an umbrella. Since 2021 the arcades have been a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and the longest climbs for almost four kilometres to the sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, on the hill. In the middle is piazza Maggiore, with the basilica of San Petronio, the Palazzo d'Accursio and Giambologna's Neptune; a little further on are the Two Towers, Asinelli and Garisenda, which today, however, cannot be climbed: the Garisenda, which leans, is inside a building site meant to keep it standing, and the Asinelli is closed with it. Bologna has the oldest university in the Western world, and the Archiginnasio, its first single seat, has an anatomy theatre made entirely of wood; it has the seven churches of Santo Stefano, the terracotta Compianto, the Lamentation, that screams in Santa Maria della Vita, the Pinacoteca with Raphael and Giotto. And it has the Quadrilatero, the old market quarter, the streets of stalls of cured meats and fresh pasta behind the square: Bologna "la grassa", the fat one, is the Bologna of tagliatelle with ragù, the meat sauce, of tortellini and mortadella. In winter there are the Christmas fairs under the arcades. With a motorhome the thing to know is that there is no area run by the Comune: you sleep in a private area or at a campsite, and go into the centre by bus.
Sleeping
Stops and overnight stays
In Bologna there is no motorhome area run by the Comune, and the tourist board no longer lists any. What remains is a private area north of the centre, a campsite towards the Fiera, the exhibition centre, which closes at Christmas, and a one-night stop in the car park of a motorhome dealer at Borgo Panigale. From all three the centre is half an hour away by bus, and what counts is the line that passes in front.
Camperopoli, in via della Beverara
via della Beverara 157, 40131 Bologna (BO)
the area of a motorhome accessories shop, north of the centre, beyond the railway, tarmacked and lit. You book and pay online, and the booking is valid only once paid; you enter from 14:00 to 22:50 and leave by midday. There are no toilets or showers. The Beverara stop is a couple of hundred metres away: Monday to Saturday line 30 goes to the centre every 15 or 20 minutes, and in half an hour reaches the centre, on weekdays via Rizzoli, below the Two Towers; the last bus back passes around 21:00. On Sundays and public holidays the 30 does not run, and in its place the 11 passes, every half hour until after midnight, which takes you to piazza Malpighi in about twenty minutes. By bicycle the centre is ten minutes away. Travellers in 2026 find it quiet and safe, with the odd aeroplane at night
about thirty
ElectricityWaterGrey waterChemical toilet
In 2026, according to the operator, 25 euros a night up to 8 metres, 35 over 8 metres; with electricity · 051 6341504 · camperopoli.it
the city campsite, which used to be called Centro Turistico Città di Bologna, near the Parco Nord and five minutes from the Fiera, today part of the Club del Sole group, with heated toilets and free hot showers, washing machines, a bar, a restaurant, a pizzeria and a children's playground; the summer swimming pool is extra for those on a pitch. From 19 December 2026 to 6 January 2027 it is closed.Line 68 passes in front, one bus every two hours, every day, which takes you to the station in a quarter of an hour; more frequent is the 25, from the Dozza stop in via Stalingrado, about 900 metres away, every ten or twenty minutes until midnight, half an hour to the centre. Tickets are bought at reception. You go onto the pitch from 12:00 to 23:00, and leave by midday
The operator does not publish a price list, and the price is shown when booking; in September 2026 people who stopped there in a motorhome paid about 69 euros for one night · 051 325016 · clubdelsole.com
the car park of a motorhome dealer west of the city, near the Borgo Panigale link road, where the operator lets people sleep free for the night. The service point, with three drains, can be used Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30; not on Sundays and Mondays. It used to be an equipped area with electricity, toilets and a swimming pool, and it is still described like that on many pages: today it is not. Three hundred metres away is the Casteldebole stop of line 19, which goes to the centre every day from 5:30 to one in the morning, every six to ten minutes on weekdays and every quarter of an hour on Sundays, and reaches the centre in a little over half an hour. Next door there is a shopping centre
WaterGrey waterChemical toilet
Overnight parking in the car park is free; the motorhome service point, in 2026, 5.90 euros · 051 561554 · ropa.it
In the centre you go on foot and by bus; the motorhome stays outside, at the stopovers north and west of the city. In winter the anti-smog bans apply in the whole built-up area, and the historic centre is a ZTL, a limited traffic zone, with cameras.
You arrive by the A1, the A13 or the A14, which meet around the city, and by the tangenziale, the ring road, which runs alongside the motorway: for Camperopoli take exit 5, for the campsite towards the Fiera exit 7 or 8, for the Ropa Center the Borgo Panigale link road
The buses are run by TPER: the urban ticket costs 2.30 euros and is valid for 75 minutes with changes; bought on board with coins 2.50, no change given; with a contactless card tapped on the green validator 2.30, with no surcharge, and you tap the same card each time you get on. The day ticket costs 9 euros, the book of ten 1.90 a journey. The app for tickets and timetables is Roger
The anti-smog bans, from the Comune's ordinance of 28 September 2026, apply in the whole built-up area, not only in the historic centre. From 1 October 2026 to 31 March 2027, Monday to Friday from 8:30 to 18:30, diesels up to Euro 4 and petrol vehicles up to Euro 2 may not circulate. On the ecological Sundays, every Sunday from 4 October 2026 to 21 March 2027, from 8:30 to 18:30, Euro 5 diesels stop too, and so they do on days of emergency measures, from 8:00 to 19:00. The bans are suspended on 25 December, 1 and 6 January, 28 and 29 March. The fine ranges from 168 to 679 euros. The ring road and the roads to the park-and-ride car parks stay open; via della Beverara, for Camperopoli, does not: with a diesel stopped by the bans you arrive before 8:30 or after 18:30, and on emergency days before 8:00 or after 19:00. The Highway Code treats a motorhome like other vehicles; anyone with an old motorhome registered for special use should check the registration document
The ZTL of the historic centre is closed every day from 7:00 to 20:00, with cameras; via Rizzoli, via Indipendenza and via Ugo Bassi are closed day and night, and at weekends and on public holidays they become pedestrian: this is why on Sundays the buses do not go along Rizzoli. A motorhome has no reason to go in, and street parking in the centre costs from 2.90 to 3.90 euros an hour
For San Luca on foot you start from Porta Saragozza, under the arcade; by bus there is the 20 to Villa Spada and then the 58 to the sanctuary, which runs rarely. A tourist road train, the San Luca Express, also leaves from the centre, 15 euros, 8 from 6 to 10. The Bregoli path, from Casalecchio, is closed
LPG is available at the Q8 in the Fiera area, towards via Stalingrado, near the campsite, or at the Enercoop at via Pio La Torre 11a in Castel Maggiore, open day and night; on the Borgo Panigale side there are a couple on the via Emilia
For the surroundings: Dozza and Imola lie to the south-east, on the via Emilia towards Romagna; Monteveglio to the west, in the hills of Pignoletto; the Rocchetta Mattei in the Apennines, on the road to Porretta, and you can also get there by train, to Riola station
Seeing
Sights
Bologna takes two days: one for piazza Maggiore, the Quadrilatero, the Archiginnasio and Santo Stefano; one for the university quarter, the Pinacoteca and the canal, or for the climb to San Luca under the arcade. Many museums are closed on Mondays, the Archiginnasio on Sundays, the Museo Archeologico on Tuesdays. The Bologna Welcome Card, from the tourist board, gives free entry to various civic museums and to the Pinacoteca. Tap a marker on the map to open its entry below.
1
Piazza Maggiore and the Neptune
Square · free entry · 44.49366, 11.34305
piazza Maggiore, 40124 Bologna (BO)
the square from which you go round the whole centre, with San Petronio on one side, the Palazzo d'Accursio with the Torre dell'Orologio, the clock tower, on the other, and the Palazzo del Podestà and the Palazzo Re Enzo towards piazza del Nettuno. The Neptune fountain is by Giambologna, from the 1560s, and it is the bronze giant that the Bolognese call il Gigante, the Giant. Under the Voltone del Podestà, the great vault of the Podestà, there is the "wireless telephone": you speak softly towards one corner and you hear it in the opposite corner, the game children remember most. The tourist office is at piazza Maggiore 1/e
the largest church in the city, with its facade left half finished, marble only at the bottom. Inside, on the floor of the left aisle, runs Cassini's meridian line, from 1655: at true noon a ray of sunlight comes in through a hole in the vault and falls on the line, and children wait to see it arrive. In the Bolognini chapel are the frescoes by Giovanni da Modena, with Paradise and Hell. You go in with shoulders and knees covered, without suitcases, food or animals. The panoramic terrace is closed for good, the basilica writes: many pages still give it as open
Opening hours according to the basilica, in 2026, every day from 10:00 to 18:00, with last entry at 17:50; the basilica museum from 10:00 to 17:30, free · the basilica is free; the Bolognini chapel, known as the chapel of the Magi, with the two next to it, 5 euros, reduced 3 from 11 to 18, free up to 10 · basilicadisanpetronio.org · info@basilicadisanpetronio.org
the town hall, which opens onto the square with its courtyards, free to enter, and the wide staircase made for going up on horseback. The Torre dell'Orologio, the clock tower, while the Asinelli stays closed, is the only tower in the centre that can be climbed at set times: you pass the clock mechanism and come out onto two terraces over the square. But the terrace at the top is reached by a narrow staircase, you sign a waiver, and children under 8 do not go up there, not even when accompanied; there is no lift. The ticket includes the Collezioni comunali d'arte, the municipal art collections, with the paintings, furniture and porcelain of Bologna's palazzi
Opening hours according to the tourist board, the tower every day until 31 December 2026, from 10:00 with last entry at 18:20, three entries an hour; on 24 and 31 December until 16:20, closed on the 25th. The Collezioni comunali d'arte on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 14:00 to 19:00, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 10:00, on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 18:30; closed on Mondays · tower and collections together 10 euros, reduced 7 from 4 to 11 and over 65; free up to 3 and with the Bologna Welcome Card. Booking is needed · 051 6583111 · bolognawelcome.com · booking@bolognawelcome.it
Biblioteca Salaborsa and the excavations under the glass
Point of interest · free entry · 44.49477, 11.34142
piazza del Nettuno 3, 40124 Bologna (BO)
the city library, inside the Palazzo d'Accursio, in a large covered square with a glass floor: under your feet you see the remains of the basilica of Roman Bononia, the foundations of medieval houses and the sixteenth century botanical garden of Ulisse Aldrovandi, and you can go down and walk among them. In winter it is a warm, free shelter, with a section for young people; on Sundays it is closed. The excavations cannot be reached in a wheelchair
Opening hours according to the library, on Mondays from 14:00 to 20:00, Tuesday to Friday from 9:00 to 20:00, on Saturdays until 19:00; closed on Sundays. The excavations on Mondays from 14:00 to 19:00, Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 to 19:00, by donation, twenty people at a time · 051 2194400 · bibliotecasalaborsa.it
the towers of the Asinelli and the Garisendi families, from the twelfth century, the symbol of the city: the Asinelli about 97 metres tall, the Garisenda lower and leaning so much that Dante remembered it in the Inferno. They cannot be climbed: since the end of 2023 the Garisenda has been closed because of the risk of collapse, and the Asinelli with it. Around the Garisenda is the building site that is to keep it standing, and since June 2026 the foundation piles have been sunk for the two containment machines; for the Asinelli there is no reopening date, and the newspapers talk of 2028. The towers are looked at from below, and it is a building site that is easy to explain to children: a tower that leans and the machines to hold it up. The tickets for the climb that can still be found online are out of date
the narrow streets behind piazza Maggiore, via Pescherie Vecchie, via Drapperie, via Clavature, where since the Middle Ages the workshops of the guilds stood, and where today there are still the stalls of cured meats, cheeses, fresh pasta, fish and vegetables, with their old signs. The Mercato di Mezzo, in via Clavature, is a covered market where you eat at the stalls. It is the place to buy mortadella, tortellini and tagliatelle to take back to the motorhome. From here you come out in front of Santa Maria della Vita
Santa Maria della Vita and the Compianto by Niccolò dell'Arca
Church · paid entry · 44.49344, 11.34461
via Clavature 8, 40124 Bologna (BO)
in the sanctuary of the Quadrilatero is the Compianto sul Cristo morto, the Lamentation over the dead Christ, by Niccolò dell'Arca, from the second half of the fifteenth century: seven life-size terracotta figures, six of them around Christ, and the Marys running and screaming with their robes in the wind. It is the most powerful sculpture in Bologna, and you look at it close up. In the oratory next door, the Transito della Vergine, the Death of the Virgin, by Alfonso Lombardi
Opening hours according to the operator, every day from 10:00 to 18:30, with last entry at 18:00 · 8 euros, reduced 5 from 6 to 18, free up to 5, plus one euro booking fee · 051 19936385 · genusbononiae.it · santamariadellavita@genusbononiae.it
the palazzo built in 1563 to give the university its first single seat, with its long portico on piazza Galvani and the courtyard, where the walls and vaults are covered with thousands of students' coats of arms. The Teatro Anatomico, the anatomy theatre, is a hall made entirely of fir wood, with tiers around the marble table where bodies were dissected in front of the students, and the two carved "Spellati", the Skinned Men, holding up the canopy of the lecturer's chair; destroyed by bombs in 1944, it was rebuilt with the pieces that were recovered. For young people it is one of the things they remember about Bologna. The courtyard can be seen free during the library's opening hours
Opening hours according to the tourist board, in 2026, Monday to Saturday from 10:00 to 17:30, with the audio guide, entries every ten minutes; guided tours in Italian at 11:30, 15:30 and 16:40. Closed on Sundays and public holidays · with the audio guide 10 euros, reduced 8 from 13 to 18; with the guide 12 euros, reduced 10; free up to 12. Booked online · 051 6583166 · bolognawelcome.com
next to the Archiginnasio, the museum of Etruscan Bologna, which was called Felsina, and of Roman Bologna, with a plaster cast gallery. But children come for the Egyptian section, underground, one of the most important in Italy, with the mummies, the sarcophagi and the reliefs from the tomb of Horemheb. Which rooms are open today is best asked first
Opening hours according to the tourist board, in winter, on Mondays and from Wednesday to Friday from 9:00 to 18:00, on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 19:00; closed on Tuesdays. On 24 and 31 December from 10:00 to 14:00 · 6 euros, reduced 4; free with the Bologna Welcome Card · 051 2196000
the church where Saint Dominic is buried, in the marble Arca, the tomb begun by Nicola Pisano and finished by Niccolò dell'Arca, with three small statues carved by Michelangelo at the age of twenty, the angel with the candlestick, San Petronio and San Procolo. Behind the altar, the inlaid wooden choir by fra Damiano da Bergamo. On the square, the tombs of the university's jurists, under their little roofs
Opening hours according to the tourist board, Monday to Friday from 7:00 to 13:00 and from 15:30 to 20:00, on Saturdays from 7:15, on Sundays from 7:55 to 12:30 and from 15:30 to 19:00 · 051 6400411
not one church but a tangle of churches from different periods, entering one into another: the Crocifisso, the eight-sided Santo Sepolcro, the cortile di Pilato, Pilate's courtyard, with the great stone basin of the Lombard kings, the church of the Trinità, the cloister and a small museum. You lose yourself from one door to the next, and that is the beauty of it. The triangular square in front, with its arcades and palazzi, is one of the most beautiful in the city. On some afternoons of the month volunteers give free guided tours
Opening hours according to the complex, from August 2026, Tuesday to Saturday from 9:30 to 12:30 and from 14:30 to 19:00, on Sundays and public holidays from 9:30 to 12:30 and from 15:00 to 19:00; on Mondays visits are suspended · 051 4983423 · santostefanobologna.it · santostefano@fratiminori.it
the Music Museum, in a palazzo with frescoed rooms where Rossini lived, with the old instruments, the scores from the sixteenth century, the papers of padre Martini, a portrait of the young Mozart, from 1777, and the reconstructed workshop of a violin maker. It is on strada Maggiore, a stone's throw from the Servi arcade of the Santa Lucia fair
Opening hours according to the tourist board, Tuesday to Thursday from 11:00 to 13:30 and from 14:30 to 18:30, on Fridays from 10:00, on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 19:00; closed on Mondays and on 25 December, on 24 and 31 December until 14:00 · 5 euros, reduced 3; free with the Bologna Welcome Card · 051 2197911 · museomusica@comune.bologna.it
the university museum, in the students' street, with the eighteenth century scientific collections in rooms that are all frescoed: maps and models of ships, fortresses, physics, Aldrovandi's natural history, and anatomy and obstetrics, with the wax and terracotta models of births, which older children remember and small children may find strong. You finish in the great hall of the university library
Opening hours according to the university, Tuesday to Friday from 10:00 to 16:00, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays from 10:00 to 18:00; closed on Mondays, on 1 January, on 24 and 25 December · 10 euros, reduced 6 from 20 to 26 and over 65; free up to 19 · 051 2099610 · sma.unibo.it
the national picture gallery, the painting of Bologna and Emilia, from the fourteenth to the eighteenth century: the polyptych by Giotto, the Carracci, Guido Reni, Guercino, and Raphael's Ecstasy of Saint Cecilia, which came to Bologna in the sixteenth century. It is in the university quarter, ten minutes from the Two Towers
Opening hours according to the tourist board, Tuesday to Sunday and on public holidays from 9:00 to 19:00, with last entry half an hour earlier; closed on Mondays · 12 euros, 2 from 18 to 25; free on the first Sunday of the month and with the Bologna Welcome Card · 051 4209400 · bolognawelcome.com
a little window in a wall, and on the other side the canale delle Moline, the canal of the mills, flowing between the houses: Bologna's little Venice, which you would not imagine beneath a city of arcades. You look at it in a minute, and there is often a queue for the photograph. It is a reminder of the canals that once crossed the city and drove the mills. It goes well with a walk towards the Montagnola
the covered market of the Bolognese, less touristy than the Quadrilatero, with fruit, vegetables, meat and fish; in the evening the middle part becomes a hall of trattorie and stalls where you can have dinner. On Sundays the stalls are closed, but you can eat
Opening hours according to the market, the stalls Monday to Saturday from 7:00 to 19:30; the restaurants every day at lunch from 12:00 to 15:30, and in the evening until midnight, on Sundays until 23:00 · 051 230186 · mercatodelleerbe.eu
the oldest park in the city, on a raised mound of earth near the station, with the great Pincio staircase that goes down towards via Indipendenza and a children's playground. It is the place to let the children run after a museum
the museum of modern art, in the city's old bread bakery, with Italian art from after the war, and inside it the Museo Morandi, more than 250 works by Giorgio Morandi, the painter of bottles and boxes, who lived his whole life in Bologna
Opening hours according to the tourist board, on Tuesdays from 14:00 to 18:30, on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9:30 to 18:30, on Thursdays until 20:00, on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 19:00; closed on Mondays and on 25 December · 6 euros, reduced 4, with the Museo Morandi; free with the Bologna Welcome Card · 051 6496611
the walk the Bolognese do, sheltered even in the rain: the longest arcade in the world, almost four kilometres, from Porta Saragozza. The first stretch is on the flat, along via Saragozza; then, from the Arco del Meloncello, the arch that spans the road, the climb begins, one kilometre and eight hundred metres and 341 arches, with the fifteen chapels of the Mysteries of the Rosary, up to the sanctuary on the Colle della Guardia, where the icon of the Madonna di San Luca is kept. It is the stretch restored and reopened in January 2026. From the top you see the city and the hills. Once a year, in spring, the icon comes down into the city along this arcade, in procession
Opening hours according to the tourist board, the sanctuary every day from 7:00 to 18:00, from March to October until 18:30. The terrace on the sanctuary, the San Luca Sky Experience, Monday to Saturday from 10:30 to 13:30 and from 14:30 to 18:30, on Sundays from 12:00 · the arcade and the sanctuary are free; the terrace is paid, and the price is not published · 051 6142339
Point of interest · free entry · 44.49617, 11.30733
via della Certosa 18, 40133 Bologna (BO)
an old charterhouse that became the city's cemetery at the beginning of the nineteenth century, with cloisters, halls and nineteenth century monuments, and underneath an Etruscan necropolis found in 1869. An arcade links it to the San Luca one, and it is near the Meloncello: you can fit it into the same morning
Opening hours according to the tourist board, from 3 November to 28 February from 8:00 to 17:00; from 1 March to 2 November from 7:00 to 18:00 · 051 6150811
a village on a hill, about thirty kilometres south-east of Bologna towards Imola, where since 1960 a biennial has had painters paint the walls of the houses: more than a hundred works, always visible, in the lanes around the castle, without a ticket. In the castle is the Enoteca Regionale Emilia Romagna, the regional wine shop. It goes together with Imola
piazzale Giovanni dalle Bande Nere, 40026 Imola (BO)
the fortress of Caterina Sforza, with its moat and round towers, and inside the weapons and ceramics. Imola is the city of the racetrack named after Enzo and Dino Ferrari, and in autumn of the Baccanale, its festival of cooking
Opening hours according to the civic museums, on Fridays from 15:00 to 19:00, on Saturdays and Sundays from 10:00 to 13:00 and from 15:00 to 19:00 · 4 euros, reduced 3; free up to 14 · 0542 602609 · museiciviciimola.it
via San Rocco, Monteveglio, 40053 Valsamoggia (BO)
the walled village on top of a hill, about thirty kilometres west of Bologna, with the Romanesque abbey of Santa Maria Assunta, linked to Matilda of Canossa, who here in 1092 stopped the emperor Henry IV, and a crypt with three apses. Around it, the regional park, with paths among the badlands, the calanchi, and the Pignoletto vineyards
strada provinciale 62, località Savignano, 40030 Grizzana Morandi (BO)
the castle of Count Cesare Mattei, who in the nineteenth century invented electrohomeopathy, in the Reno valley about fifty kilometres from Bologna: Moorish towers, courtyards in the manner of the Alhambra, neo-Gothic halls, a dream built on a spur of rock. Two routes: the noble wing, with a lift, and the Moorish wing, with narrow stairs, which the castle advises against with small children and pushchairs. You can also get there by train, to Riola station
Opening hours only with a guided tour and booking; the website does not publish the opening days, and in winter you phone · 12 euros, 10 with the train ticket to Riola, 6 from 6 to 12, free under 6 · 051 6730335 · rocchettamattei.it · rocchettamattei@comune.grizzanamorandi.bo.it
Bologna's winter is under the arcades: from November the fair of Santa Lucia at the Servi, then the Christmas markets in the centre, the farmers' market in via Rizzoli, the Befana, the Epiphany witch; at midnight on 31 December the Vecchione, the Old Man, burns in piazza Maggiore. In February there is art, in spring the Madonna di San Luca comes down into the city, in summer cinema in the square. Around about, in autumn, the villages celebrate with truffles and cooking.
Next: Bologna Jazz Festival · 13 Oct - 8 Novon now
13 Oct › 8Nov
Bologna Jazz Festival
from mid-October to the beginning of November
jazz concerts in the city's theatres and clubs, at the Duse, at the Unipol Auditorium, at the Cantina Bentivoglio, at the Museo della Musica, with tickets. In 2026 from 13 October to 8 November
on now
24 Oct › 15Nov
Baccanale of Imola
from late October to mid-November
the food festival of the Comune of Imola, with a different theme every year: markets, tastings and dinners, workshops for children, guided tours, themed menus in the restaurants. Entry is free, you pay for what you eat. In 2026 from 24 October to 15 November
in 3 days
24-25Oct
Tartófla in Savigno
the weekends of late October and of November
the white truffle festival at Savigno, in the hills of the Valsamoggia, with the market and the stands, from 9:00 to 18:00, free entry. In 2026 on 24 and 25 October, 31 October and 1 November, 7 and 8, 14 and 15 November
in 3 days24-25 Oct · 31 Oct - 1 Nov · 7-8 Nov · 14-15 Nov
6 Nov › 27Dec
Antica Fiera di Santa Lucia
from the beginning of November to after Christmas
the oldest Christmas fair in the city, the old fair of Santa Lucia, under the arcade of Santa Maria dei Servi in strada Maggiore: the figurines for the nativity scene, decorations, candles, torrone, the nougat, and croccante, the nut brittle. Every day from about 9:00 to 20:00, free. In 2026 from 6 November to 27 December
20 Nov › 6Jan
Christmas fair in via Altabella
from the second half of November to Epiphany
the Christmas market next to the cathedral of San Pietro, a stone's throw from piazza Maggiore, with decorations, presents and sweets, from about 9:00 to 20:00. In December, in piazza Trento e Trieste, there is also the Christmas tree market. In 2026 from 20 November to 6 January
5-8Dec
French Christmas village
the long weekend of the Immaculate Conception
the chalets of the French market in piazza Minghetti, with the products and the scents of France. In 2026 from 5 to 8 December
12-13Dec
Nadèl dal Cuntadèn
a weekend in December
the farmer's Christmas, organised by Coldiretti and Campagna Amica: via Rizzoli becomes an open-air market of the produce of the land and the foods of the area, from 9:00 to 22:00. In 2026 on 12 and 13 December
2-6Jan
Epiphany fair
from 2 to 6 January
the stalls of the Befana, the Epiphany witch, in via Indipendenza, via Rizzoli and via Ugo Bassi. In 2027 from 2 to 6 January
5-7Feb
Arte Fiera and Art City
a weekend at the beginning of February
the modern and contemporary art fair at the Bologna exhibition centre, with tickets, and on the same days Art City, exhibitions and openings all over the city, with the white night on Saturday, when museums and palazzi stay open until late. In 2027 Arte Fiera from 5 to 7 February
19-27Jun
Il Cinema Ritrovato
the second half of June
the Cineteca's festival of restored films, Cinema Rediscovered, and in summer, from mid-June to mid-August, the free open-air cinema of "Sotto le stelle del cinema", under the stars of cinema, in piazza Maggiore. In 2027 the festival is from 19 to 27 June
This year's dates are not out yet
The Christmas tree and the lights
from late November
the big tree in piazza del Nettuno, which is usually lit on the last weekend of November, and the lights of via d'Azeglio, with the words of a song written in the air, which stay on until March. The Comune publishes the 2026 dates in November
The Burning of the Vecchione
midnight on 31 December
in piazza Maggiore the Vecchione burns, the great Old Man puppet that every year a different artist makes to burn the old year; before that there are music and a show, free. The square has a limited capacity, about nine thousand people, and you enter with a pass to be handed back on the way out. The 2026 Vecchione has not yet been presented
Carnival of San Giovanni in Persiceto
the two Sundays before Lent
at San Giovanni in Persiceto, about twenty kilometres to the north-west, the allegorical floats arrive closed in piazza del Popolo and at the signal perform the Spillo: they open and transform into a quarter of an hour of scenes and masks that reveal the allegory. The king of the carnival is Bertoldo. There is a paid grandstand. In 2026 it was on 8 and 15 February
The descent of the Madonna di San Luca
a week in May
the icon of the Madonna comes down from the sanctuary along the arcade, enters through Porta Saragozza towards evening and crosses the centre in procession to the cathedral; it stays in the city for a week, with the San Luca fair in via Altabella, and goes back up on Ascension Day. In 2026 it came down on 9 May
Feast of San Petronio
4 October
the feast of the patron saint: games and shows for families in piazza Maggiore in the afternoon, the archbishop's mass in San Petronio, a concert in the square in the evening and fireworks
Remember
Useful tips
The Two Towers cannot be climbed, nor can the terrace of San Petronio, which is closed for good: Bologna from above is seen from the Torre dell'Orologio, from the age of 8, or from the hill of San Luca
The via Romita campsite is closed from 19 December 2026 to 6 January 2027: for the holidays there is Camperopoli, or the Ropa Center car park
On Sundays at Camperopoli line 30 does not run: take the 11. And Monday to Saturday, in the evening, the last 30 back is around 21:00
The anti-smog bans apply in the whole built-up area and on almost every Sunday to Euro 5 diesels too: with a diesel motorhome move on Saturdays, when there are no emergency measures, or before 8:30 and after 18:30
The museums have different closing days: most on Mondays, the Archiginnasio and the Salaborsa on Sundays, the Museo Archeologico on Tuesdays, the visits to Santo Stefano on Mondays. Up to 12 the Archiginnasio is free, up to 19 Palazzo Poggi
For San Luca on foot from the Meloncello it is one kilometre and eight hundred metres of climbing, and from Porta Saragozza almost four kilometres: with children allow at least an hour. Set off in the morning, and come back by bus or by the road train
Do the Quadrilatero in the morning, when the stalls are open, and have lunch there; the Mercato delle Erbe has its stalls closed on Sundays
In the recipe the source does not say what pasta to serve the ragù with, nor how much stock is needed in all, how much a glass or a cup is, how long the soffritto takes and how much salt. In Bologna it goes with egg tagliatelle
Bologna · part two
and then?
What to taste, and where to go tomorrow.
Taste
Bologna is "la grassa", and you eat at table and at the counter. Tagliatelle al ragù, tagliatelle with the meat sauce, and not spaghetti bolognese, which does not exist here; tortellini in brodo, in broth, small, filled with pork loin, prosciutto, mortadella and parmesan, the Christmas dish; lasagne verdi, with the pasta made with spinach; mortadella, which in the Quadrilatero you buy sliced or in cubes; fried crescentine, the puffs of fried dough that in Modena are called gnocco fritto, with cured meats and squacquerone, the soft fresh cheese; friggione, onions and tomato cooked slowly; and at Christmas certosino, the spiced bread with honey and candied fruit. The wine of the hills is Pignoletto, white, sparkling too. The Accademia Italiana della Cucina, the Italian Academy of Cuisine, registered the ragù recipe with the Bologna Chamber of Commerce in 1982, and renewed it in 2023: it is the one below, which in a motorhome needs only a heavy pan and an afternoon.
chop the pancetta and melt it with the oil in a heavy 24-26 centimetre pan
finely chop the onion, the carrot and the celery on the board, without a blender, and let them soften slowly over a medium low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon: the onion must not burn
turn up the heat, add the meat and cook it for about ten minutes, stirring, until it sizzles
pour in the wine and let it evaporate completely, until you can no longer smell it; then add the purée and the passata
add a cup of boiling stock and cook slowly, covered, for about two hours, or three depending on the meat, adding hot stock when needed
halfway through cooking, if you like, pour in the milk and let it be absorbed completely
piazza Maggiore on a December afternoon, with San Petronio, the Palazzo dei Notai and the Palazzo dei BanchiPhoto: Vanni Lazzari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Christmas tree next to the Neptune fountain, with the facade of San Petronio at the endPhoto: Anita.malina, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0Giambologna's Neptune fountain, the Giant of the Bolognese, in piazza del NettunoPhoto: FrDr, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the facade of San Petronio, with the lower part in marble and the upper part left in brickPhoto: GiorgioGaleotti, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the central nave of San Petronio, with the Gothic vaults and the brick piersPhoto: Fabrizio Garrisi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0San Petronio and the dome of Santa Maria della Vita in the snow, seen from above in March 2009Photo: Riazor, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the Palazzo d'Accursio with the Torre dell'Orologio at sunset, in DecemberPhoto: Vanni Lazzari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the covered square of the Salaborsa, with the glass floor above the excavationsPhoto: Marcamps, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Two Towers, Garisenda and Asinelli, in 2017, before the closure and the building site at the GarisendaPhoto: Vanni Lazzari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Asinelli tower with the Christmas lights of 2011, at the end of via RizzoliPhoto: Carlo Pelagalli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the facade of the sanctuary of Santa Maria della Vita, a stone's throw from piazza MaggiorePhoto: Maretta Angelini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Compianto sul Cristo morto by Niccolò dell'Arca, the terracotta statues of Santa Maria della VitaPhoto: Alvesgaspar, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a corridor of the Archiginnasio, with the walls and vaults covered with the students' coats of armsPhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Teatro Anatomico of the Archiginnasio, all in wood, with the marble table in the middlePhoto: Zairon, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0piazza San Domenico with the basilica and the tomb of Rolandino de' PasseggeriPhoto: Vanni Lazzari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the basilica of Santo Stefano, the Seven Churches, on a January dayPhoto: Vanni Lazzari, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the cortile di Pilato, Pilate's courtyard, with the church of the Santo Sepolcro and the stone basin in the middlePhoto: Carlo Pelagalli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the arcade on piazza Santo Stefano, with the basilica at the end, on a February afternoonPhoto: Maretta Angelini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0an arcade in the centre of Bologna, with cross vaults and hanging lampsPhoto: Roberta Milani, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the arcade of via Santa Caterina, with its wall plastered in orangePhoto: Mariaorecchia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0inside the Mercato delle Erbe, the fruit stalls under the iron roofPhoto: Iacopobastia, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the monument to the fallen of 8 August 1848 in the Montagnola parkPhoto: Timothy A. Gonsalves, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0inside the San Luca arcade, which climbs from Porta Saragozza up to the sanctuaryPhoto: Dfiorini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0an arch of the San Luca arcade open onto the city and the plainPhoto: Maretta Angelini, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca in the snow, in February 2013Photo: Carlo Pelagalli, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0the rooftops of Bologna and the Asinelli tower seen from the top of Palazzo d'AccursioPhoto: Anna luppi, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a January sunset over the towers and the hills, seen from the Specola, the observatory, of Palazzo Poggi in 2019Photo: AnetaMalinowska, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0a street in the village of Dozza, with the painted walls and at the end the gate with the clockPhoto: Mongolo1984, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the Rocchetta Mattei on the crag of Savignano, with its onion domesPhoto: Gianni Careddu, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0the arches with black and white stripes inside the Rocchetta MatteiPhoto: Clarkfor, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
