Bologna: the complete guide

From The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, September 2008

Outsiders have always struggled to define Bologna; that’s why they’ve given it so many nicknames: la grassa (the fat); la rossa (the red); la dotta (the learned).

But to its citizens, it’s ‘the town of three Ts’: torri, tortellini e tette (towers, tortellini and tits). This is a city proud of its history, its food – and its looks.

In the Middle Ages, Bologna was among the wealthiest cities in Europe, thanks to its prolific silk industry and its university, the oldest in the West. Families marked their affluence by building towers, sticking them like spears into the skyline as a sharp reminder of their power.

By the 14th century, almost 200 towers scraped the skyline. Now only 20 are left. The silk industry has also gone, replaced by equally sleek business: Ducati, Ferrari and Lamborghini are all based nearby.

The university, though, remains; and in a city that throbs with the liberal minds of students, the left-wing streak that earned Bologna its ‘red’ soubriquet is alive and kicking. Rebellion mingles with tradition: graffiti framing a fresco of the Madonna; scruffy students sitting beside pearl-clad old ladies; the old bakery, now a modern art gallery.

But life today is lived through the stomach. Only the Bolognesi would draft a law to protect their handmade pasta from industrial imitation. And the mere mention of spaghetti bolognese – a foreign moniker thrust upon their beloved tagliatelle al ragù – is a personal affront.

As the sun cools down in autumn, people keep warm with plates of steaming pasta, while the food markets are piled with enough obscure veg to baffle even Jamie Oliver. Home to prosciutto, balsamic vinegar and Parmesan, the Emilia-Romagna region is Italy’s larder; Bologna is the capital.

BOLOGNA THE FAT

Start at Bologna’s traditional meeting place, sotto il culo (‘under the arse’) – that’s the fleshy posterior of Giambologna’s bronze Neptune, who lords it over his fountain as you enter Piazza Maggiore. The vast, barn-like building opposite – the Basilica di San Petronio – is Bologna’s defiant V-sign to the papacy. Owned by the commune, rather than the Catholic Church, it not only dwarfs the official Cattedrale di San Pietro (on Via dell’Indipendenza), it’s also one of the biggest religious buildings in the Catholic world.

If it’s morning, follow your nose to the Mercato di Mezzo, the ample belly of Bologna, where the air is thick with pungent produce. Grab some cheese (there are 21 types of pecorino alone) or salami at La Baita (Via Pescherie Vecchie 3/A). Then join the thirsty troops at Bologna’s oldest inn, the Osteria del Sole (Vicolo Ranocchi 1/D), where you can eat your own food. Come prepared, though: a 500-year history has enshrined hard-core drinking hours, with regulars filling its pews from 8.30am and a wine list whittled down to just four options: red, white, still or sparkling.

l Nip into the church of Santa Maria della Vita (Via Clavature 10) to catch its extraordinary sculpture, the Lamentation over the Dead Christ – Mary’s face is like the agonised expression in Munch’s painting The Scream. Then head out past the sugar rush of Atti’s cake-filled windows (Via Drapperie 6) to 75-year-old deli Tamburini (Via Caprarie 1), where legs of prosciutto hang from the ceiling, and the tortellini are sold by the kilo.

Feeling gastronomically inspired yet? You’re in good company: professionals spend four weeks training as sfoglini (pasta makers) with Alessandra Spisni at La Vecchia Scuola Bolognese (Via Malvasia 49; 00 39 051 649 1576). If you don’t have a month to spare, her daughter Stefania will teach you the basics in an afternoon (courses from £56 for three hours). Too hands-on? Book in for lunch (£12 for a spread) – the Spisni family’s pasta is the best in Bologna. And that’s really saying something. l OK, time to lose the lard. Climb the 498 steps of the Torre degli Asinelli (Piazza Ravegnana; £2). On a good day, they say, you’ll see the Adriatic. Go late in the afternoon, when the terracotta roofs are flushed with the sinking sun. It’s a wonder they don’t call it the pink city.

BOLOGNA THE RED

Bologna’s radical reputation rests on centuries of refusal to toe the line. Take the old anatomy theatre in Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio: its ungodly ways outraged the Church when it opened in the 17th century (Piazza Galvani 1; 00 39 051 276811). The marble dissection slab is watched over by huge carvings of alumni; check out the man holding the nostrils – one Gaspare Tagliacozzi, the world’s first plastic surgeon, who specialised in repairing noses damaged by duels or syphilis.

The left-wing tradition is a leftover from Bologna’s days as an industrial powerhouse, and you can still see the network of canals which turned the sea-less, river-less town into the transportation crossroads of Italy. Most were covered over last century; but the Amici delle Acque group (00 39 051 522401; £4.70; book in advance) conducts tours of still intact waterways lurking underground. Down the manhole at Piazza Minghetti, you’ll follow the ancient Aposa stream past a Roman bridge, under the towers, and through the ghetto (best to dress down).

Old regional museums can get lazy. No such problems for still-fiercely-revolutionary MAMbo – Bologna’s Museum of Modern Art, which moved to the old city bakery last summer (Via Don Minzoni 14; 00 39 051 649 6611; £6). Ever-rebellious, it has vowed to reinvent itself as a worldwide first, dedicating its permanent collection to post-1965 Italian art. From January next year, Bolognese native Giorgio Morandi’s expo arrives from the Met in New York.

Political debate raged around the university quarter and Jewish Ghetto, where the town’s grid plan gives way to shallow alleys and winding passages. Bologna’s strangest shop lurks at Via Canonica 1/C: paper specialists Giordani Carta (00 39 051 231847) sell entire dinner services made from card.

The world’s sexiest motorbikes get their colour from the ‘red city’. Take a free tour round Ducati’s only factory (Via Cavalieri Ducati 3; 00 39 051 641 3343; book in advance). You can watch the scarlet beauties being hand-built and tested by smug-looking workers.

TALL STORY

Bologna has 44km of arcades – all at least 2.13m high. According to a medieval edict, that was the minimum height to let a man on horseback pass underneath. navel-gazing: One regional legend has it that the inventor of tortellini was a local chef inspired by Venus’s bellybutton. Others – more down-to-earth – claim that the navel in question belonged to a real 15th-century lady, and the owner of the inn where she was staying peeped through the keyhole of her boudoir. Want to know how he made it? The official recipe for tortellini is registered at the Chamber of Commerce. £9.10 buys: A ceramic tortellini necklace at Artigian Arte, Torre degli Asinelli.

WHERE TO STAY

NO EXPENSE SPARED

Grand Hotel Baglioni, Via dell’Indipendenza 8 (00 39 051 225445). That Liza Minnelli and Elton John are habitués only hints at the Baglioni’s shameless opulence. Bedrooms are all gilt headboards and mirrored walls, the restaurant resplendent with frescoes by apprentices of the Carracci brothers’ school. A long-term overhaul is jazzing things up, but some parts currently look a little worn – ask for a refurbed room. Doubles from £223, B&B.

Novecento, Piazza Galileo 4/3 (00 39 051 745 7311). Here is a delightfully airy take on 1930s Vienna, just a block away from Piazza Maggiore. Bedrooms are sleek, if a little masculine; creamy wood-slatted ceilings make the top floor more girly. Doubles from £198, B&B.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Hotel Metropolitan, Via dell’Orso 6 (00 39 051 229393). An inauspicious side street hides the Met from the noisy Via dell’Indipendenza. It’s just as well: you won’t want anyone else finding out about the rooftop garden. Book a room in the Corte degli Ulivi (courtyard of olive trees), and you’ll have a veranda framed by foliage. Doubles from £118, B&B.

Hotel Palace, Via Montegrappa 9 (00 39 051 237442). Step back to a time when ceilings were high, doors were double, and rooms were big enough to house a Grand Tour’s-worth of trunks. It’s all a little faded, but that merely enhances the genteel charm. Doubles from £79, B&B.

ON A BUDGET

Il Guercino, Via Luigi Serra 7 (00 39 051 369893). It’s suspiciously cheap, but that’s only because it’s a 20-minute stroll from the city centre. The cleanly styled rooms make up for the inconvenience, though. Doubles from £55, B&B.

Hotel Rossini, Via dei Bibiena 11 (00 39 051 237716). Right in the university quarter, this old reliable has been playing host to parental visits since 1936. The decor’s uninspiring, but who gives a damn after a bar session on Via Zamboni, a 30-second stagger away. Doubles from £55, B&B.

WHERE TO EAT

NO EXPENSE SPARED

Franco Rossi, Via Goito 3 (00 39 051 238818). ‘I’ve never been there, but I hear it’s good,’ says a character in The Broker, John Grisham’s Bologna-based yarn. The author has been there – as have Woody Allen and the Three Tenors. Franco Rossi serves free Prosecco on arrival; brother Lino’s pasta is second only to Signora Spisni’s (see La Vecchia Scuola Bolognese, page 138). Mains from £9.

Al Pappagallo, Piazza della Mercanzia 3 (00 39 051 232807). Its name might mean parrot, but don’t worry – guinea fowl is about the closest you’ll get to having a squawker on your plate. Go for the tagliatelle and savour the results of 94 years of practice. Mains from £8.

MIDDLE OF THE ROAD

Trattoria Anna Maria, Via delle Belle Arti 17 (00 39 051 266894). If you’re after that elusive family-run trattoria, where the food's awesome but the prices unintimidating, head to Anna Maria’s. She and her brood will prepare you fine tortellini in brodo (broth). Who knew boiled water could taste so good? Mains from £7.

Incrocio Montegrappa, Via Montegrappa 7/D. From the posters of Emilia Romagna-born Fellini on the walls to the food on your plate, you’ll be immersed in traditional Bologna here. Even better, you’ll get freshly salted focaccia on the side and free Limoncello to finish off (if you behave). Mains from £6.

ON A BUDGET

Tamburini, Via Caprarie 1 (00 39 051 234726). It would be lovely to take the food here home – sadly, it’s largely incompatible with hand luggage. Eat it in the self-service bistro instead. Pasta, veg, a whole leg of ham – at these prices, you can have it all. Mains from £3.40.

Pizzeria Spaccanapoli, Via S. Vitale 45/A (00 39 051 223429). You won’t find many pizza places in Bologna, probably because a bite of a Spaccanapoli crust sends all would-be competitors running for the hills. Will 63 toppings do you? Mains from £2.

BARS AND CLUBS

Cantina Bentivoglio, Via Mascarella 4/B (00 39 051 265416). At the Ronnie Scott’s of Bologna you can eat, drink, and relax to live jazz. In the summer, the show goes on outside (only until 2am so as not to disturb the neighbourhood bambini).

Zanarini, Piazza Galvani 1/Q (00 39 051 275 0041). This is the well-heeled place of choice for aperitifs under the watchful stone eye of Luigi Galvani (‘inventor’ of electricity). Dig into the free buffet from 6-10pm.

Il Gelatauro, Via San Vitale 98/B (00 39 051 230049). It’s not a bar as such, but it makes the best ice cream in Bologna. Try the Principe di Calabria flavour with jasmine and bergamot. Birthday boys and girls get free cones.

Cassero, Via Don Minzoni 18 (00 39 051 649 4416). This old salt-store-turned-gay-club is filled with lookers of all persuasions.

SHOPPING

Majani, Via Giacomo Brodolini 16 (00 39 051 234302). Home of the first solid chocolate in Italy, the ‘scorza’, in 1832. Try the peperoncino flavour, laced with chilli – a fiery mouth-melter. The chocolate tortellini sound so wrong – but taste oh so right.

Solo Seta, Piazza Galileo 4/A (00 39 051 237418). Choose your fabric (Versace, Valentino, Ungaro) and point at a picture of Liz Hurley’s latest dress. They’ll make it to measure and post it to you. A shirt modelled on a £500 Valentino could cost £170.

Artigian Arte, Torre degli Asinelli (00 39 051 271154). Shop for pottery, puppets and the obligatory tortellini – in ceramic.

Ask the local

Stefania Canalicchio, pasta maker and teacher at La Vecchia Scuola Bolognese

Stick to the basics. Only have tortellini in brodo (broth) – cream or ragù ruins the taste. Talking of which, ragù shouldn’t look like a sauce. It’s cooked for about 10 hours so that the meat absorbs the taste of the tomato. If you can see the tomato, it’s salsa di carne (meat sauce). I go to Anna Maria’s; it’s traditional and really very good. Drinks-wise, Prosecco’s the fashionable option, but Bolognese cuisine goes better with red wine. If you just want a drink, the old red-light district is full of fantastic places. Birreria del Pratello (Via del Pratello 24) is my favourite. Or Enoteca Alto Tasso (Piazza San Francesco 6/D;) is a wine bar – they do great tastings.

TRAVEL BRIEF

GETTING THERE

British Airways (0844 493 0787) flies from Gatwick to Bologna from £116 return.

Ryanair flies from Stansted to Forlì (a 75-minute bus ride away from Bologna).

TOUR OPERATORS

Citalia (0870 909 7554) has three nights’ B&B at the five-star Grand Hotel Baglioni from £535pp, or at the three-star Hotel Metropolitan from £345pp, including flights and transfers. Or try Ebookers.com; it has weekend breaks in Bologna in October from £279pp, including three-star accommodation and flights.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Contact the Bologna Tourist Office on 00 39 051 246541, or visit comune.bologna.it.