A Gourmet Guide to Bologna
If you haven’t visited Bologna before, I can strongly recommend a visit. It’s such an interesting, vibrant and characterful city that is simply a pleasure to explore and spend time in. It is home to what is believed to be the oldest continuous University in the western world and has many fascinating and attractive examples of architecture, history and religion right across the city.
Whether or not you want to see the sights or just immerse yourself in Italian life, it is such a lovely city to visit. Here are my recommendations for things to do, places to eat and local specialities to try.
What and where to eat in Bologna
Bologna’s centre is quite compact but full of choice when it comes to eating, drinking and shopping. Italy’s food remains so regional and the products that Bologna is well-known for are widely found for sale and to eat in restaurants.
This is a region well known for its Charcuterie, which includes Mortadella di Bologna PGI, but you’ll also find meats from across the region, which include Zampone and Cotechino Modena PGI, Prosciutto di Parma and Modena PDO, Culatello di Zibello PDO and Salamini Italiani alla Cacciatora PDO.
On the cheese front, Parmigiano Reggiano PDO is the cheese will find absolutely everywhere and it is fantastic. There are plenty of other cheeses from Emilia Romagna, but they are less well-known, so you may like to try something different that you probably can’t get at home, such as Caciotta and Marzolino.
I suspect that spaghetti bolognaise will spring to mind to many people. Restaurants do serve a ragù Bolognese with pasta, which I didn’t try, but it looked very good with a pleasingly rich sauce. I ate probably the best lasagne I’ve ever had and of course, you will find the delicious Tortellini in Brodo and Tortelloni absolutely everywhere. Keep an eye out for Friggione for a real taste of Bologna, which is a tagliatelle dish with a sweet, soft onion and tomato sauce. We had a great bowl of this at La Salsamenteria Bologna.
On the wine front, it is so interesting that restaurants frequently advise that sparkling, white or red wines will pair well with the food. For an aperitivo, you’ll find spritz options everywhere with a great number of twists. Lambrusco is also a very popular choice and one I very much enjoy. We also had some fantastic local whites, mainly Pignoletto and some great examples of Sangiovese.
Arriving into Bologna just in time for lunch, my first stop was Parlor. I enjoyed the lunch here which included a Mortadella tartlet, a risotto, topped with crispy Salamini Italiani all a Cacciatora PDO (so good), a torta di riso and an excellent Oddone Sangiovese Superiore DOC.
Dinner on the first night was my favourite meal of the trip. Vicolo Colombino was such a great, buzzy, atmospheric restaurant with great service and such delicious food. The starter was a lasagne Bianca, made with chicken, rabbit and sausage and a cheesy white sauce – no tomato – and was absolutely sublime. This was followed by slices of cotechino with a lentil sauce, black chickpeas and a salad with balsamic dressing. This was the very best cotechino dish I’ve ever eaten. Pudding was a great tiramisu. This would be top of my list to book again for next time.
Lunch the following day was Taverna dei Postiglione which is located very centrally and is a very attractive restaurant with charming staff. We ate a Mortadella platter with some tigelle bread, followed by some good tortellini in capon broth. Pudding was a decent zuppa inglese.
Our second dinner was held at The Gallery, which is a really dark, chic restaurant which serves excellent pizzas with amazingly puffy crusts and a chewy dough. The presentation of the pizzas is really eye-catching and some of the toppings were so good – think grilled courgette, Mortadella and pistachios and tomato and basil. A roasted pistachio semifreddo made a great finale to a thoroughly enjoyable meal.
If you’re in the market for food shopping, perhaps for self-catering, picnics or snacks or gifts to take home, you’ll find some great shops on Via Drapperie in the heart of the city centre. You’ll find loads of shops selling a huge variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, flowers, cheese, pasta, charcuterie, chocolates, wines and so much more, including some really stylish and interesting homeware and kitchen equipment. If you’re in the market to buy some Mortadella, tortellini or Parmigiano Reggiano, you might like to have a wander and compare ages and prices from shop to shop before deciding which appeals the most.
There are some places to buy a snack and a drink along here too, such as Simoni which has a good selection of local wines, cheeses and meats to eat in and take away. We stopped for a Lambrusco and a platter featuring Mortadella di Bologna PGI, tigelle, Squacquerone di Romagna PDO and Casciotta d’Urbino PDO, which was very pleasant.
Via degli Orefici used to be a significant market place in Bologna and is another great place to add to your itinerary. You will find the excellent Giusti Boutique there – an absolute must for some beautiful Aceto Balsamico di Modena PDO and some divine alcoholic drinks, such as their lovely vermouth. Tamburini is a popular deli and wine bar which is worth a look here too.
Mercato di Mezzo is an indoor food market with stalls selling food and drink and indoor seating and may be of interest. We had a very happy stop here with some generously-poured glasses of Spritz (of which they sell over half a dozen varieties!).
Atti was one of my favourite shops. So stylish and an excellent place to buy pre-made tortellini, bread and cakes. I also took the opportunity to try one of their crostata – the famous fruit-flavoured sweet tart found all over Bologna – selecting one filled with chestnut purée.
You’ll find plenty of beautiful chocolate shops including Majani, who make and sell chocolates in the shape of tortellini, plus plenty of shops selling hot, filled tigelle to go with a whole range of fillings. These tigelle are larger and a more of an oval shape than the small, round breads often served on the table with a meal. These are also split, filled and toasted.
Visiting a Gelateria is high on the list of things to do and I really recommend Cremeria Santo Stefano for some seriously good gelato in a range of interesting flavours.
One of the things I love to do in Italy is to go for coffee and drink it standing up at the bar. Zanarini was a great spot and really centrally located.
What to do in Bologna
There is so much to see and do in Bologna city centre. It’s a compact city centre that’s wonderful to walk around. The portici are beautiful and interesting and you’ll find a few of the wooden portici remaining before they were replaced with brick and stone versions. The two towers are a must and there are plenty of fascinating churches, university buildings and museums to visit. A walking tour from Bologna Welcome may be of interest – I really enjoyed taking a guided tour which told me so much about the city’s history and culture.
Where to stay
On this trip, I stayed at Hotel Touring in the south of the city centre, just off Via Garibaldi, which I am happy to recommend and would use again. Rooms were comfortable, a good size with sweet balconies – I had two with a great view and chairs and a table to enjoy it. Staff were very friendly and obliging, the location was within an easy walk of everything I wanted to do and in a pleasant part of the city. I found breakfast was more mixed – one morning I liked a lot more than the other, but I commend them on changing the offering daily and others in the party were happy with their choices, which included pancakes, cakes and mini doughnuts. Another plus point was the roof top terrace offering an enjoyable perspective of the city, especially to enjoy the sunset with accompanying drinks available.
Getting here
There are a number of direct flights to Bologna each day, which has regular flights from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stanstead, plus Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and Belfast. The airport is about 25 minutes from the city centre by road. There is a shuttle train and a public bus service from the airport as alternative options to taxis.
I visited Bologna earlier this month as a guest of The EU Fab 6. All recommendations, however, are entirely my own and a number of the suggestions were ones I encountered in my own time and paid for myself.
For more of my Gourmet Guides, have a look through my archive.