Day 1: Exploring the City

Bologna is a very young city due to the university being here. You can feel the vibrancy everywhere you go! It is not overrun by tourists yet and we truly enjoyed our time here. We would recommend Bologna 10000X over Florence. It is a small city so you only need about 2 days here to feel the energy and explore. Here would be two days we would recommend.

1. Get lost in the streets of Bologna. This is a common theme in all Italian cities for us, but truly the only way to get to know the spots and see where you want to come back to. Here are some of the things you should see while getting lost.

   • The Asellini Tower: Quite a few steps, but the views at the top are so worth it. Make sure to buy your tickets ahead of time because they only allow a few people up at a time and it always sold out if you try to buy right then and there.

   • Basilica di San Petronio

   • Piazza Maggiore: come back here at night too even with a bottle of wine and sit with the locals)

2. Have a lunch somewhere outdoors in : Via Pescherie Vecchie. Or if you want a longer relaxed lunch you can go to Osteria Broccaindosso

3. Spend the afternoon walking along the entire city under the Portico’s.

Do the walking around again at night. It is so beautiful to see it under the lights.

Day 2: Walk, Walk, Sanctuary, Walk, Picnic, Gardens

Today will be a day filled with tons of walking!

1. Walk under the porticoes all the way to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca for amazing views of the city. Make your way to Arco del Meloncello and from there it is a straight walk to the Sanctuary. This is about 1.15Hr walk from the center of the city (30 mins from the Arco)

3. After this visit, make your way back to the city center and go grab ingredients for a picnic (cheeses, meats, bread, sweets, and aperol spritz to go) or grab a bite to eat if you don’t want to picnic

4. From the center, head straight to Giardini Margherita to explore the gardens and have a picnic. During the weekend they have a huge open air market which is truly nice! This can be a good place to buy some extra snacks for your picnic. There are also little bars in the park selling aperol spritz.