Bologna
If you were to make a list of the great wonders of Italy, hidden amid Venice’s canals and Rome’s Colosseum would be cheap, pretension-free osterie (casual taverns) such as Osteria dell'Orsa, where the food serially excels the giveaway cheap prices.
It's wildly popular with students, who mob the place for daily chalkboard specials and a long list of panini, crostini and other quick eats. Go early.
28.3 MILES
Hidden behind a colourful patchwork of warped homes, this low-slung, wood-beamed, delightfully uneven medieval walkway dates to 1290. It's unique in Italy…
17.19 MILES
If peeking at the assembly lines at Ferrari and Lamborghini is like glimpsing inside a well-oiled machine, a day behind the scenes at Pagani is like…
27.05 MILES
Complete with moat and drawbridge, Ferrara's towering castle was commissioned by Nicolò II d'Este in 1385. Initially it was intended to protect him and…
0.42 MILES
The 15th-century Palazzo Casa Fontana poi Gamberini – the fascinating, pricier-than-the-Colosseum home of eccentric Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla …
0.36 MILES
Bologna's most unique religious site is this atmospheric labyrinth of interlocking ecclesiastical structures, whose architecture spans centuries of…
0.34 MILES
Bologna's hulking Gothic basilica is Europe's sixth-largest church, measuring 132m by 66m by 47m. Work began on it in 1390, but it was never finished, and…
Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
0.32 MILES
This mouthful of a museum inside Palazzo Sanguinetti – the former home of Napoleon's Italian minister – chronicles six centuries of European musical…
24.12 MILES
Each year, hundreds of thousands of petrolheads make the pilgrimage to this museum in Maranello, Ferrari's home town. They come here to obsess over the…
0.15 MILES
This is one of Bologna's unsung gems. Inside, the magnificent 16th-century frescoes by Lorenzo Costa depicting the life and lurid death of St Cecilia and…
0.2 MILES
Standing sentinel over Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, Bologna's two leaning towers are the city's main symbol. The taller of the two, the 97.2m-high Torre…
0.2 MILES
Bologna's two leaning towers are the city's main symbol. The taller of the two, the 97.2m-high Torre degli Asinelli (the tallest leaning medieval tower in…
0.23 MILES
To the east of Piazza Maggiore, the grid of streets around Via Clavature (Street of Locksmiths) sits on what was once Roman Bologna. Known as the…
5. Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro
0.24 MILES
A short walk north of Piazza Maggiore, Bologna’s cathedral, the Metropolitana di San Pietro, has suffered redevelopment many times over the centuries…
0.25 MILES
This exhibition space encased in a Renaissance mansion is frequently the site of blockbuster temporary art shows, which range in price from €6 to €14 …
0.26 MILES
Three university museums are housed inside this 14th-century palace. At Museo di Palazzo Poggi, you can peruse terracotta uteri in the Obstetrics…
0.28 MILES
Dating to the 13th century, the Palazzo del Podestà was the original residence of Bologna's chief magistrate. Beneath the palazzo there's a whispering…