Bologna help......not Oscar Meyer but Italy

Still searching to put together our Italy trip this Fall. It seems that the hardest thing is to get decent flights! Anyway, i think we will be in Bologna for a couple of days and wonder if anyone has some recommendations . From what I have read, it is a great town for food.


Thanks!
Cheers! [cheers.gif]
Marshall

Hi Marshall
Two days won’t give you huge opportunity to explore the city, but it will get you a decent feel for it.

Yes it is great for food, but my personal experience has been a bit hit and miss in the restaurants, but pretty exceptional for food shops. It’s also a very easy city to walk around, as even bad (or baking hot) weather can be mitigated due to the extensive criss-cross of porticoed streets.

Have you got accommodation sorted? Prices can be a bit steep, especially for hotels, but the tourist office have a huge listing and can help.

Food shopping

Places dotted across the city, but particular hot spots of good food shops are the criss-cross of old streets between the major landmarks of le due torri and Piazza Nettuno (aka Piazza Magiore). There are exceptional shops throughout, so much so that Eataly just earned a cursory stroll through on our last trip - there was better / better value elsewhere. Tamburini on the corner of via Drapperie and Via Caprarie (look for the nun or monk typically sat outside collecting donations) is the famous place and it remains true to it’s roots. As well as buying a dizzying array of food (including some decent prepared food) you can dine and/or drink here, but this is very much not fine dining. It’s peasant food, in a peasant caffetteria, but what it lacks in comfort / elegance is rewarded for those interested in the heart of Italian food. Service might seem a little brusque / confusing, but that’s just how it is.

Via Oberdan (coming off the main road via Rizzoli to the north) has a few very good food shops, but also some other interesting shops, including a very spacious pen shop.

The main market Mercato delle Erbe (aka Mercato Ugo Bassi - where it is located) is a little less fancy than the food shopping mentioned at the start, but often good quality for the price. This is mostly unaffected by tourism.

Eating out

As I mentioned, very much hit & miss for me, so take the views of others who have had more luck.

One place I’d definitely return to is Sette Tavoli Via Cartoleria, 15, 40124 Bologna, Italy settetavoli.it +39 051 272900 , a 5 min walk south of le due torri (go down via Castiglione). The restaurant focuses on a different region of Italy every month (IIRC), which seems to keep their enthusiasm up. The wine list is very good without being ostentatious and you can either dine inside or outside if the weather is warm, and it is a quiet street so is pleasing to do so.

Another place we enjoyed, for a really cosy/welcoming ambience, is the enoteca In vino veritas 9/F Via Garibaldi Giuseppe, Bologna, BO 40124, 40124 Bologna, Italy +39 051 339 9332 (south of Piazza Nettuno & the fancy shopping street via Farini) where they specialise in Southern Italian food and have a modest but decent/well chosen selection of wines that surround you as you dine (or drink). They serve by the glass, but seemed happy to open a bottle on demand if we wanted a glass. It was there we discovered Hauner’s Hiera, a modestly priced red (IIRC from the island Vulcano) that had similarities with Musar/Southern Rhone, but with a subtle hint of the specific ‘perfume’ of that island. Prices are high for retail, but pretty fair for eating in. The food is rustically good.

Other stuff

A few decent wine bars dotted throughout the city

Likewise some very good gelato (more genuine hits than misses here), and please correct my mistake if you go here: Gelateria Gianni Via Monte Grappa, 11, 40121 Bologna, Italy gelateriagianni.com (one street north of via Rizzoli) because I didn’t try their pear and parmesan gelato (having tried and enjoyed a celeriac sorbet a while back, I’m determined to try more of the savoury flavours).

Climbing the one of the due torri that is open is hard work but rewarding, and it’s good to take a map up there and use it to get your bearings.

Some very quirky museums, including the museum of human anatomy that houses historic intricately modelled figures, used originally for tuition at the university.

One personal (perhaps eclectic) favourite, is the unisex deodorants at Kelemata. Very natural fragrances, a world away from the usual commercial offerings. They have one shop on the corner of Ugo Bassi / via Marconi and another at (I think) #61 via dell’Independenza (a large porticoed shopping street between station and centre of the city). They are very fairly priced.

Happy to help with other questions & I can ping you a fuller crib sheet that I’ve built up over a few visits

regards
Ian

  • weird moment. Clicking on streetview, I somehow managed to get this
    Google Maps
    I’m not sure how they got the camera car in there!!!

One difficult note. Especially around the good food shops mentioned at the start, but pretty much across the city now, there is now quite assertive persistent begging from guys of African origin. In days gone by, you’d see Italian beggars, either sat down with heads bowed down, or commonly frail old ladies who would make a brief plea for money, but then leave you in peace. The new guys are very much more in your face and any acknowledgment can mean they’ll follow you trying to persuade you to give money. It does reflect a larger social problem, but for the tourist it can be quite intimidating.

It might not feel right, but just ignore them. Don’t make eye contact and don’t speak.

On the upside, Bologna is less-blighted than many cities, with very few the annoyingly persistent sellers of roses that work the restaurants mostly tolerated by the owners (only on one occasion can I recall one being shoed out by the owner of the restaurant).

Sorry to bring up such an uncomfortable subject and I hope it doesn’t put you off a very interesting and relatively untouristy city.

I have said this before, Ian, but I am really grateful that you take the time to answer questions about Italy in such depth and with such insight. I have learned a lot from your posts and though our next trip to Italy has been postponed – twice now – I have kept these posts marked for later use. Really a great public service.

That’s very kind of you to say so Neal.

I do lack any expertise in the major tourist locations (Rome/Venice/Florence) - being the hypocrite that I am - a tourist who would rather not spend my holiday (mostly) amongst other tourists. On the flip side I seem to find joy in seemingly humdrum locations where the locals do this [scratch.gif] as they try to work out how a tourist has ended up in their town/village.

I think I enjoy helping others discover places away from the major tourist locations.

I do also love preparing my cribsheets for when we go away, covering enough ideas for well over a month when we’re only there for a week or less! It helps me build the enthusiasm for the trip, and is a handy source of options for eating / shopping / doing other stuff, though it is important to trust yourself to ‘follow your nose’ as there are great places that are found that way as well. The cribsheets are a useful reminder afterwards of the places we went to.

Regards
Ian

Thanks Ian…very much appreciated. I believe that we have some higher end hotels picked out for Florence and Venice so I probably will just use points to stay at a conventional Marriott while in Bologna. I think we can add another day as well since it seems very interesting and we have never been.
Thanks again and keep 'em coming!

Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]

It’s been a long time, but Da Cesari was great when I went.

There is a Marriott family hotel in Bologna, but it isn’t a Marriott, it’s an AC, a brand lower in their portfolio.

Barry: I think you are correct but for a couple of days it will be just fine. The location seems good for us but I am not locked in…still searching!


Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]

We ate there in 2009 at the beginning of the fall truffle season. It was fantastic.

I really value Ian’s posts, but I was a little surprised to see him dis Bologna restaurants given his preference for local, authentic food. It’s a small sample size, but we used the Osteria during our visit and seemed to hit one family-run place after another serving authentic Bolognese dishes–lasagna, tortellini etc–that made you feel like you’d never truly had that dish before.

Hi James
I was surprised as well, though perhaps a case of high expectations not being met? It certainly could be a sample size issue, despite 5 visits to Bologna, the first two were day trips, the third we stayed south of Bologna, where we did have some memorable, but unpretentious meals. I think we had a couple of lunches in the city itself on that trip. Finally, staying in the city, we don’t eat out twice a day… the liberating facet of renting an apartment.

So, the disappointments I can recall: Bistro Marco Fadigot, which was a well established French/Italian place. The best dishes (I was quite lucky in our group) were very good and stylish, but too many of the other dishes were badly executed, or badly thought out. FWIW when checking, it looks like they have permanently shut. Another recent disappointment was clorofilla, a long established vegetarian restaurant, that lacked the spark /inspiration of the best veggie places (as a meat eater, the best seem to make you forget there is no meat). There was another moderately disappointing place we ate lunch at a while back, on a road off via dell’inependenza iirc.

I am definitely not saying the restaurants are rubbish, just that we’ve been unlucky. Which can happen.

Regards
Ian

And one that doesn’t disappoint. We stayed at an AC in Turin (Torino). It’s around the corner from Eataly.

Marshall, we didn’t go to Bologna, but spent 2 days and 2 nights in Parma. We easily could have done an extra day. If you have the time, it’s an easy drive/train trip. Maybe 60 minutes. By the way, if you plan on training it, the farther out you buy your tickets, the cheaper they are.

My sample size was small, too. We’re going to be back in the Spring and I’ll update.

Still plenty of planning time…A bit of our itinerary will depend on what airline tix I can finagle.
Appreciate the info…Keep 'em coming!


Cheers!
Marshall [berserker.gif]

Hi Marshall
Bologna Marconi is the logical airport and it is reasonably close to the city, we have taken the airport bus before but also a taxi. There are alternatives, though I believe Forli not much so these days. Parma has a wonderfully small airport but probably doesn’t do transatlantic flights. Firenze isn’t too far away. There may be others worth a look such as Verona/Padova/Rimini but these are a bit of a distance. Marconi definitely the recommended option.

Haven’t been for a few years Marshall but Trattoria Gigina used to be terrific. It’s about 5km’s from the city centre. They make fresh Tortellini twice a day and had a good, well priced wine list. Da Cesari in the heart of the town is also worth a look.

The Cesari Family has a restaurant in the city. Pair some amazing lasagna with a library vintage of Umberto Cesari Sangiovese di Romagna Riserva.

Ian: Things are still in flux but as of now, we would flying into Venice and taking the train to Bologna [thankyou.gif] …Then another train to Florence where we would later pick up our car.



Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]

aha!

for my personal tastes, I’d get out of Venice as fast as possible and spend the extra time in Modena.

Paul: Venice seems to be a bit controversial but I have never been and am quite excited about being there. What is it that you don’t care for? Since we will be there in the Fall, I don’t feel it will be mobbed with tourists .


Cheers!
Marshall [cheers.gif]