Centro Storico

A look around

What you’ll be living next to. Swipe through.

1/5

Where it sits

The circle is Centro Storico and roughly a 10-minute walk around it.

How far is everything?

From the middle of this area to the city's headline sights — pick your own on the city page and these become your list.

• Aperitivo in the student quarter5 min walk388 m
• The Finestrella (canal window)5 min walk435 m
• Santo Stefano & the Seven Churches6 min walk526 m
• Pinacoteca Nazionale11 min walk951 m
• MAMbo modern art12 min walk974 m
• Portico di San Luca12 min taxi3.9 km
• The Sanctuary of San Luca12 min taxi4.0 km

On your doorstep

What you’re living next to if you stay here.

• 1.Piazza Maggiore & San Petronio — The grand central square, framed by medieval palazzi and the vast, half-finished basilica of San Petronio — one of the biggest churches in the world, with a fascinating meridian line across its floor. The beating heart of the city; sit and watch it go by.
• 2.The Two Towers (Asinelli) — Bologna's leaning medieval skyscrapers — climb the taller Asinelli's 498 wooden steps for the best view over the terracotta rooftops. Book a slot; the twin, dangerously tilting Garisenda leans beside it. The symbol of the city.
• 3.The Quadrilatero market — The tangle of medieval market lanes behind Piazza Maggiore — delis heaped with mortadella, parmigiano and fresh tortellini, fishmongers and buzzing aperitivo counters. Bologna's edible heart; graze, buy, and drink a spritz in the crush.
• 4.Tortellini & tagliatelle al ragù — The whole reason people who know come here — hand-rolled tortellini in broth and tagliatelle with real ragù (never 'spaghetti bolognese'), plus mortadella and Lambrusco. Eat at an old trattoria and understand why this is Italy's food capital.
• 6.Fountain of Neptune — The muscular bronze Neptune presiding over his own little piazza beside Piazza Maggiore — a Renaissance masterpiece by Giambologna and a Bologna icon (and the model for the Maserati logo). A classic photo and meeting spot.
• 7.The Archiginnasio — The first home of Europe's oldest university — halls covered in thousands of student coats of arms, and the astonishing wooden Anatomical Theatre where dissections were once performed under a canopy of carved figures. A quiet, extraordinary hour.