Private Bologna Tour with a Local Guide

Piazza Maggiore and the Basilica of San Petronio

Piazza Maggiore has been the heart of Bologna since the thirteenth century. Around it stand the town hall, the Palazzo del Podestà with its vaulted passage where a whisper spoken into one corner is heard clearly in the opposite one, and the Basilica of San Petronio, begun in 1390 and among the largest churches in the world. Its façade was never finished, so the lower part is clad in marble and the upper part is still bare brick.

Inside, a long meridian line set into the floor in the seventeenth century still marks solar noon when a ray of sunlight falls through a small hole in the roof. Just next to the square, the bronze Neptune Fountain from the 1560s is the city's favourite meeting point. Your private Bologna tour usually begins here, because from this square almost every other sight is a few minutes away.

The Two Towers

In the Middle Ages Bologna bristled with tower houses built by rival families as symbols of power and as refuges. Only a few survive, and the most famous are the Two Towers: the Asinelli Tower, about 97 metres high and built in the early twelfth century, and the shorter Garisenda, which began to lean soon after it was built and was later lowered for safety. Together they stand where the old Roman road entered the city.

Since 2023 the area at the foot of the towers has been fenced off while engineers secure the Garisenda, and climbing the Asinelli Tower has been suspended; your guide will tell you the current situation and the best viewpoints. Even from the street, the two leaning silhouettes are one of the great images of Italy, and the surrounding streets are lined with medieval houses and old shopfronts.

The porticoes of Bologna

Bologna has more porticoes than any other city in the world, covered arcades that run along almost every street of the centre. They began in the Middle Ages when the growing university needed more rooms and houses were extended over the street on wooden beams; later they became compulsory for new buildings. In 2021 they were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, from humble wooden arcades to grand Renaissance loggias.

The porticoes make Bologna pleasant in all weather, shaded in summer and dry in rain. The longest of all climbs the hill of the Guardia for almost four kilometres to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, with sweeping views over the city and the Apennines; it is included in the full-day option, while shorter tours show you the most beautiful arcades in the centre, such as those of Via Santo Stefano and Strada Maggiore.

The university quarter and the Archiginnasio

Bologna's university, founded in 1088, is considered the oldest in the Western world still in operation, and students still give the city its lively, youthful feel. In the sixteenth century the scattered schools were brought together in the Archiginnasio palace, just off Piazza Maggiore, whose walls and ceilings are covered with the painted coats of arms of former students and teachers.

Inside is the wooden Anatomical Theatre, where anatomy lessons were once held around a marble table under a carved ceiling. Entry tickets are not included in the tour, but your guide helps you book them if you want to go in. The modern university quarter around Via Zamboni, with its palaces, museums and student cafés, is a good place to end the visit if you have chosen a longer option.

The Quadrilatero, Bologna's old market

Just east of Piazza Maggiore lies the Quadrilatero, a grid of narrow lanes that has been Bologna's market since the Middle Ages, when each street belonged to a guild: fishmongers, butchers, goldsmiths, drapers. Today the lanes are lined with greengrocers, bakeries and fresh pasta shops where you can watch women rolling tortellini and tagliatelle by hand.

Bologna is nicknamed 'the Fat One' for its cooking, as well as 'the Learned One' for its university and 'the Red One' for its rooftops. Nearby, a small window in Via Piella opens over one of the hidden canals that once powered the city's silk mills, a view often called Bologna's little Venice. Your guide can point you towards good places to eat; halal food is limited in the centre, while vegetarian dishes are easy to find.

The Santo Stefano complex

A few minutes from the Two Towers, the triangular Piazza Santo Stefano is one of the most beautiful squares in Bologna. Facing it is the Santo Stefano complex, a group of interlinked churches and courtyards built and rebuilt over many centuries, with origins going back to the fifth century. The oldest parts, in bare brick and stone, include a round church modelled on the shrines of Jerusalem and a quiet cloister on two levels.

Is Santo Stefano worth visiting? It is one of the most atmospheric places in the city and is usually free to enter, but please dress modestly. Bologna opening hours for churches often include a lunchtime closure, which your guide plans around. With the four-hour and longer options there is time to visit it calmly, together with the elegant streets that lead back towards the centre.