48 Hours In Bologna, Italy, With Kids

Tourists usually flock to see the famous leaning tower of Pisa but the city of Bologna in the northwest of Italy is home to, arguably, a tower which leans even more than the one in Pisa.

The city, in Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, was one of the stops on our road trip through France and Italy. Home to the world’s oldest university, it has an edgy, graffiti-ridden side but it is also an affluent, happening city which oozes history.

With some of the nation’s finest restaurants, opera theatres and medieval sights, Bologna has become a growing tourist hotspot in recent years (helped by Ryan Air and EasyJet flying there from the UK).

After spending time in Modena, I found Bologna a larger and far busier city in comparison. It isn’t the most car-friendly city either. After taking a few wrong turns through side streets and one way roads (directed wrongly by our sat nav) we eventually found our hotel but had to park in a multi-storey car park a few streets away.

From then on we just used our legs to get around and covered a lot of ground – no mean feat considering I was 31 weeks pregnant and we were with our three-year-old daughter. Here’s a taster of what we did during our two days in the city.

Piazza Maggiore 

With magnificent buildings surrounding you, standing in the middle of the main Piazza Maggiore you are treated to a 360 degree view of some of the main tourist sights of Bologna including the Basilica of San Petronio, Palazzo Communale and Neptune’s Fountain.

On our second day we retreated to the square after a long day walking to have a drink and snack and soaked up the sounds and atmosphere of the bustling square.

Family-Friendly? What’s not to love? People watching, opportunities for selfies galore (which my daughter adores) and getting an ice cream to enjoy whilst daddy had a beer was a stroke of genius.

Basilica di San Petronio

Piazza Maggiore is home to the largest church built solely of brick in the world, Basilica di San Petronio. It was here we headed first upon arriving in Bologna. Work began on the Gothic structure in 1390 and was completed in 1479. It’s pretty impressive – mainly due to its enormous size at 132m long and 66m wide. Although it is free to enter, if you want to take pictures you have to pay €2. Make sure you watch where you are wandering too, I got told off in both Italian and English by two people after unwittingly going into a roped off area where you had to pay whilst attempting to locate the famous sundial in there. We swiftly left feeling a bit unwelcome and I didn’t even locate the sundial.

Family-Friendly? It is a pretty church but a church none the less so depending on how much this interests your children will dictate how long you spend there. We managed around half an hour.

Bologna’s Two Towers

Bologna’s traditional landmarks, the two towers, stand at the intersection of five roads. Built between the 12th and 13th century, the Asinelli Tower is the tallest at 97m and has 498 steps. You can access and climb this tower for €3 and are rewarded with spectacular views across the city. The Garisenda Tower has already been lowered due to subsidence fears although the leaning tower still looks as though it could fall down at any moment. It is fascinating to see although due to its urban location photographs don’t do it justice (perhaps that is why Pisa remains the more famous structure).

Family-Friendly? We didn’t go up the only accessible tower as there were just far too many steps to navigate with a three year old despite her valiant climb in Modena. But, she enjoyed looking up at the structures from the outside. Fellow travel blogger Vlad at Eff it I’m On Holiday navigated it with his 10-year-old cousin – check out his experience here.

Art Gallery (Collezioni Comunali d’Arte)

Bologna used to have almost 200 towers in the city. Why so many were built still remains a bit of a mystery. We caught a glimpse of how the city would have looked in medieval times by viewing a model at the art gallery on the second floor of the Palazzo Communal, home to the Bologna City Council.

It can be accessed by a lift (handy if you have a buggy) or there is a 16th Century staircase, essentially a cobbled ramp, which was designed to allow horse-drawn carriages up to the first floor. The gallery is worth a look with an impressive collection of paintings, many by Pelagio Palagi, a Bologna artist from the 19th century. There are also 13th century religious works of art which, due to their age, were incredible to view and fresceos, including the wondrous Sala Urbana, the Coats of Arms’ Hall. A room with 188 coats of arms representing the history of Bologna and the church from 1327 to 1744.

Family-Friendly? The gallery is quite large with lots of little rooms to explore and seemed to keep our daughter’s attention for a while (around 45 minutes), she particularly liked looking at the frescoes. During the summer months it would be a welcome haven from the heat. It also has wonderful views over the piazza.

Basilica di San Domenico

I sought out this 13th century church as I wanted to see the Giovanni Michelangelo statute. Although fairly austere from the outside, San Domenico is beautifully decorated inside and worth a look. Unfortunately we were unable to get very close to the famous artist’s sculpture as the gate was locked. Created in 1494, Michelangelo made the angel on the bottom right of the altar below. It is NOT the main altar but one on the right hand side of the church. I had to zoom in with my SLR camera to get this picture.

Family-Friendly? A far more compact church than San Petronio, our daughter found this a bit more appealing with its striking frescoes and sculptures although the husband had to keep an eye on her whilst I went in search of the elusive Michaelango creation.

Cuisine

Bologna has some of Italy’s finest restaurants. No surprise as it is part of the gourmet Emilia-Romagna region. Its signature dish is not, as many believe, Spaghetti Bolognese. That is a  British reinvention of Bologna’s famous Tagliatelle ragu. It’s delicious and we sampled a fair few of these during our 48 hours in the city.

Family-Friendly? It’s pasta. Need I say anymore?

The rest of our time in Bologna was spent eating delicious ice cream, indulging in some shopping (the hubby picked up a few Italian clothes) and wandering around its historic streets. Everywhere you look in Bologna is an historic building with ancient-looking cast iron doors which should front castles. Come evening, people spill out onto the streets sampling the region’s red Lambrussco and munching appetisers. The indoor food market is also worth a look. I would have liked to have a look at the Palazzo Enzo which is in the main square but it happened to be closed when we tried to enter.

With good food, history and a city compact enough to wander around in a couple of days, it’s no surprise Bologna is growing in popularity… go there before everyone else does!

Need To Know
– We got to Bologna by car, driving from Modena to Bologna (via the Ferrari Museum in Maranello) as part of our French-Italian road trip and it took one hour
– The nearest airport is Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport which is served from the UK by RyanAir and EasyJet
– We stayed at the centrally located Hotel Metropolitan
– We went in early April and the temperatures ranged from 16 degrees to 21. Don’t be fooled by the sunshine it can still drop cold. I suffered quite badly from hay fever during our time there as well
– A Bologna Welcome Card could come in handy if you are visiting several sights. For €20 you get free museum admissions and public transport for 48 hours.