Bologna itinerary for first-timers

Bologna's main square is framed by the huge brick façade of the Basilica di San Petronio, the Palazzo d'Accursio and the Palazzo del Podestà. Just behind, on Piazza del Nettuno, the bronze Fountain of Neptune has watched over the city since the 1560s. It is the natural place to start: everything in the old centre is a short walk away.

• Fountain of Neptune
• Palazzo d'Accursio
• Palazzo del Podestà
• Piazza Maggiore

The square is quietest early in the morning; later it fills with students sitting on the basilica steps.

One of the largest churches in the world, begun in 1390 and never given its marble façade above the lower part. Inside, the nave is wide and bright, and a long meridian line set into the floor in the 17th century marks the sun's path.

• Unfinished façade
• Meridian line
• Nave and side chapels

Dress modestly: covered shoulders and knees are expected inside.

The Asinelli and the leaning Garisenda stand side by side at the crossing of the medieval gates, the symbol of Bologna. Dozens of such towers once rose over the city. A short walk along Via Rizzoli from the main square brings you to the base, and the Palazzo della Mercanzia sits nearby.

• Asinelli Tower
• Garisenda Tower
• Palazzo della Mercanzia
• Via Rizzoli

Looking up from the square at the base is free; the Asinelli can usually be climbed with a timed ticket, which is worth checking ahead.

East of Piazza Maggiore, the narrow lanes of the Quadrilatero have been Bologna's market since the Middle Ages: delicatessens, fresh-pasta shops, greengrocers and the covered Mercato di Mezzo. A few steps south, the Archiginnasio, the first permanent home of the University, has a courtyard covered in coats of arms and a carved wooden anatomical theatre.

• Via Pescherie Vecchie
• Mercato di Mezzo
• Via degli Orefici
• Archiginnasio and Anatomical Theatre

The shops are liveliest in the morning and around lunch; fresh pasta and cured meats are the local things to look for.

After dark the porticoes glow and the lanes of the old market quarter fill with tables. The evening walk goes from Piazza Maggiore through the market lanes to the floodlit Fountain of Neptune and the Two Towers, then out along Via Santo Stefano and back.

• Via Pescherie Vecchie
• Floodlit Two Towers
• Piazza Santo Stefano at night

Bologna eats late, and the lanes around the Quadrilatero are busiest from about 8 pm.

A sloping, porticoed triangle of a square with the Santo Stefano complex on one side: a group of linked medieval churches and cloisters built on an older temple site. It is one of Bologna's most atmospheric places and feels quiet compared with the main square.

• Santo Stefano church complex
• Cloister
• Piazza Santo Stefano portico

Allow time for the cloister, where it is calm even in high season.

South-west of the centre, the basilica holds the tomb of Saint Dominic and is one of the city's major pilgrimage churches. The square in front is calm and a good place to rest before heading back into the centre.

• Basilica of San Domenico
• Piazza San Domenico

Visit between morning and lunchtime, when the church is most likely to be open to visitors.

Behind the Archiginnasio, Piazza Galvani is a small, leafy square with the statue of Luigi Galvani. From here the route continues west to the Basilica di San Francesco, a Gothic brick church with an unusual ring of flying buttresses and, behind it, the monumental tombs of the glossators, early law scholars.

• Statue of Luigi Galvani
• Basilica di San Francesco
• Tombs of the Glossators

The streets between the two squares are among the quietest in the centre at midday.

North-east of the Two Towers, Via Zamboni is the spine of the oldest university quarter in the western world: palaces turned into faculties, bookshops, graffiti and cafés, with students filling the squares. Piazza Giuseppe Verdi, by the opera house, is the quarter's open-air living room.

• Via Zamboni
• Piazza Giuseppe Verdi
• Student streets and graffiti

It is liveliest on weekday afternoons in term time and again in the early evening.

Bologna was once crossed by canals that powered its mills and silk workshops, and most were covered over. On Via Piella and along the Moline canal a few little windows still open onto the water, a view that surprises first-time visitors. The walk there from the university quarter follows Via delle Moline.

• Finestrella di Via Piella
• Moline canal

The window on Via Piella is small, so expect a short queue to look; it is quicker in the morning.

The longest portico in the world, nearly four kilometres of continuous arches, climbs from the edge of the old city up the Colle della Guardia to the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca. The uphill part, from the Arco del Meloncello, is the most photographed. From the sanctuary terrace you look back over Bologna's red roofs and towers.

• Arco del Meloncello
• Chapels along the portico
• Sanctuary of San Luca
• View over Bologna

It is a steady uphill walk, about 2.3 km from the Meloncello with roughly 200 m of climb; bring water and start early in summer.

Back in town, Via dell'Indipendenza is the long porticoed boulevard running north from Piazza Maggiore. Along it stands the Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Peter, a quieter alternative to San Petronio, and nearby the Prendiparte Tower, one of the best-preserved medieval towers.

• Via dell'Indipendenza
• Metropolitan Cathedral of St. Peter
• Prendiparte Tower

The cathedral is a calm stop if the main square feels crowded.

At the northern edge of the centre, the Montagnola is a hilltop public park with a monumental staircase and wide shaded paths, a place locals use for a stroll or a break. From its far side the Galliera Gate marks the old city limit on the way to the central station.

• Montagnola park and staircase
• Galliera Gate

A good place to end the day if you are catching a train, since the station is a short walk away.