What to See in Bologna, from Piazza Maggiore to San Luca

Visiting Bologna is always a surprising experience for those who see it for the first time, thanks to the many monuments and places of interest concentrated in this city. This guide will help you organize your visit, so you can decide what to see in Bologna and what to do.

What to do in Bologna: itineraries and things to see

There are many places of interest in Bologna that we recommend you visit. It doesn’t matter if you have little time available, this guide will help you understand what to see in Bologna in one day without giving up the most important things.

What to see in Bologna: places to visit

1 Piazza Maggiore

Piazza Maggiore is the splendid living room of Bologna. Lively, full of people at all times of the day, it showcases architectural gems such as the Basilica of San Petronio with its characteristic raw and unfinished facade, the Sala Borsa designed in Art Nouveau style, inside which a futuristic multimedia library has been created. Medieval and Renaissance palaces, including the Palazzo Re Enzo. The square is the favorite meeting place for tourists and locals; in the past, it was the center of the city’s politics. Here you will also find the Palazzo Comunale, recognizable by the statue of Pope Gregory VIII placed on the central portal. Inside, remember to visit the Sala Farnese, truly very suggestive.

2 The two Towers, Garisenda and Asinelli

Symbols of Bologna known worldwide. These three monuments are located at the entrance of the city, on Via Emilia. Definitely to include on the list “Bologna: things to see“.

3 The Fountain of Neptune

The Fountain of Neptune is the work of Gianbologna. Located in Piazza del Nettuno, between the Town Hall and the Palazzo del Podestà. It is one of the most beautiful fountains of the sixteenth century.

4 The Porticoes of Bologna

One of the characteristics of Bologna are the porticoes, whose total length reaches 40 km: a unique feature in Italy, and perhaps even in the world, whose origins date back to the Middle Ages and the founding of the university. Under the sumptuous portico of Pavaglione, just a stone’s throw from Piazza Maggiore, the trade of precious silks took place; the portico of the Church of Santa Maria dei Servi shines thanks to restorations and the very long covered walkway that climbs the hill of San Luca amply rewards the effort of the hike.

Churches of Bologna, basilicas and monasteries not to be missed

5 Basilica of San Petronio

The Basilica of San Petronio remains unfinished; according to the original project, it should have had the dimensions of St. Peter’s Basilica. Nevertheless, it remains the sixth largest church in Europe, one of the most important in the Christian community.

6 Basilica of San Domenico

The Basilica of San Domenico dates back to the 1200s and inside it contains several important works by Michelangelo.

7 Santuario di San Luca

The Santuario di San Luca, also called the Santuario della Madonna di San Luca, stands on the Colle della guardia, and it is visible from almost all points of Bologna. This majestic building is one of the most fascinating sanctuaries of Bologna along with the Church of San Giacomo Maggiore and the Basilica of Santo Stefano. It is also reachable via a very long porticoed walkway ascending the hill of San Luca.

8 Basilica of Santo Stefano

Not far from the Garisenda and Asinelli Towers, also reachable from the beautiful Corte Isolani, is the Basilica of Santo Stefano, called the “seven churches“, although in reality, only four churches remain, nested within each other, built between the 4th and 19th centuries. The splendid Romanesque cloister is not to be missed.

9 San Colombano

San Colombano is a church complex composed of a series of buildings accumulated over the centuries, starting from the 7th century. The recent restoration uncovered a 13th-century wall crucifixion attributed to Giunta Pisano, a medieval crypt, and a 13th-century burial. Inaugurated on June 21, 2010, the complex hosts the collection of ancient musical instruments donated by Maestro Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, consisting of about ninety pieces including harpsichords, spinets, pianos, clavichords, and a collection of wind and popular instruments dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries. It also preserves the specialized library of the Bolognese musicologist Oscar Mischiati.

10 Church of Santa Cristina della Fondazza

The Church of Santa Cristina della Fondazza that we see today was built in 1602 by Giulio della Torre, an architect from the circle of Domenico Tibaldi. The single-nave interior stands out for the narrowing of the presbytery, which becomes a resonance chamber that transforms Santa Cristina into an architectural musical instrument, where sound spreads with astonishing acoustic clarity. It is precisely from this characteristic that the myth of the “singing nuns” was born: in the room behind the apse area, the nuns sang protected from prying eyes, and their voices, through two grates above the main altar, propagated without echo and reverberation all the way to the entrance. Closed and reopened several times due to Napoleonic expropriations, after the unification of Italy the Church of Santa Cristina became a military warehouse and the convent a barracks. Since 2008, after the restorations were completed, it has been reopened to the public as a classical music auditorium and Gregorian chant school.

11 Chapel of Santa Maria dei Carcerati in Palazzo Re Enzo

Inside the restored Chapel of Santa Maria dei Carcerati, built in 1371 by the will of the papal vicar Anglico de Grimoard and intended for the spiritual comfort of those imprisoned in the nearby Palazzo del Capitano, the English artist David Tremlett created one of his wall drawings, combining the art of the past with current abstractism, perpetuating a sense of continuity and rupture at the same time, which characterizes many interventions in the region.

David Tremlett is a sculptor who prefers to sculpt the wall with colors, massaging them on the walls as a support for his abstract works, born from a deep emotional and projectual relationship with the chosen place and its preexistences; his geometric and essential shapes vibrate through colors and light, always in harmony with the architecture that houses them and which is at the root of his artistic conceptions.