Mallorca Off Piste: Bologna Break

Bologna: A city of culinary delights, hidden canals, porticoes, twin towers and the oldest university in the western world.

“Every man is an island, and every heart seeks the ferry to cross the main…” ― Mykyta Isagulov

As we have said before. living on an island, even as beautiful as Mallorca, can at times seem a little claustrophobic, consequently it is a great temptation to get away to the mainland or foreign parts for a few days.

At the time of writing there are 110 cities with non-stop flights available from Palma de Mallorca airport, that’s quite a choice! Do you go to a city you have been to before? do you go to a city you’ve never been to? Choices, choices, choices and yes we know you can jump on a ferry, but who wants to waste all that time if you are talking about taking a short break of just a few days!

Bologna is one of those 110 cities at the moment, a 90 minute hop by Ryanair to the city known on the one hand as ‘La dotta’, the learned one and on the other as ‘La grassa’, the abundant one or more commonly the fat one!

It is a unique city with Le due torri, the twin towers, one 97.2 metres tall and the other with more lean than Pisa’s. A city with nearly 40 kilometres of porticoes protecting it’s citizens and visitors from the rain and the sun. A city with a university established in 1088 whose alumni include the poet Dante, the astronomer Nicholas Copernicus, the inventor Guglielmo Marconi, the designer Giorgio Armani and Archbishop Thomas Beckett. And a city with over 50 museums including the Archiginnasio, once the main building of the university with it’s library and anatomical theatre where cadavers were dissected during lectures in medicine and anatomy.

“Bologna is the best city in Italy for food and has the least number of tourists. With its medieval beauty, it has it all.” – Mario Batali

And then there’s the food! Bologna is widely known as the culinary capital of Italy. It’s the birthplace of the belly buttoned shaped pastas of tortellini and tortelloni as well as the delicious cured meat mortadella. The original recipe of which was codified in the Bologna area in 1661. Emilia Romagna is one of Italy’s major food regions and Bologna is truly blessed by it’s geographical location almost right in the centre.

Those who follow Mallorca Reflections will already know that we are keen supporters of other travel bloggers and writers, so as usual we will leave it to them to provide the real inside information on this amazing and historic city:

The Bolognese Bloggers

Valeria of My Lovely Bologna and Flaneur in Bologna share their unique insights into the city via their posts as do Silvia of Bologna Uncovered and Andrea of Taste Bologna who both run walking tours but also feature great posts about Bologna and the surrounding Emilia Romagna region.

The Travel Bloggers

Christina of Happy to Wander for “Visit Bologna Like a Smartie: 19 Mistakes to Avoid On Your 1st Bologna Trip”, Kathryn of Travel with Kat for “Uncovering the secrets of Bologna”, Sher of Sher She Goes for “10 Tasty Things to Do in Bologna” , Anita of The Sane Travel for “What to do in Bologna in a day”, Ayngelina, ‘the food hunter’ of Bacon is Magic for “What to do in Italy’s prolific food city” and the Bologna posts by The Lady Travels which were all of great help to a first a visitor to the city.

Finally, a special mention to twin sisters Sara and Ornella Mostaccioli and their friendly staff who run the lovely traditional Ristorante Incrocio Montegrappa not far from Piazza Maggiore and a big thank you to the lovely Zappoli ladies at Le Sfogline, handmade pasta makers par excellence!

Bologna travel tips:

At the moment it’s a twenty minute taxi journey to the city centre (about 15-20 euro). The shuttle bus costs 6 euro per person and obviously takes longer. But very soon you will be able to travel by monorail from the Guglielmo Marconi Airport to Bologna Centrale railway station in just seven minutes with the new Marconi Express. (Prices unavailable at this time!)

Make sure you have comfortable shoes for all those porticoes, we walked over 33 kilometres in just over 3 days!

If you are thinking of visiting Bologna make sure you check out all of the great blogs and websites mentioned above before you go!

P.S. It’s maybe not too wise to hang out in this street…if you go!?!