*POST UPDATED OCTOBER 2026
Ciao ragazzi! Happy Monday! Welcome to my fourth and final Italian travel offering for the foreseeable future: 72 Hours in Bologna, the Emilia-Romagna Capital. Fiancé & I love love LOVE all things Bologna, so I’m super excited to be sharing this guide with you! Bologna is one of our absolute favourite cities ever, and one that we frequently daydream about moving to. Our recent 72 hour visit was our first time back to the city since 2019 and I can’t tell you how good it felt to be back in the land of ragu! My face actually hurt on the first night from smiling so much – that’s how happy I was to be back! It’s just our place, you know? All of that is to say: we had a wonderful time in Bologna and I wrote this travel guide about it.
In case you missed it, other recent Italy posts include: Our Engagement in Bologna, Three Days in Florence, and A Week in San Donato in Poggio. As well as that, there are already two Bologna travel guides up here on the blog: Italian Adventures in Bologna and Bologna, A Love Letter. Fear not – this guide is filled with loads of new information and recommendations! Where to sleep / get coffee + pastries / eat lunch, dinner, gelato / drink / tourist, everything you need is below!
Enjoy!
where we stayed
Because of the way our trip itinerary worked out, we actually ended up staying in two different spots during our time in Bologna. We flew in, spent one night in town, travelled onwards to Florence & San Donato in Poggio, and then returned for a couple more nights before flying home. Here’s where we stayed: