Food tour in Bologna

(This is part of our series of posts from our six-week Road Scholar Independent Living and Learning in Florence trip to Italy in Spring 2025. We have an index to all the posts from that trip here.)

After school, we took a fast train from Florence to Bologna. (If only we had trains like this one in the U.S.: it covered the 70 miles between the two cities in 35 minutes–meaning it averaged 120 miles per hour!–whereas driving would have taken two hours.) We met up with Cheryl’s sister Suzy and brother-in-law Doug for a food tour of this culinary paradise with a local guide.

Our tour began in Bologna’s Mercato delle Erbe, where our guide Giuseppe told us about the foods at our first stop, I Tipici.

I Tipici specializes in olives, pickled vegetables and wine.

This sign on the wall inside I Tipici says: “You always cook with someone in mind, otherwise you’re just making food.”

Learning about Bolognese aperitivi from Giuseppe at a table in Mercato delle Erbe.

Roasted vegetables, caramelized tiny onions, lasagna, and veal meatballs from Pollo Mino in Mercato delle Erbe.

Of course, it would not be an Italian meal without wine, right? We shared this bottle of Pignoletto, a white wine from the Bologna area. It is similar to prosecco, but slightly drier.

Our next stop was a shop on the outside of Mercato delle Erbe, called Bernardi Antica Formaggeria.

Bernardi Antica Formaggeria specializes in cheeses and cured meats. As at all the vendors we visited, the variety available was dizzying.

Leaving the Mercato dell Erbe with our meats and cheeses, we walked a few blocks through central Bologna as Giuseppe showed us around the city. This is Via Ugo Bassi, one of the main streets in central Bologna.

The Palazzo D’Accursio (Municipal Palace, the city’s town hall) forms one side of the city’s main piazza, known as Piazza Maggiore.

Inside the Palazzo D’Accursio, we discovered this quiet courtyard, insulated from the noise of the Bolognese streets just outside.

The Basilica of San Petronio, the church of the Archdiocese of Bologna, in Piazza Maggiore. Construction began in 1390, but its main facade has remained unfinished.

Via Pescherie Vecchie (which translates to “street of the old fish market”), a narrow street that is now full of restaurants.

Dante Zanetti Pane e Pasta in Via Pescherie Vecchie.

Dante Zanetti is one of Bologna’s last purveyors of fresh, handmade pasta.

Finally, we got to sit down and enjoy all the treats that Giuseppe had selected from the last couple of shops. From Bernardi Antica Formaggeria, we had (clockwise from top left): 40-month-aged parmesan, 24-month-aged parmesan (yes, you could taste the difference), Prosciutto Sant’IIlario D.O.P. (a very high-quality cured ham, aged 24 months), and mortadella.

We also had stracciatella and figs from Bernardi. Stracciatella di Bufala is a soft, creamy, and milky cheese made by shredding mozzarella into thin strands and then soaking them in fresh cream. We spread it on bread from Dante Zanetti and topped it with a bit of fig–sweet and creamy goodness!

Also from Dante Zanetti, we had crescentine–rustic country sandwiches on a thin, round roll, filled with bacon, garlic, and rosemary, all mashed together and then topped with Parmesan reggiano and served warm.

Sausage tortellini with olive oil and parmesan, from Dante Zanetti. Oh, and there was another bottle of wine–a Lambrusco, also typical of Bologna.

Our last stop was Cremeria La Vecchia Stalla, where we ended our tour with gelato.

Inside Cremeria La Vecchia Stalla. Premium gelato is not the neon-colored stuff you often find in piled high in windows around tourists areas. Great gelato is deeply flavored with natural ingredients, has whatever color the flavoring has, and is too soft and creamy to mound up. If you see gelato stored in small metal pots with covers, like these, it’s probably the real deal.

David approved of the gelato!

After our tour ended, we walked back to the Bologna train station. On the way, we passed by the Two Towers, which are Bologna landmarks. Both towers are leaning, but the shorter of the two, known as the Garisenda, is the worst due to the subsidence of its foundation. A crowdfunding campaign started in 2023 to raise money to restore the site.

A short while later, we were back in Florence, where we sadly said goodbye to Suzy and Doug, who were returning to their home in England the next morning.