Spend time in Piazza Maggiore
Bologna, Italy
Piazza Maggiore is the best place to begin understanding Bologna’s historic centre. San Petronio, Palazzo d’Accursio and the surrounding civic buildings frame a square that still functions as an everyday meeting place. Walk its edges before settling at a café, then continue into the neighbouring streets. A guided introduction can help explain the buildings’ changing roles, but the square also rewards an unhurried return at a different time of day, when the light and atmosphere change.