Bologna has a “Dolce Vita” feel to it and is the home Italy’s oldest and most prestigious Universities. Its architecture, whilst not being the most beautiful in Italy is nonetheless inspiring and the buildings seem to protect you from the wind from the nearby hills.

The centre of the city consists of the Piazza Maggiore and Piazza del Nettuno where you will find plenty of restaurants and boutiques to spend your money on. The Neptune fountain can be found in this area as well as the fifth-largest church in the world, the Basilica di San Petronio which houses the oldest organ in Italy. Rossini, one of Bologna’s most famous sons, may well have practiced here.

Until the late 19th century, when a large-scale urban reconstruction project was undertaken, Bologna remained one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe; to this day it remains unique in its historic value. Despite having suffered considerable bombing damage in 1944, Bologna's historic centre, Europe's second largest (after Venice), contains a wealth of important Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque artistic monuments.

Bologna developed along the Via Emilia as an Etruscan and later Roman colony; the Via Emilia still runs straight through the city under the changing names of Strada Maggiore, Rizzoli, Ugo Bassi, and San Felice. Due to its Roman heritage, the central streets of Bologna, today largely pedestrianized, follow the grid pattern of the Roman settlement.

The original Roman ramparts were supplanted by a high medieval system of fortifications, remains of which are still visible, and finally by a third and final set of ramparts built in the 13th century, of which numerous sections survive. Over twenty medieval defensive towers, some of them leaning precariously, remain from the over two hundred that were constructed in the era preceding the security guaranteed by unified civic government.