Italy

Bologna offers a chance to rest and savour before joining the masses of tourists in Florence and Venice. Surrounded by hills, the city's centre is still much as it was during the Renaissance: dusky red-coloured buildings, wide piazzas and arched porticoes with floors laid with marble.

Before the 20th century

Bologna has a long and proud history as a place many wished to conquer but few could subjugate. The region in and around the city was first settled during the Bronze Age, over three thousand years ago, by tribes known as the Villanovese. These people were conquered by Etruscans, who were conquered by the Celts, who in turn were driven out by the Romans. The town, now renamed Boronia, was a Roman colony for over 400 years until the empire fell into decline and Boronia was attacked from the north by a succession of barbarian tribes: Visigoths, Huns, Goths and Lombards.

After centuries of being fought over by pagan peoples, Bologna was fought over by Christians. After the Lombards were beaten out, various Popes and Holy Roman Emperors vied for control of the city. Bologna was worth fighting for: its strategic location, university (established 1088) and growing wealth from crafts and trade would have made it a valuable addition to anyone's empire. Powerful rival families within Bologna sided with the Popes or the Emperor, often resulting in bitter civil war. The city started by siding with the Guelfi (Guelphs), who backed the papacy, and then the Ghibellines. After that, the Pope's armies once again made Bologna part of the Papal State.

The city remained, however uneasily, under papal control until the arrival of Napoleon at the end of the 18th century. After Napoleon's empire collapsed, the city passed back into the hands of the papacy, but Bologna once again proved itself intractable; most Bolognesi supported growing calls for all of Italy to unite under secular control, and in 1860 Bologna and the rest of the region joined the newly formed Kingdom of Italy.

Modern history

Bologna, along with the rest of Italy, was led by Mussolini's fascist regime into WWII against the Allies, but the city later became a centre of resistance against the Germans, who occupied Italy after the Italians tried to switch sides. After the war the city became a centre of radical politics, and a longtime supporter of the Democratici di Sinistri, the leading democratic party of the left.

Recent history

Today, 'Red Bologna' is no longer as red as it once was, although it's still quite pink. It's a centre for Italy's high-tech industries and regularly plays host to trade fairs. The university is still a source of agitation, although less so than in the protest heyday of the 1970s. When Bologna was named European City of Culture in 2000, vast sums of money were spent on developments geared mainly at young people, including new arts facilities, a museum of Jewish culture, and an extensive new library in the former stock exchange.

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Winter in northern Italy can be can very cold, especially in January, and summers very hot, especially in July and August. By August so many businesses in Bologna are closed it seems the whole city has gone to the beach.

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Transport

Getting around

Bologna has an efficient bus system, run by ATC; you'll find information booths at the train station and on Via Marconi at the junction with Via Ugo Bassi and Via Lame. There are frequent buses from the train station to the city centre. Not all bus routes operate on Sunday. Taxis are also freely available.

Getting there and away

Bologna's Guglielmo Marconi airport, northwest of the city at Borgo Panigale, is serviced mainly by European airlines. You can fly in from Rome, Venice, Pisa, Frankfurt, Paris and London, among others. ATC Aerobus connects the city with the airport and leaves from in front of the train station roughly every 15 or 20 minutes until midnight. Budget carrier Ryanair flies into Forli, 70km southeast of Bologna. The airport is serviced by local buses that coincide with flights.

Bologna is a major railway junction for regional centres and northern Italy, with frequent services from Rome and Milan, many of them Eurostar trains.

Bus services to regional centres such as Ravenna, Ferrara and Modena leave from the depot opposite Piazza XX Settembre, around the corner from the train station. There are also buses to Ancona and Milan, and international buses to Amsterdam, Paris, London, Brussels, Prague and Warsaw. If travelling by car, you can reach Bologna on the A1 Autostrada del Sole, which also links Milan, Florence and Rome. The A13 heads directly for Ferrara, Padova and Venezia, the A14 for Rimini and Ravenna, and the Via Emilia (S9), goes on to connect Milan with the Adriatic coast. The S64 leads to Ferrara.

If you want to hire a car, you'll find all of the major hire companies have offices in the city, most also have outlets at the airport.