What to see in Bologna and nearby
What is there to see in Bologna and nearby? It depends on how far you wish to widen your gaze. Because Bologna does not end with its historic center: it continues across the hills, villages, vinegar houses, dairies, wineries, icons of automotive culture, Emilian art cities, and landscapes that change from the Apennines to the Po Delta.
From I Portici Hotel, the out-of-town experience is born with the same spirit as the one inside Palazzo Maccaferri: not simple stops to add to your stay, but different ways to live the region from within, through flavor, culture, nature, craftsmanship, and passion. A lunch in the hills, a tour between Aceto Balsamico di Modena and Parmigiano Reggiano, a day at the sea: every direction opens a different story of Emilia-Romagna. And it transforms I Portici into the place from which to depart, return, and set out again.
The I Portici experiences, beyond Bologna
From regional excellences to automotive icons, from olive mills to wineries: I Portici experiences do not simply introduce you to the region, they let you touch it, drive it, taste it, and listen to it.
Ferrari, Lamborghini, Pagani: legendary names that tell stories of speed, design, innovation, and the Italian imagination. The experiences devoted to Motor Valley take you through factories, museums, simulators, and symbolic places of world motoring.
Aceto Balsamico di Modena, Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto, extra virgin olive oil, wine: Food Valley is the deepest narrative of Emilian taste. Tours, tastings, and lunches across the region allow you not only to sample its excellences, but also to understand where and how they are born.
From olive mills to private homes in the hills, from chocolate workshops to hand-churned gelato lessons: the Experiences around us tell the story of the region through gestures, people, and selected places. Emilian memories to take with you.
Rocchetta Mattei and Dozza
Near Bologna there are places that seem to open a parenthesis in the landscape. Rocchetta Mattei, about an hour from the city, is one of the most surprising: a visionary castle in the Apennines where Moorish, medieval, and Liberty inspirations intertwine in theatrical, unexpected architecture.
Dozza, by contrast, tells another idea of beauty: an intimate village famous for its murals, which transform the façades of the houses into an open-air gallery.
Two very different destinations, united by the same ability to remain impressed in memory: not simple excursions outside the city, but small stories to add to the journey.
Emilian art cities
The union of art, gastronomy, and engines. Its historic center holds Piazza Grande, the Duomo, and the Ghirlandina, all UNESCO heritage, in an elegant balance of Romanesque architecture and city life. Just beyond, the story continues among vinegar houses and the symbolic places of Motor Valley.
Bourgeois elegance. It is the city of the Teatro Regio, the Baptistery, the Cathedral, and a gastronomic culture famous worldwide, from Parmigiano Reggiano to Parma Ham. Ideal for a leisurely day, where art and flavor alternate naturally.
More intimate and less traveled, Reggio Emilia is an authentic city, free of overly predictable itineraries. Its center alternates piazzas, porticoes, museums, and places tied to the history of the Italian flag, with a strong and deeply Emilian gastronomic tradition.
The Renaissance city par excellence, Ferrara preserves intact the mark of the Este family through the Castello Estense, the walls, and the UNESCO-listed historic center. A rare balance of political history, Renaissance art, and urban planning.
An ancient imperial capital, Ravenna preserves some of the most extraordinary mosaics in the world, also UNESCO heritage. Its basilicas and early Christian monuments tell a unique story, where light and color become architectural and spiritual language.
Modena
The union of art, gastronomy, and engines. Its historic center holds Piazza Grande, the Duomo, and the Ghirlandina, all UNESCO heritage, in an elegant balance of Romanesque architecture and city life. Just beyond, the story continues among vinegar houses and the symbolic places of Motor Valley.
Parma
Bourgeois elegance. It is the city of the Teatro Regio, the Baptistery, the Cathedral, and a gastronomic culture famous worldwide, from Parmigiano Reggiano to Parma Ham. Ideal for a leisurely day, where art and flavor alternate naturally.
Reggio Emilia
More intimate and less traveled, Reggio Emilia is an authentic city, free of overly predictable itineraries. Its center alternates piazzas, porticoes, museums, and places tied to the history of the Italian flag, with a strong and deeply Emilian gastronomic tradition.
Ferrara
The Renaissance city par excellence, Ferrara preserves intact the mark of the Este family through the Castello Estense, the walls, and the UNESCO-listed historic center. A rare balance of political history, Renaissance art, and urban planning.
Ravenna
An ancient imperial capital, Ravenna preserves some of the most extraordinary mosaics in the world, also UNESCO heritage. Its basilicas and early Christian monuments tell a unique story, where light and color become architectural and spiritual language.
What to see near Bologna: nature and history
Just a few miles from Bologna, the Regional Park of the Bolognese Gypsum Outcrops and Calanchi dell'Abbadessa takes the journey into an unexpected, lunar dimension: caves, gypsum formations, paths, ravines, and karst landscapes that tell of a nature that is rugged, silent, and surprising. It is an ideal destination for those who wish to walk, breathe, and let themselves be guided beyond the urban rhythm.
Continuing toward the Apennines, Marzabotto adds another depth: that of memory, between Etruscan archaeology and contemporary history.
Delta and Riviera
Here Emilia changes landscape: water takes the place of porticoes, and the gaze opens across canals, salt pans, fishing huts, flamingos, and low horizons. The Comacchio Valleys are perfect for a different kind of day, made of nature, photography, boat excursions, and lagoon flavors. The Po Delta adds biodiversity, silence, and a suspended beauty far from the urban pace.
And then, finally, the Riviera. Cesenatico is one of the most recognizable destinations on the Romagna coast: historic, family-friendly, and full of character. Leonardo's Canal Port, the historic boats, the low houses, the seafood restaurants, and the tranquil atmosphere make it ideal for a simple yet full day: a stroll, a lunch by the water, a little sea air.
The legends: Rimini and Riccione are the Riviera in its most vibrant form: beaches, promenades, venues, restaurants, shopping, long nights, and that Romagna lightness that has become part of the imagination. Rimini adds an important historic center, between the Tiberius Bridge, the Arch of Augustus, and Fellini's memory; Riccione has a more glamorous character, tied to the sea, boutiques, and the ritual of summer.
Comacchio Valleys and the Po Delta
Here Emilia changes landscape: water takes the place of porticoes, and the gaze opens across canals, salt pans, fishing huts, flamingos, and low horizons. The Comacchio Valleys are perfect for a different kind of day, made of nature, photography, boat excursions, and lagoon flavors. The Po Delta adds biodiversity, silence, and a suspended beauty far from the urban pace.
Cesenatico
And then, finally, the Riviera. Cesenatico is one of the most recognizable destinations on the Romagna coast: historic, family-friendly, and full of character. Leonardo's Canal Port, the historic boats, the low houses, the seafood restaurants, and the tranquil atmosphere make it ideal for a simple yet full day: a stroll, a lunch by the water, a little sea air.
Rimini and Riccione
The legends: Rimini and Riccione are the Riviera in its most vibrant form: beaches, promenades, venues, restaurants, shopping, long nights, and that Romagna lightness that has become part of the imagination. Rimini adds an important historic center, between the Tiberius Bridge, the Arch of Augustus, and Fellini's memory; Riccione has a more glamorous character, tied to the sea, boutiques, and the ritual of summer.
Milan, Florence, and Venice
Bologna is this too: a central, well-connected city, capable of becoming the starting point for many directions. Milan, Florence, and Venice are not nearby Bologna in the strict sense, yet they may become part of a broader Italian journey, especially for those arriving in Italy and wishing to build an itinerary across several cities.
From I Portici Hotel, near the Central Station, traveling by train becomes effortless: Florence for a day of art, museums, and Renaissance strolls; Milan for design, fashion, contemporary architecture, and major cultural destinations; Venice to be carried away by water, canals, palaces, and a beauty that simply has no equal.
Three possible extensions of your stay, when Bologna becomes the center from which to depart and to which to return.
Would you like a tailored itinerary, uniquely your own?
Tell us what you love to see, taste, hear, and experience. We will help you design the itinerary best suited to you, combining iconic places with I Portici experiences inside and beyond Bologna.
