4 hours in Bologna

My husband and I had a whole week in Bologna this past October, and did a food tour with Italian Days. It was longer than 4 hours, though, and picked us up near our apartment at just past 7 A.M., and dropped us back off in late afternoon. It was an eating extravaganza, and we weren’t hungry for a much of a dinner that night.

Two years earlier, I was in Parma by myself before spending a couple additional days in Bologna. I took a food tour from Parma.

Both tours followed a similar itinerary - Parmesano cheese facility, Balsamic Vinegar producer, Prosciutto (or Parma ham) plant. The Bologna tour had more winemaking and tasting, as well. You really need most of a day to do the production experience any justice. A quicker tour, with just tasting, might be doable, but we weren’t looking for that on the last trip, so I don’t know what’s available.

I wonder whether food vendor/market tours based in Bologna’s Quadrilateral are offered? The Tourist Information office on Piazza Maggiore does a 2-hour walking tour of Downtown in English/Italian, but on local history and sights, no food tasting. It does pass through the Quadrilateral, and that includes the entertaining fishmongers, food shops, and some suggestions for after the tour.

The food tours I am familiar with are not in Bologna itself but in the areas around where the food is produced. My husband and I did a day long tour from Parma that included cheese, wine, ham, balsamico and lunch.

Both longer tours involved a van ride around Emilia-Romana to the producer sites.

Last October, we also did a walking tour in Rome that took about 4 hours. The Eating Europe company does food tours in Rome, Florence, and Naples, but not Bologna, or I’d give them a big recommendation.

https://www.tastebologna.net/classic-bologna

I did the linked food tour in November 2019. It's on foot and I would absolutely recommend it.

My wife and I did a similar short stop between Venice and Rome some years ago then again with our kids from Florence to Venice. We didn't do any scheduled tours, but just explored/wandered the center a bit. We enjoyed visiting many of the churches, particularly San Petronio and Santo Stefano. Adding a gelato and a meal to that was sufficient for our leisurely few hours in the town. On the trip with our kids, we saw San Petronio again, but climbed the Torre degli Asinelli. More gelato, some tagliatelle and we were off again.

For us it worked well to be unstructured and just wander for a few hours. I'm sure there are some walking/tasting tours that would be great too. Incidentally, we enjoyed our day short stops there sufficiently that we've planned several days there this April. We plan to explore the markets a bit, do Parmigiano Reggiano factory tour, pasta making lessons, Santuario di San Luca, botanical gardens, Teatro Anatomico, and whatever else we manage to squeeze in. There's certainly plenty of options for your short trip in July.

To be honest I don’t understand the hype that Bologna gets because I stopped once enroute from Venice to Florence for four hours and visited a big square and ate lunch at a mediocre restaurant. It sounds like you need to spend more than four hours there to appreciate it or research it more thoroughly than I did.

@MaryPat
You are right. Is not that Bologna (and Emilia-Romagna in general) has better restaurants than other cities. Even in Bologna you find mediocre restaurants or dishes that now can be eaten everywhere else. If you have a short time to spend in the city do a guided tour is a very good idea, to be in touch with the history and the meaning of food in our region. To understand why become so famous and so culturally dominant in the Italian imaginary. And with a good guide is even the chance to try something less known: how many tried pink salame, zia, galantina, chocolate salame, erbazzone when in Bologna?

Taste Bologna is a very good option. Usually the groups are small to better do the tasting. For a private tour I suggest asking to Emilia Romagna Tours, another local tour operator.