Bologna

RS guides are from a personal point of view. Bologna has lots to see. From its two leaning towers to great peblic squares, museums, shopping, and some of Italy's best cuisine. I would give it one or two days,at least. If you want hotel/restaurant recommendations, PM me.

RS books are designed for first timer American visitors to the places he writes about. He decides where most people want to go and writes about those places. Places he thinks that first timers wouldn't likely go to, or places that wouldn't fit within the short vacation time that most Americans have don't make the cut. He also tends to knock places that he personally doesn't care for but which many others do like. The books are very much reflections of the man. So you have Pisa and Orvieto in the Italy book but not Bologna or Ferrara. In the Germany book he heavily pushes Baden-Baden but leaves out Frankfurt and hate Heidelberg. The Swiss book is heavily into the Berner Oberland and Luzern but Basel and Geneva barely get a look in. If you want a book that treats every place evenly get information from national tourist offices or the Green Books. Rick puts his personality into everything he does. Sometimes that isn't so good. Sometimes its wonderful.

Bologna is an OK city. The towers are fun to see and one to climb. It's a great jumping off place for more of northern Italy, easy day trip to see Verona or Modena from there. The main church is not as beautiful as others, the front facade is not completed! My suggestion would be to do a Google search, print out the info you will use and take that with you. No sense in purchasing a $15 guide book for Bologna info. Take a few hours and read through info on the internet sites and you can decide if it's a city you want to spend time exploring. We used Bologna as a base city to explore Ravenna and Verona and Modena, had a hotel by the train station. Spent one full day walking Bologna, but honestly, we weren't too impressed. It's a college town, so lots of college age kids there.

I spent 3 days in Bologna before starting a RS tour. I really enjoyed it. I used the Lonely Planet book for info. Loved the food, the wine, gelato, and just wandering around the city. I agree going to the top of the towers is amazing.
I also joined a walking tour of the city from the TI at the main square.

Have just booked our fourth holiday in Bologna in 4 years. The reasons we return are; - the friendliness and kindness we have met with from the people of Bologna, - we feel at home in a city that is bustling but with a laid back atmosphere, the students add a lively air, - wandering the fascinating medieval streets, - the beautiful buildings, - the impressive Piazza Maggiore, - the excellent museums and galleries and
- last but not least as a base for visiting other interesting towns eg Ferrara, Modena, Ravenna, Parma etc. Current guide books concentrating on Bologna are thin on the ground and IME not that good on detail, have just pre-ordered a new one from Amazon ie "Bologna Footprint Focus Guide" Shona Main In the meantime, this PDF guide from the tourist authorities is pretty useful http://www.emiliaromagnaturismo.it/en/publications/donwloads/GuidaBologna.pdf/view?searchterm=guides And the food is pretty good too!

In his books, Rick only puts in places that he feels the typical first time American visitor will be interested in seeing, and places that he himself is interested in. He then has lots of details about these places, and in exchange ignores others. He does not claim to be comprehensive. This has led to arguments all over the Internet that his books are garbage because they don't include ( fill in your favorite overlooked place here). This is silly, and a misunderstanding of his stated goals. If you want a book that tries to cover all of a country, get a Rough Guide or Lonely Planet, not a Rick Steves. I think that his Italy book does a very good job of hitting not only the highlights, but the second tier places too. But it's still going to be missing things (starting with, all of Sicily). My personal Italy gems that he overlooks are Turin and Ferrara. I didn't like Bologna, but to be fair, I am one of the few. It was convenient for daytrips to Ferrara, Ravenna, Parma, and Modena. If you do go to Bologna and your budget can accommodate it, I can certainly recommend the Hotel Commercianti. The breakfast spread is astonishing, and the location is great. For restaurants, I still remember my meals at Gianni (in the center) and Gigina (on the outskirts, but easily reached by bus or taxi). EDIT: I see that Nigel posted much the same thing - great minds <g>.

Hi! I, too, was surprised that RS didn't cover the Bologna area since it seems to be a wonderful place for experiencing Italian life. However, there are a good number of other books that cover off on it (and the surrounding areas). I picked up two Kindle books on the Emilia Romagna region on Amazon for under $10 (one was only $2.98). I agree with a previous poster in that some of the books are a little thin on coverage. We headed over to our neighborhood Triple A office to pick up the books after reading a road trip story in their Westways magazine and found that the roadtrip was maybe 25 pages of the whole book and another book there covered off on Bologna in even fewer pages. We snapped a picture of a map and left it at that. My husband and I have wanted to visit this region since seeing Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations in the area. If you are there to eat, I highly recommend checking his site out to see what sort of places they explored. Samantha Brown also did a show on the area so you can look her up as well. Anyway, take your book back and exchange it for another book or maybe some maps and then use the internet for your planning. In addition to using this forum for planning, I would recommend the Bologna (specifically) or the Emilia Romagna regional (generically) boards over on Trip Adviser for other questions. I find that there is no one place that is the final word. I am so excited for our trip to the area. I am only sad that it can only be a few days. I am hoping for one day of wine tasting on a mountain bike. I don't need to see all the sites. Give me some wine, cheese and a great prosciutto and I'm set.

We found Bologna & Emilia-Romagna (Cadogan Guides)to be very helpful although it seems to out of print and hard to come by. If you can find one in a used book store, grab it. The churches, museums, and plazas have not changed. Updates on restaurants, etc. are readily available on travel boards like this one, TA, and Fodors. Parma, Modena, and Ravena are all worthy of full day excursions.

I spent several days in Bologna in the fall of 2010, also staying at Hotel Draperie, which was comfortable, located in the historic center and reasonably priced. I definitely would stay there again. http://www.albergodrapperie.com/chisiamo_en.html (The front desk guy in the evenings was unhelpful with recommendations, however.) I enjoyed Bologna, and they had free wifi available in the historic center if you signed up. The food was great and so was the outdoor market. The porticos are great if the weather is bad. I understand there is a good cooking class (probably more than one), and there are small tours leaving out of Bologna and going to see the production of Parmesan, balsamic vinegar and prosciutto, along with lunch, in one day. A blog I stumbled on that had a lot of useful info about visiting Bologna was Megan's delicious dishings about her 2012 honeymoon there: http://www.megan-deliciousdishings.blogspot.com/2012/11/honeymoon-day-3-bologna-morningafternoon.html She went on one of the tours and details it in her blog. Here's a link to a Sunday travel article in the New York Times, June 12, 2011: http://travel.nytimes.com/travel/guides/europe/italy/bologna/overview.html Also, here are a couple of other links I have found in my research in anticipation of returning: http://www.taste-of-italy.com/ http://www.reidsitaly.com/destinations/emilia-romagna/bologna/bologna_cooking_schools.html
http://www.italiandays.it/

I'm guessing you're going to visit other places in addition to Bologna, so no reason to take back that RS book. For what to do in Bologna, I would recommend the DK Eyewitness Travel Guide Italy book, if you don't have that already. We went to Bologna in 2008 and enjoyed it, but didn't really connect with it as we have with some other cities. Just goes to show that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to travel. (We stayed at Albergo Delle Draperie.) Here are some of the photos I took while we were there, in case you're interested: Bologna in May 2008

Michael, I didn't find anything useful in the book for our trip. We are visiting Parma and Modena as well but those weren't in the book either. I think that there are more useful books out there for Emilia Romagna unless she is spending time in the RS covered cities. FWIW, we are spending one night in Venice and the rest of our trip in the Bologna region. I definitely don't need the Italy 2013 book for this itinerary.