My wife and I are staying 5 nights in Bologna (April 29-May 4) and will have 4 full days for our visit. I plan to make a day or half day trip to Ravenna and am interested in a food tour of some sort for wine/cheese/meat. Any suggestion on tours? Any "must see" that you recommend? As additional information, this our 4th trip to Italy in 7 years. We have been to the Venice, Florence, Rome, Siena, many small towns in Tuscany, CT, Milan, Lake Como and will be going to the Amalfi Coast on this trip as well. TIA!
Posted by
New York, NY, USA
11294 posts
In addition to Ravenna, look into day trips to Ferrara, Parma, and Modena. All three are lovely, and the last two are famous for their foods as well.
Posted by
seattle
2047 posts
You might want to read my Trip Report: Birthday Trip to Bologna. It recommends many restaurants. Bologna is great for wandering around and exploring. I was there for a week last March and loved it.
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32202 posts
Stephen,
I don't know of any "food tours" but you might ask the staff at you hotel to suggest good restaurants that you can try. Exploring the local cuisine on your own might also be very enjoyable.
This is one restaurant I really enjoyed - https://www.ristorantedonatello.it/en-gb/home . You could also try Osteria dell'Orsa for their famous Tagliatelle al Ragu - http://www.osteriadellorsa.com/ .
Posted by
Tel Aviv
15582 posts
I would just caution you to allow a full day for Ravenna. It's a long train ride and there are more excellent sights to see than you could fit into one day. One of the best is in Classe, which requires a bus trip. The trip's not that long but the buses may not run as frequently as you'd like.
Posted by
Washington DC
27104 posts
And be careful to get on the Classe bus going in the right direction. It stops near the train station but doesn't terminate there (or at least that was the situation in 2015), so it is possible to make an unfortunate mistake.
Posted by
OP
Charleston, SC, USA
922 posts
Thank you all for the tips!
Posted by
San Francisco, CA (USA)
488 posts
I'm jealous, as I believe Bologna is a very underrated destination, while the Big-3 rightfully get a lot of the spotlight, when it comes to the next level of sights, Bologna is right up there at the top for me.
A lot has been posted that I don't need to rehash, as for locations, definitely try to spend a day in Ravenna, if not overnight. The mosaics (more than one location for them) are pretty impressive but, the history I believe is of equal standing. Being the western capitol of the Byzantine Empire, it covers that period of post-Roman Empire, a stretch of time that gets under discussed. A point of pride for the locals is Dante's Tomb sits in Ravenna, beside the Mona Lisa in France, those two little historical things stick in the craw of Florentine's. ;-)
South of Ravenna, near the Jersey Shore of Italy (Rimini), is the tiny country of San Marino. If you got the time, take a few hours, wander around and get that passport stamp at the post office.
Definitely take another day to visit Ferrara, north of Bologna. One of the more impressive walled-cities of Italy, it's got a very unique look as the city is divided between it's medieval-side and it's Rennaisance-side with the big family (name escapes me) castle smack in the middle of the divide ...with a moat around it! The walls are still intact, take some time, take a stroll or, bike around on top and enjoy a picnic viewing the surrounding area.
Posted by
Oregon
19 posts
A highlight of our visit to Bologna was our food tour with Alessandro from ItalianDays. We saw how parmigiano reggiano is made, followed by a trip to the Pedroni balsamic vinegar producer, then to Prosciuttificio Nini Gianfranco to see how prosciutto is made, and lastly a huge, delicious lunch. I highly recommend his tour!
https://www.italiandays.it/tour-item/italian-days-food-experience-bologna-day-tour/