Bologna transportation

You never need to purchase train tickets in advance in Italy: Regionale trains have no reserved seats, so they can't sell out. You can enter the station, get a ticket, check the schedules, time-stamp your ticket and get on. Otherwise you can get Regionale tickets online at home before going to the station, save the pdf file on your mobile and avoid the need of time-stamping.

High Speed trains in theory could sell out, but It happens very rarely. If the Trenitalia's freccia bullet train you want is sold out, you can either wait 30 minutes for the next one or you can go to Italo's counters and ask what's departing to your destination. The joys of competition.

People gets high speed trains tickets in advance to save (a lot of) money, not because of trains selling out. Discounted tickets are capacity controlled. I think you'll take an high speed train to go from Bologna to Milano Centrale. On-day prices are called BASE on trenitalia.com/tcom-en and Flexi on italotreno.it/en. This way you always know how much you'd save buying in advance.

I wonder why you are staying in the ugly area in front of the station and not in the historic center. Budget?

Thanks for your reply Dario. Having never been to Bologna before, we didn't realize we were in an ugly area. From what we've read, it's not too far of a walk to the Historic district. I hope.

The straightest walk from the train station to the central Piazza Maggiore is 1.5 km. There are also buses, which take totally different routes on weekends, when the historic center is closed to most car traffic. Further west, I considered Via Marconi to be a particularly ugly (post-war?) street, even though there may be practical reasons to go that direction.

The historic area of Bologna is very scenic. It is not a long walk from the train station. You may want to read by Trip Report on Bologna. We spent a week there this March and loved it. Lots of great restaurants and apertivi. Day trios to nearby towns such as Modena, Parma, Reggio Emilia and Ferrara are all interesting. Each of these cities have historic centers and great food!

"The historic area of Bologna is very scenic. It is not a long walk from the train station."

I agree with the first sentence, but not the second. I took a bus or a taxi between the train station and the center; it was definitely too far for a comfortable walk.

Can you get out of your Air BnB reservation and find one in a better area of Bologna? It is such a beautiful city.
You are responsible for getting your luggage on the train, storing it and taking it off the train by yourself. Larger suitcases go in racks at the end of the train cars . Smaller bags go in overhead racks.

Thank you all for your helpful replies! We could get out of our apartment reservation but it would be costly. When you say the area's "ugly", do you mean unsafe or just not as beautiful as the historic center. We wanted to be near the train station because we want to take a few trips. We're both walkers, so distance is not a problem for us.

Some trains between Bologna and Modena/Parma are Intercity trains. Should the Intercity trains fit your schedule, you may be able to buy discounted tickets up until the day before you travel. Note that Italo also runs high-speed trains between Bologna and Ferrara, and they sometimes still have discounted tickets available after Trenitalia is sold out. Again you would need to buy at least the day before. Consider going to Ravenna while in Bologna. It's an interesting town with world class mosaics.

Don't worry at all about your Airbnb location!
If you plan to do lots of train trips, you're in the right place.
We are staying behind the station in September, and I always book apartments near stations on purpose, for easy arrival and departures.
I have been to Bologna before.
Buy some bus tickets in a tobacconist, and take the bus everywhere around town if you don't feel like walking.
Don't forget to validate your ticket when you first get aboard a bus!
and wear your money belt for your valuables!
Enjoy lovely Bologna.

I second Harold's comments. We stayed at Albergo Centrale in historic center and did day trips almost every day. We loved the historic center, but after walking to and from train station the first few days we started taking the bus. Enjoy.

How are you getting to Bologna? For Cinque Terra, I would spend at least one night. It is especially pleasant in the evening after many of the day tripping tourists are gone. Have you been to Florence? It’s about an hour train ride south of Bologna.

Also recommend you watch the YouTube video BBC Italy Unpacked The Art of the Feast. It talks alot about Bologna. The New York Times 36 hours in Bologna is also wonderful.

You have been given great advice. I am in Bologna now and have been for the past 5 days. I can walk from the train station to the center in about 25 minutes and I walk at a moderate pace. I have taken the train to Piacenza, Parma, Modena, Ferrara, and Florence. Some were Freccia, some intercity, and some regionale. I just bought tickets at the station each day and selected the best option at the time as I didn't want to be held to a schedule. (Except for Florence where I did purchase super economy in advance for the journey there.) There has only been one Freccia train that was sold out and that was for the stretch between Parma and Modena. But it was not a big deal as there were plenty of other options. Bologna is really an enjoyable place to stay and is far less crowded than many other places. Have a great trip!

No need to purchase tickets in advance. I like staying in the center of town. I love the Hotel San Donato. Bologna is a great town. Wonderful food, lively night life with a large population of students from the university, walking is great...lots of covered porticos. Climb one of the towers for a great view of the city. I liked the San Petrino church with it's meridian line and the Neptune fountain is in the same piazza. Visited lots of meat/cheese markets and farm produce stands and purchased our lunch for the day from them and then enjoyed the meal in a park or bench while looking around the town. Enjoy.

And can we take a big suitcase on the train? Does it get checked in?

That's the bit of your question that worries me.

You carry it, you hump it up the stairs, you lift it to the storage area. On arrival you do it all again backwards, and sometimes the train stops are quick. For a month you may have packed heavy. Don't. Pack light, for a 10 day trip and use the washer at the airbnb to keep clothes clean. Light is power, large and heavy is like traveling with a boat anchor.

For more information on luggage on trains, here's a great article from the rail guru The Man In Seat 61: https://www.seat61.com/luggage-on-european-trains.htm

Here's his page on trains in Italy: https://www.seat61.com/Italy-trains.htm