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Florence or Bologna

If you had a choice of using Florence or Bologna as a base for four days, which would you suggest? We will arrive from Venice, and are looking for a good spot for a few day trips before moving to Rome for six days. Thanks in advance!

Posted by
11056 posts

I assume you haven’t been to either. In that case, you should probably visit Florence with it’s many important sites to visit.
. But we love Bologna!

Posted by
2274 posts

I'll second that emotion ^^^^.

Bologna has a whole lot of allure and sometimes flies under the radar. The triumph of Bologna over Florence of course is the food - Emilia Romagna always, always wins the culinary race over Tuscany.

Posted by
7129 posts

I would look at what you’re wanting to do. For instance, Ravenna (gorgeous mosaics!) is an hour train from Bologna, but it’s two hours at least from Florence and requires a train connection. Parma has my favorite cathedral interior and wonderful food. It’s a similar situation - handier from Bologna by train.
I like Florence a lot better than Bologna, but depending on your day trips, that could be the deciding factor.

If you happen to decide on Florence and like cooking classes, I recently had a pasta class in Florence that I would heartily recommend - both for the pasta & accompanying sauces…….my husband, too, since I have been making a lot of it since returning home!

, “Pasta Class Florence, The Art of Pasta – Authentic Recipes” with Chef Marco.

Posted by
4761 posts

If you are only going to be there for 4 days, then I'd pick Florence if it's your first time. Unless you want a food centric visit, in which case choose Bologna. However, for first timers, Florence has so much to offer, I don't think you'd have time for more than one day trip. Maaaaaybe 2.

Posted by
15043 posts

In parentheses the number of hotel nights spent by visitors in 2019 (Source: ISTAT - Italian National Institute of Statistics):
1. Rome (31 million)
2. Venice (12.9 million)
3. Milan (12.5 million)
4. Florence (11 million)
...
17. Bologna (3.2 million)

The people have spoken.

Posted by
351 posts

Have fun on your trip! I would never do the big 3 (Rome, Florence, Venice) on the same trip, too much of the same. I would pick a place inbetween Venice and Rome that is small and wonderful without the crowds of the big 3. Ravinna is wonderful, so is Orvieto, Assisi too. Bologna is a nice city, if you like motorcycles you can tour the Ducati factory. J

Posted by
2274 posts

The people have spoken

More interesting a stat would be how many travel articles have been written on each of those top 4 versus any article written about Emilia Romagna - ER has so much going for it, yet gets so little respect.

Posted by
2274 posts

The food won't be anywhere near as good in Florence as you would experience in Bologna, but at least you're in Italy.

Posted by
7595 posts

Florence is amazing, Bologna was OK.

Still, Ravenna is a must see in Italy. From Florence you can visit many wonderful places, like Siena, Pisa, Lucca.

Posted by
15043 posts

4 days is not a lot, since Florence alone will need at least 2 days to cover the most basic sights, however if you feel that you must see Bologna as well, you can easily visit it in a day trip. The Freccia (high speed) trains take 36 minutes to connect the two cities and there is a train every 15-20 min on average. It is actually faster than going to Siena (75 min), Lucca (82 min), Pisa (50 min), and many other towns in Tuscany. Only Pistoia is a shorter distance.