Missing Bologna

In the 2015 edition, Bologna gets a paragraph near the end of the Ravenna section, under "Famous-but-skippable nearby towns." (So, that gives you a sense of what Rick thinks of Bologna.) If Ravenna's been cut from the 2020 edition (is that right? I think that's what I heard), I guess the Bologna paragraph would have been cut as well.

I don't believe Bologna has ever been included in the RS guidebooks. Unsure of why. When I planned our stay in Bologna (April 2019) I used Lonely Planet, Frommer's, and Insight guide books from the local library. Also, Bologna's tourism office has wonderful resources available on their website, bolognawelcome.com.

I am so glad RS thinks it's missable. That means it is less likely to get overly touristy, like too many RS recommendations.

What is covered has nothing to do with the population of a city. The RS guidebooks have never been comprehensive and have a target audience. I would consult the Lonely Planet guide or just Google "Bologna Tourist".

We visited Bologna and it was OK, but wouldn't go out of our way to see it. Ravenna is close by and a MUST.

Many of us don't agree with geovagriffith about Bologna. It's a relatively non-(foreign)-touristy city with a huge medieval district (arcaded so OK even in less-than-ideal weather) and a tradition of great food. It doesn't have to have an Uffizi-quality art gallery for me to be interested.

Bologna is one of my favorite cities in Italy. Unfortunately in the past several years it has been discovered by tourists and now it is common to see them. Bologna makes a great spot to stay to visit many other towns in the area.... Ravenna, Rimini, Imola, Parma, Ferrara, Modena and my small town of Vignola. Ravenna is awesome (I've been there at least 6 times) but I enjoy the weekend passeggiata down Via Indipendenza in Bologna! The view from San Luca is amazing and there are some statues by Michelangelo that go unseen! A lot to see in Bologna!

We had a wonderful time in Bologna. I think the choice depends on what you want to do and experience. I went to a language school and my husband went to cooking school. We stayed at an inexpensive hotel, walked nearly everywhere we wanted to go, saw beautiful scenery, happened upon a film festival and ate spectacular food. We were too tired to do the day trips to Modena and Parma we'd planned. We will have to go back!

Its on my wish list, the British cook Rick Stein did a great programe called A weekend in Bologne. It was on BBC ( i think) so might be worth checking out

We spent 5 days in Bologna last September.
It was our arrival in Europe city so we used some of time to recover from jet lag.
We enjoyed Bologna.
● We took a day trip to Modena to visit the Ferrari Museum. An easy 26 minute train ride.
● We spent a day at FICO Eataly World. OMG! One million sqft of food porn. 46 restaurants and a branch of Poste Italiane (open until 2200 on Sunday!) so you can easily ship purchases home.
● A very interesting research-oriented botanical garden.
● Europe's oldest university.

I think Bologna makes an excellent base. There are many towns and cities within a short train ride.
Bologna is definitely on our list of "would visit again" places.

P.S. If you read John Grisham's The Broker, you will want to visit Bologna.

What keeps Bologna out of the RS books is that it doesn't have any major sights compared to so many other places in the same country. Italy has an embarrassment of riches, and could easily fill volumes. Fortunately, there are other guidebooks available. I like the DK Eyewitness Guide books.

Rick's books are NOT comprehensive. They have lots of details about the places in a country that they include, and they exclude huge swathes of each country. What they include is the places most likely to be visited by first time visitors, from the US, with limited time and "general" interests.

This is not an "oversight" - it's a deliberate choice. This choice leads some to say that "Rick's book on country XXXX is garbage because it omits YYYY, the best city in the whole country!!!" Again, this is misinterpreting what the books are trying to do.

As said above, there are lots of other books and websites with information about Bologna - and all the other places in Italy that Rick does not include.

As for me, I was not thrilled with Bologna. Most, however, do love it. It is useful for day trips to Ferrara, Modena, Parma, Ravenna, etc. Just beware of the train times - I often found that I had to leave Bologna earlier than I would have preferred, to avoid getting to my day trip town with little time before the lunch closing of sights I wanted to see.