Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images
Bologna
This palace was the seat of the city university from 1563 to 1805. These days its chief attraction is the fascinating 17th-century Teatro Anatomico, a well-preserved anatomical theatre where trainee surgeons once studied. The theatre, and many of the building’s frescoes, was destroyed during WWII and subsequently rebuilt.
In the adjacent wing is Bologna's 700,000-volume Biblioteca Comunale (off-limits to the general public).
28.22 MILES
Hidden behind a colourful patchwork of warped homes, this low-slung, wood-beamed, delightfully uneven medieval walkway dates to 1290. It's unique in Italy…
17.13 MILES
If peeking at the assembly lines at Ferrari and Lamborghini is like glimpsing inside a well-oiled machine, a day behind the scenes at Pagani is like…
27.45 MILES
Complete with moat and drawbridge, Ferrara's towering castle was commissioned by Nicolò II d'Este in 1385. Initially it was intended to protect him and…
0.08 MILES
The 15th-century Palazzo Casa Fontana poi Gamberini – the fascinating, pricier-than-the-Colosseum home of eccentric Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla …
0.26 MILES
Bologna's most unique religious site is this atmospheric labyrinth of interlocking ecclesiastical structures, whose architecture spans centuries of…
0.08 MILES
Bologna's hulking Gothic basilica is Europe's sixth-largest church, measuring 132m by 66m by 47m. Work began on it in 1390, but it was never finished, and…
Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
0.34 MILES
This mouthful of a museum inside Palazzo Sanguinetti – the former home of Napoleon's Italian minister – chronicles six centuries of European musical…
23.95 MILES
Each year, hundreds of thousands of petrolheads make the pilgrimage to this museum in Maranello, Ferrari's home town. They come here to obsess over the…
Housed in Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio, the fascinating 17th-century Teatro Anatomico is where public body dissections were held under the sinister gaze of…
0.02 MILES
Basilica di San Petronio's new (and temporary) 54m-high panoramic terrace – reached from an entrance behind the basilica – doesn't hold a candle to the…
0.05 MILES
Impressive in its breadth of coverage of historical eras, this museum displays well-documented Egyptian and Roman artefacts along with one of Italy's best…
0.08 MILES
The 15th-century Palazzo Casa Fontana poi Gamberini – the fascinating, pricier-than-the-Colosseum home of eccentric Italian singer-songwriter Lucio Dalla …
0.08 MILES
Bologna's hulking Gothic basilica is Europe's sixth-largest church, measuring 132m by 66m by 47m. Work began on it in 1390, but it was never finished, and…
6. Santuario di Santa Maria della Vita
0.1 MILES
In the heart of the Quadrilatero, this 17th-century shrine is one of Bologna's most beautiful and important, not only for its 13th-century foundation by…
0.12 MILES
All roads lead to pivotal 13th-century Piazza Maggiore, flanked by Basilica di San Petronio, Europe's sixth-largest basilica, and a series of impressive…
0.13 MILES
The palace that forms the western flank of Piazza Maggiore has been home to the Bologna city council since 1336. A salad of architectural styles, it owes…