1–1.5 hours
4 languages
Instant confirmation
Private tour

Highlights

Are you looking for a way to see Bologna without joining a tour group? Explore at your own pace with this affordable walking tour. • Be introduced to each facet of the city and some of its secrets too, including how the rebellious Bolognese stopped the city from becoming the Vatican • Hear from producer Mike Corradi, the author behind A History of Italy Podcast • Do it all in an hour or linger at stops along the way with complete control over when you start and finish • Get unlimited use before your booking date and after it • Use the virtual tour option at home Once you’ve booked, you’ll receive a ticket with instructions and a unique code listed under “Before You Go”. Then simply install the VoiceMap app and enter your code. The app displays directions to the starting point, and when you’re in the right place, just pop in your headphones and tap start. VoiceMap has automatic GPS playback, with turn-by-turn directions. It also works offline.

Inclusions

What's included

VoiceMap Application
Lifetime access to this tour in English
Offline access to audio, maps, and geodata

What's not

Smartphone and headphones
Transportation
Food/Drink

Itinerary

Bologna has many names. It’s been called “the red city” for its red roofs and left-leaning politics, and ”the fat city” for its cuisine which is far from light and healthy. It’s known as “the towered” for the forest of over 100 towers that once dotted its landscape. It’s also been referred to as “the cultured” for having the world’s oldest university. On this walking tour, I’ll introduce you to each facet of the city and some of its secrets too, including how the rebellious Bolognese stopped the city from becoming the Vatican.
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On this tour, you can look forward to standing beside Porta Galliera where a retreating Austrian army left the city following a rebellion by the Bolognese in 1848.
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On this tour, you can look forward to passing Il Pincio, the entrance to Parco della Montagnola – a French style garden commissioned by Napoleon.
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On this tour, you can look forward to strolling through Piazza Otto Agosto.
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You’ll also get a glimpse of how Bologna once resembled Venice with its criss-cross of canals and rivers while passing Canale delle Moline and, while walking down Via Indipendenza, what things were like in the post-Risorgimento period.
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You’ll also get a glimpse of how Bologna once resembled Venice with its criss-cross of canals and rivers while passing Canale delle Moline and, while walking down Via Indipendenza, what things were like in the post-Risorgimento period.
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On this tour, you can look forward to strolling past San Pietro.
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In Piazza del Nettuno, I’ll tell you how the Fountain of Neptune’s sculptor got away with making Neptune seem particularly well-endowed despite the church prohibiting it.
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While you stand in the Whispering Gallery under the Torre dell Arengo (Tower of Arengo), I’ll tell you how lovers were able to murmur sweet nothings to each other without their legitimate partners realising.
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On this tour you can look forward to seeing San Petronio, the largest and most important church in the city.
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On this tour, you can look forward to discovering the Quadrilatero neighbourhood with its cafes and restaurants.
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On this tour, you can look forward to strolling down Via Rizzoli.
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Cancellation

All sales are final. No refund is available for cancellations.

Reviews

4.8

Ratings come from 9 reviews collected by our booking partner. They are travellers' own words, in the order they were written — never reordered to flatter the experience.

Know before you go

Meeting point: Before arrival, please install the VoiceMap mobile app and use the code provided on your confirmation ticket. This is a self-guided audio tour that you can start, pause, or restart at any time and complete at your own pace. Detailed starting point instructions are available after downloading.
Pickup: Everyone meets at the starting point; there is no pickup.
Ticket type: Mobile or paper ticket accepted
Operated by: VoiceMap Audio Tours

Suitable for all physical fitness levels
Please note: You won't be guided through any museums or other attractions mentioned en route. If you choose to enter and visit such places, you'll need to pay for it independently of this tour.

How it compares in Bologna

Its from-price is 89% below the median of the 36 city tours we list in Bologna.
It is shorter than most of them.
By number of reviews it ranks 16 of 36.

About Bologna

Bologna, capital of Emilia-Romagna, is a red-roofed university city of arcaded streets, leaning towers and some of Italy's richest food.

Bologna has a university founded in 1088, one of the oldest in Europe, and students fill the medieval centre. Miles of porticoes shelter the streets, and Piazza Maggiore is the main square, with the Basilica of San Petronio and the Fountain of Neptune. Two leaning brick towers, Asinelli and Garisenda, rise from the old crossroads, and the Asinelli can be climbed.

Top-ranked sights in Bologna: San Petronio Basilica (Basilica di San Petronio), Bologna Piazza Maggiore, Two Towers (Due Torri).

See all 470 experiences in Bologna