Where to stay in Bologna: the best neighbourhoods and hotels

Everything in Bologna leads back to Piazza Maggiore. The vast, half-clad basilica of San Petronio fills one side, Neptune flexes on his fountain at the corner, and locals treat the steps as an outdoor living room. Slip into the Quadrilatero, the grid of medieval market lanes just to the east, and you are among hanging hams, wheels of Parmigiano and fresh pasta piled in shop windows.

Hotels here are small, old and full of character. One looks straight onto the piazza; another has been taking in travellers since 1375, which makes it one of the oldest places to stay in the city; a third is a charming art hotel a few paces from the sights. Rooms are not vast and the streets are lively into the evening, but you will not find a better address.

Bologna's two medieval towers lean over the junction where the old streets fan out eastwards, and the taller one, the Asinelli, has long been the city's emblem. Behind them, Via Zamboni runs through the university quarter: frescoed lecture halls, bookshops, graffiti and bars full of students arguing about everything.

This is the liveliest part of the centre after dark, and prices in the bars and trattorias reflect who drinks here. Places to stay are mostly small: a five-room bed and breakfast steps from the towers, a hotel that looks right at them, and a charming old-school albergo moments from Piazza Maggiore. Pick it if you want atmosphere on the doorstep, and pack earplugs for term time.

Via dell'Indipendenza runs dead straight from the station to Piazza Maggiore, arcaded on both sides and lined with shops the whole way. It is the spine of the modern city, busy from morning until the evening passeggiata, and a stay here gives you the best of both ends: trains ten minutes one way, the old centre ten minutes the other.

It also has the smartest beds in town. Bologna's grand five-star is here, with a spa, a serious restaurant and round-the-clock room service, and a stylish upmarket hotel further up the street suits those who want polish without the palazzo. Smaller guest rooms nearby put you close to the MAMbo modern art museum and Via Zamboni for rather less.

Bologna is the great railway junction of northern Italy, which makes the station area more useful than most. Fast trains reach Florence in well under an hour and Milan, Venice and Rome are all straightforward, so this is the base for anyone planning day trips. The airport monorail, the Marconi Express, also ends here.

The hotels are larger and more modern than those in the old centre, and usually cheaper. Several stand directly opposite or a few steps from the station; one has a big internal garden, and a boutique hotel tucked into a private courtyard 250 metres away adds a small spa you can book for yourself. Piazza Maggiore is an easy, flat walk under the porticoes.

BolognaFiere, the exhibition centre, hosts some of Italy's biggest trade shows, and a whole district of contemporary hotels has grown up around it. Nobody comes here for the scenery. They come because the halls are minutes away, the ring road is close and rooms are bigger and better equipped than anything of the same price in the centre.

Outside fair dates it can be a canny choice for visitors with a car, as parking is far simpler than inside the medieval walls and the centre is a short drive or bus ride away. During big fairs the opposite is true: prices climb and rooms vanish, so book early or look elsewhere.

Bologna's airport sits just north-west of the city, close enough that the medieval centre is only about six kilometres away. The hotels around it are built for convenience: easy motorway access, parking and reception desks used to guests leaving before dawn. One is about three kilometres from both the terminal and the Dall'Ara football stadium, with a bus stop for the centre 100 metres away.

Use this area for a first or last night, or if you are touring Emilia-Romagna by car and want to dip into Bologna without driving its narrow streets. For a proper city break, stay in the centre and take the monorail instead.

South and east of Bologna the plain crumples into green hills, and the mood changes within minutes. This is the Emilia of vineyards, cypress-lined drives and villas built by families who wanted to escape the city heat. A car is close to essential, but in return you get space, silence and somewhere to swim.

The standout is a resort around a 17th-century country residence, set in 30 hectares of private parkland about 19 km from the city. Closer in, a 19th-century villa on the Via Emilia stands in a centuries-old park, and a design-led country house, once the home of a fashion-world patron, spreads across three villas among ancient trees. Come for a romantic weekend and visit Bologna for lunch.