What to eat in Bologna: 10 dishes and where to find them

What to eat in Bologna comes down to egg pasta rolled by hand, in tortellini in brodo, tagliatelle al ragù and green lasagne, and to mortadella, the city's own cured meat. Add fried crescentine, a butter-fried cotoletta and a glass of Pignoletto in an osteria that has poured wine since 1465, and you have the core of it.

Bologna sits at the centre of Emilia, the flat, rich stretch of northern Italy that also produces Parmigiano Reggiano, prosciutto di Parma and balsamic vinegar from Modena. Its own contribution is the sfoglia, the thin sheet of egg pasta rolled out with a long wooden pin by the sfogline who still work in shop windows around the centre, and mortadella, protected since 1998 as Mortadella Bologna IGP. The city's weight in the food business showed again this week, when BolognaFiere bought into Gambero Rosso, the Rome-based food guide and publisher.

The osteria, a wine tavern where food was once optional, and the family trattoria still set the tone, and the Quadrilatero, the medieval grid of market streets just east of Piazza Maggiore, is where the city shops. Unlike what to eat in Naples, which runs on street food, what to eat in Bologna is mostly served sitting down, on a plate of pasta.

In Bologna the pasta is rolled by hand, the ragù barely sees tomato and the oldest osteria serves no food.

What to eat in Bologna first: tortellini in brodo at Trattoria Anna Maria

Tortellini are tiny rings of egg pasta folded around pork, cured meats and Parmigiano, and the benchmark way to eat them is in brodo, in a clear meat broth.

Trattoria Anna Maria, at Via delle Belle Arti 17/A in the university quarter, is run by a cook who has made her name on exactly this plate. Tortellini in brodo cost about €14, and a full meal runs €25–30 a head. The menu also carries passatelli in brodo, strands of breadcrumbs, egg and Parmigiano pressed straight into the broth. Book, especially for lunch.

Tagliatelle al ragù at Osteria dell'Orsa, university quarter

Bologna's ragù is a slow-cooked meat sauce with only a little tomato, and in the city it goes on fresh tagliatelle, wide enough to hold it. Osteria dell'Orsa, at Via Mentana 1 since 1979 serves it at shared tables.

It opens daily from 12:30 to 23:00 and takes no reservations, so expect a queue. Budget €10–20 a person for pasta, bread, Parmigiano and a glass of wine from the hills near Imola. To cook it at home, follow our tagliatelle al ragù recipe.

Lasagne verdi at Al Cambio, Navile

Lasagne verdi alla bolognese uses sheets of egg pasta coloured green with spinach, layered with ragù and béchamel and baked until the edges crisp. Al Cambio, at Via Stalingrado 150, north of the old centre, builds its version with seven layers, and its lasagne has been singled out by The New York Times as one of the great pasta dishes.

The kitchen, led by Matteo Poggi and listed in the Michelin Guide, also serves tortellini in a double broth and passatelli with rabbit ragù. First courses cost around €15 and mains around €20, with tasting menus at €40 for three courses and €50 for five. Reservations are required.

Mortadella at Salumeria Simoni, Quadrilatero

Mortadella is finely ground pork studded with cubes of fat, lightly spiced and cooked slowly in huge rounds; sliced thin, it is nothing like the packaged "bologna" sold abroad. Salumeria Simoni, at Via Drapperie 5/2a in the heart of the Quadrilatero, has sold it for decades alongside culatello, Parma ham and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Round the corner, Laboratorio Simoni at Via Pescherie Vecchie 3/B turns the shop into a restaurant, serving its own cured meats and bread on taglieri, wooden boards of salumi and cheese; reviewers report around €26 for the largest board. Ask for salame rosa, a pink, mortadella-like Bolognese salami that rarely leaves the city.

Friggione at Trattoria da Me, Via San Felice

Friggione is Bologna's slow onion stew: onions cooked down with tomato for hours until they turn sweet and jammy, traditionally served as a side for boiled meats. It is the most overlooked entry on any list of what to eat in Bologna.

Trattoria da Me, at Via San Felice 50/A, stands where Elisa Rusconi's grandfather opened an osteria in 1937, and she folds friggione into tagliolini with a cream of squacquerone, a soft fresh cheese. Budget €35–50 a person; it closes on Mondays and bookings are secured with a card.

Cotoletta alla bolognese at Grassilli, Santo Stefano

The cotoletta alla bolognese, also called petroniana after the city's patron saint, is a veal cutlet breaded and fried in butter, then covered with prosciutto and Parmigiano and finished with a splash of broth until the cheese melts into a sauce.

Grassilli, at Via dal Luzzo 3 since 1944, mixes Bolognese classics with French dishes and serves the cutlet in three versions, at around €20 each. It opens for lunch and dinner, closes on Wednesdays and Sundays, and reservations are mandatory.

Crescentine and zuppa inglese at Trattoria Collegio di Spagna, Saragozza

Crescentine fritte are squares of leavened dough fried until they puff, then eaten hot with salumi and squacquerone; elsewhere in Emilia they are called gnocco fritto. For dessert, zuppa inglese layers sponge soaked in red alchermes liqueur with vanilla and chocolate custard, and torta di riso is a dense rice cake set in caramel and flavoured with almond liqueur.

Trattoria Collegio di Spagna, at Via Collegio di Spagna 15/B, serves all three, plus tortellini in brodo and cotoletta, for €30–40 a person. It closes on Mondays and Sunday evenings, and reservations must be confirmed by text message.

Gelato at Cremeria Santo Stefano, Santo Stefano

Cremeria Santo Stefano, at Via Santo Stefano 70/C near the Seven Churches complex, holds the top three-cone rating in Gambero Rosso's Gelaterie d'Italia guide.

Order crema 7 chiese, a custard named after the basilica, or cioccolato del Baraccano. Cones and cups cost €3–4.50; it is closed on Mondays and busy on weekend evenings.

Pignoletto and Lambrusco at Osteria del Sole, Quadrilatero

Osteria del Sole, in Vicolo Ranocchi 1/D, has served wine since 1465 and serves nothing else: no kitchen, no menu. You bring mortadella and bread from the stalls outside and eat at long wooden tables.

Glasses cost €3–4. Order Pignoletto, the white from the Colli Bolognesi hills, or a Lambrusco, the sparkling red from nearby Modena and Reggio Emilia. The Spolaore family has run it since 1945, and the house rule is simple: those who don't drink wait outside.

Markets, neighbourhoods and when to go

• Quadrilatero and Mercato di Mezzo: the covered market at Via Clavature 12 is open daily 9:00–24:00; Tamburini, at Via Drapperie 1 since 1932, runs a deli and a bistro open daily 12:00–18:00.
• Mercato delle Erbe, Via Ugo Bassi 23–25: stalls from 7:00 Monday to Saturday, closing at lunchtime on Thursdays and Saturdays, while the food counters inside stay open for dinner.
• Sfoglia Rina, Via Castiglione 5/B: fresh pasta shop and counter open daily 9:00–21:00, with tortellini at €38 a kilo and plates at €9–12.
• Mercato Albani, Via Albani in Bolognina: a neighbourhood market for cheese, cured meats and mortadella, Monday to Saturday 7:30–13:30.
• When to go: spring and autumn are the most comfortable seasons; weekday lunches are far easier to book than Saturday dinners.

Bologna food FAQ

Is spaghetti bolognese a Bologna dish? In Bologna, ragù goes on fresh tagliatelle or into lasagne; spaghetti bolognese appears mostly on menus aimed at visitors.

Is Bologna expensive to eat in? €10–20 buys a full osteria lunch at Osteria dell'Orsa, and a trattoria dinner runs €25–50 a head.

Do I need to book? For trattorie, yes. Osteria dell'Orsa takes no bookings at all, while Trattoria di Via Serra only takes them by phone and Trattoria Collegio di Spagna asks for confirmation by text.

What to eat in Bologna if you only have one day? Mortadella from Simoni with a glass at Osteria del Sole at noon, gelato in Santo Stefano in the afternoon and tortellini in brodo at Trattoria Anna Maria for dinner.

Where to book first

Trattoria di Via Serra, Via Luigi Serra 9/B, Bolognina: a Slow Food favourite in the old working-class district north of the station, around €45–50 a head, bookings by phone only. Da Cesari, Via de' Carbonesi 8, city centre: run by the Cesari family, with tagliatelle al ragù and tortellini in brodo, open Monday to Saturday. Grassilli, Via dal Luzzo 3, Santo Stefano: for the cotoletta.