Food & Drink
Eat your way through the Quadrilatero food market
Bologna · Emilia-Romagna
QUICK INFORMATION
- CATEGORY
- Food & Drink
- COUNTRY
- Italy
- REGION
- Bologna · Emilia-Romagna
- DURATION
- A morning and lunch, or an evening
- DIFFICULTY
- Easy, level walking through a compact quarter.
- BEST TIME
- Year-round; mornings for the market at its busiest.
ABOUT THIS EXPERIENCE
The Quadrilatero is the medieval market quarter behind the Piazza Maggiore, a grid of narrow lanes — the Via Pescherie Vecchie, the Via Drapperie, the Via Clavature — that has been the food market of Bologna since the Middle Ages. The lanes are lined with salumerias hanging hams and cheeses from their ceilings, fresh pasta makers rolling out tortellini and tagliatelle, fishmongers, greengrocers and trattorias, and the air smells of cured meat and Parmesan. It is the food heart of Italy’s food capital, and the place to come hungry, to buy a snack of mortadella and a glass of Lambrusco, or to sit down for a plate of tagliatelle al ragù — the dish the world calls Bolognese.
WHAT YOU’LL EXPERIENCE
What you’ll experience
THE EXPERIENCE IN DETAIL
What it’s really like
HIGHLIGHTS
Moments worth savouring
The salumerias — the shops hanging hams, salamis and wheels of Parmesan from their ceilings.
The fresh pasta — the pasta makers rolling out tortellini, the stuffed pasta of Bologna, by hand.
The mortadella — the pink, pistachio-studded cured meat of Bologna, sliced to order.
The trattorias — the small restaurants of the lanes, for tagliatelle al ragù and tortellini in brodo.
WHAT TO EXPECT
Good to know before you go
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Before you go
MAP & LOCATION
Eat your way through the Quadrilatero food market
Eat your way through the Quadrilatero food market, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy
44.4933, 11.3428
ATTRACTIONS NEARBY
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MORE EXPERIENCES
More to do in Bologna
FOOD & DRINK
Where to eat nearby
Trattoria di Via Serra — a beloved trattoria for handmade pasta and Bolognese classics, book ahead
Osteria Bottega — a wine bar and trattoria for the best tortellini in brodo in the city
Trattoria Anna — a no-frills trattoria in the market quarter for tagliatelle al ragù and boiled meats
Salumeria Simoni — a salumeria in the Quadrilatero for a mortadella sandwich and a glass of Lambrusco
Drogheria della Rosa — a romantic trattoria in a vintage grocery for refined Emilian cooking
HOTELS & STAYS
Where to stay nearby
Grand Hotel Majestic gia Baglioni — a grand hotel in a 16th-century palace near the station, with a rooftop
Hotel Porta San Mamolo — a charming garden hotel just inside the old walls, a quiet base
Art Hotel Commercianti — a boutique hotel near the Piazza Maggiore, in a medieval building
Hotel Al Cappello Rosso — a historic hotel near the Piazza Maggiore, in business since 1375
NEARBY DESTINATIONS
Continue the journey
INTERESTS
Explore by what you love
PART OF
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