Bologna
UNESCO World Heritage Site (The Porticoes Of Bologna, Inscribed 2021), And The Seat Of The Oldest University In Continuous Operation In The World · Bologna, Emilia-Romagna
Bologna is where Italians go to eat and where Europe invented the university. The porticoes are what you notice first: tens of kilometres of covered arcade in the centre alone, enough to cross most of the city without an umbrella, and inscribed by UNESCO in 2021 as a heritage site in their own right. One of them climbs the hill to the sanctuary of San Luca under something like six hundred and sixty-six arches. Under the rest of them sits the oldest university in continuous operation anywhere, founded in 1088, with an anatomical theatre carved out of spruce in which skinned figures hold up the canopy. The basilica on the main square was planned to outgrow St Peter's, was stopped, and still carries a bare brick facade and the largest meridian line in the world across its floor. Behind that square the Quadrilatero is wall to wall food shops. Bologna is a student city and a working one, and it has never had to dress itself up for visitors.
Piazza Maggiore, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, 40124, Italy
ALL TIMES UNVERIFIED FOR THIS ROW. The porticoes and Piazza Maggiore are public and never close. The Basilica of San Petronio opens daily with a long midday interval on some days. The Archiginnasio courtyard and library keep office-ish hours from Monday to Saturday and the Anatomical Theatre closes earlier. Tower climbs, where open, run timed slots and shut in bad weather. The Sanctuary of San Luca opens daily with shorter winter hours. Check each of these before building a day around them, and confirm the tower situation specifically.