Mid-range · 6-hour walk · Bologna
From the university to San Luca in six hours
Raphael in the Pinacoteca, anatomical waxes, a window on a hidden canal, the covered market and the world's longest portico.
Bologna's university, founded in 1088 and reckoned the oldest in the Western world, fills the streets north-east of the towers. This route starts among its museums, crosses the centre to the city's covered market for lunch, and then leaves by the Saragozza gate to climb the portico of San Luca, 666 arches and 3.8 kilometres under cover, to the sanctuary on the hill. Wear shoes for the climb; the bus or the little tourist train brings you back down.
The route, stop by stop
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Pinacoteca Nazionale
The city's picture gallery: Raphael's Ecstasy of St Cecilia, Guido Reni's Massacre of the Innocents and the Carracci. Free on the first Sunday of the month.
75 min here Walk here → -
Palazzo Poggi
The university's museum in a 16th-century palazzo: 18th-century anatomical wax models by Ercole Lelli and Anna Morandi Manzolini, Ulisse Aldrovandi's natural history collection, and rooms of ships and maps.
50 min here Walk here → -
Finestrella di Via Piella
A small window in a wall that opens onto the Canale delle Moline, one of the medieval canals that drove the city's silk mills. Most of them now run under the streets.
10 min here Walk here → -
Mercato delle Erbe
The covered market on Via Ugo Bassi, with greengrocers, butchers and bakers, and stalls and small restaurants for lunch.
45 min here Walk here → -
Porta Saragozza
One of the gates in the city's last ring of walls, rebuilt in the 19th century. The portico to San Luca starts here.
10 min here Walk here → -
Arco del Meloncello
The 18th-century arch that carries the portico across Via Saragozza. Beyond it the arcade turns uphill and the climb begins.
10 min here Walk here → -
Santuario della Madonna di San Luca
The sanctuary of 1723, designed by Carlo Francesco Dotti, holding the icon of the Virgin that is carried down to the cathedral every spring. The portico was built between 1674 and 1793 to shelter that procession, and became part of the porticoes' World Heritage listing in 2021.
30 min here Walk here →
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More in Bologna
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