Italy

Bologna rewards the curious traveler who looks past the obvious. Italy's food capital and one of Europe's oldest university cities, it has the Due Torri, 62 kilometres of UNESCO-listed porticoes, and a medieval street grid that still feels genuinely lived-in. Questo puts four original quests across this city, each turning a route into something with stakes.

The two leaning towers anchor the skyline and the old centre radiates outward under covered arcades that locals use rain or shine. Piazza Maggiore, Piazza Santo Stefano, and the Erbe Market are the bones of daily life here, not just postcard backdrops. Bologna's character is unhurried, opinionated, and deeply attached to its own traditions.

Quests range from a murder mystery threading through the old town to an investigation into the 1252 conspiracy of the Two Towers, a search for hidden city stories, and a food-themed adventure built around the city's most famous dish. There is something for groups who want an excuse to argue over clues and for pairs who want a route with a story attached.

A few things worth knowing before you go: seek out the Finestrella di Via Piella, a small wooden shutter on a narrow street north of the Quadrilatero that opens onto a surviving medieval canal. For the best view in the city, climb the 498 steps of Torre degli Asinelli. And order tagliatelle al ragù, not spaghetti bolognese, which no local restaurant will serve you anyway.

Questo's Bologna quests are rated 4.5★ across 319 player reviews. Pick a quest, open the app, and let the city show you what it has been keeping to itself.

Bologna

Piazza Maggiore is the beating heart of Bologna and one of the most significant public squares in Italy. It was the first major public square built after the fall of the Roman Empire, created around 1200 when the municipality began demolishing buildings to carve out a civic gathering space.

The square is framed by five historic buildings: the Basilica di San Petronio (one of the largest churches in the world, still unfinished after 600 years), the Palazzo d'Accursio (city hall), the Palazzo del Podesta, the Palazzo dei Notai, and the Palazzo dei Banchi. Each tells a different chapter of Bologna's story.

One of the square's most intriguing features is practical: medieval standard measurement units are carved into the walls of Palazzo d'Accursio, put there so merchants couldn't cheat customers at the market.

The "Crescentone," the crescent-shaped pedestrian platform added in 1934, still bears visible damage from an American tank that crossed it on April 21, 1945, the day Bologna was liberated. The marks have been deliberately left unrepaired.

Under the Palazzo del Podesta portico, there's a perfect acoustic anomaly: whispers carry clearly across 20 metres, a phenomenon that delights visitors who discover it.

Bologna students have a superstition: crossing the square diagonally will delay your graduation. If you're on a Questo quest through Bologna, Piazza Maggiore is a stop where medieval engineering, wartime scars, and local superstitions share the same stone.

Piazza Maggiore

Piazza Giuseppe Verdi is the cultural heart of Bologna's university district, a square surrounded by centuries of academic and artistic life. Named after Italy's greatest opera composer in 1951, it sits on Via Zamboni, the historic "university street" that has been the centre of student life in Bologna for over 900 years.

The University of Bologna, founded in 1088, is the oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and the streets around Piazza Verdi have been shaped by student life for nearly a millennium.

The square's most prominent building is the Teatro Comunale, Bologna's municipal theatre. Inaugurated in 1763, the neoclassical building features a remarkable auditorium with 170 identical boxes arranged in a horseshoe configuration, a design that was innovative for its time and created unusually democratic sightlines.

From the square, you can see the Two Towers (Le Due Torri), Bologna's most iconic landmarks, rising above the rooftops. The square itself is a gathering place for students, musicians, and locals throughout the day and into the evening. The surrounding streets are full of cafes, bookshops, and trattorias.

If you're on a Questo quest through Bologna, Piazza Verdi is a stop where the world's oldest university tradition meets Italian opera, and where the energy of student life fills the air.

Piazza Giuseppe Verde

Piazza Santo Stefano

The Erbe Market

The Porticoes of Bologna

Piazza Rossini

Explore Bologna with Questo's self-guided city quests. Solve puzzles, uncover hidden stories, and discover Italy's food capital at your own pace. Rated 4.5★.

Places to visit in Bologna

Places worth exploring

Piazza Maggiore

Piazza Giuseppe Verde

Piazza Santo Stefano

The Erbe Market

The Porticoes of Bologna

Piazza Rossini

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