Eat Your Way Through This Underrated City In Italy With Some Of The World's Best Pasta

Many visitors to Italy can't wait to reenact their favorite Italian movies and "Eat Pray Love" their way through pizza in Naples or stick to tourist hotspots like Tuscany or Rome. But there are better Italian cities more well-suited for foodies. Out of all of the Italian food cities, savvy travelers should be sure not to miss Bologna, the food (and administrative) capital of the northern Emilia Romagna region. Italy's seventh-largest city is so proud of its food-loving heritage that it's known locally as La Grassa, or "The Fat One." So don't forget to explore this foodie capital on your next trip — if you do, you'll be sure to return time and time again.

The Emilia Romagna region is home to many of Italy's signature ingredients, protected by their own geographical designations. Balsamic vinegar from Modena and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese made in regions Parma and Reggio Emilia are two of the most well-known ones. Luckily, home cooks and chefs make liberal use of these local ingredients — and many others — when crafting the foods that Bologna has made most famous. As a traveler, you will immediately recognize versions of foods you already know — but don't expect them to look and taste exactly like their international imitations. Bolognese in Bologna isn't served with spaghetti, tortellini isn't drenched in a thick alfredo sauce, and baloney isn't just a processed meat you get in the supermarket. There's a lot more to all of these food traditions — and you can learn all about the local food culture as you eat and drink your way through Bologna.

Bologna is home of one of Italy's signature dishes: Bolognese. Only, for Italians, it's called tagliatelle al ragù. The flat, wide egg noodles (tagliatelle) are best at absorbing the meat and tomato sauce (ragù) that is the signature of the region, and the dish is an Italian homestyle favorite. Ragù is also the signature ingredient in Bolognese lasagne, which layers the sauce generously between spinach noodles, béchamel sauce, and parmesan cheese. Native Bologna food writers from Taste Bologna recommend Trattoria Annamaria at Via Belle Arti 17 for a homestyle ragù, cooked for eight hours and served with the best pasta in Bologna.

Tortellini — the classic folded pasta pockets — is another Bolognese classic. It's traditionally filled with meat and parmesan, but other fillings are popular too. Most often, it's eaten with a light broth or oil-based sauce. The Tortellino Festival, in which chefs battle it out for "best tortellini" and pasta fans can taste their way through the day at €5 per taste, is a popular annual event in early October at Palazzo Re Enzo.

When you go to Bologna, consider preparing an itinerary or setting yourself up with a food tour. Just make sure to start with a daily staple: mortadella. This cured meat contains pork fat, spices, and sometimes pistachios. It's a great sampler to start any meal with, so you don't need to go to Italy's most romantic restaurant to try it. It's even sliced as sandwich meat — which we know in the U.S. as baloney. Although it's also made elsewhere, the mortadella made in Bologna is so famous that it has its own protected geographical indicator; you'll find authentic Bologna mortadella stamped with an S. You can try it almost anywhere in Bologna, but Tripadvisor users have named Mò Mortadella Lab, a fast-casual pizza joint near Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro, the best place for mortadella in the city.

Cover more ground with a tour. Taste Bologna offers a Classic Bologna Food Tour, recommended by 96% of Tripadvisor travelers. The tour will help you find the best places to sample good ragù and mortadella as well as regional treats like Parmigiano Reggiano. Tours depart every morning except Sunday at the corner of Piazza Maggiore Square, where it meets Via de Pignattari. The four-hour tours cost just shy of $100 for adults and about half that for kids, and it includes breakfast with coffee, tortellini, a generous lunch, local wine, gelato, and a food map for further exploration, all adaptable for dietary restrictions. Secret Food Tours, which boasts a 2024 TripAdvisor Travelers' Choice Award, is another great food tour option. The company offers a similar menu of classic Bologna foods, including a "Secret Dish" chosen by your guide. Tours run several times a day and take you to the famous Quadrilatero markets.