Bars

Bologna Bar

Bologna has a great bar scene. Ever since the city became a university center its students have needed to be entertained, distracted from their studies and inspired by alcoholic hedonism and hallucination. The drinking traditions of Bologna's down-at-heel osterie goes back almost a thousand years and they are still intact new even if the venues themselves have gone a little more upmarket.

apertivo time (7-9PM) is when everyone gets going, drinking tiny multi-colored cocktails, or prosecco and snacking on a wide selection of free nibbles that every bar provides.

Bars with English names are generally to be avoided.

Cafe De Paris This is the hottest night-spot at the moment and also does great lunches. At night there are masses of top apperitivi snacks, plates of pasta, sandwiches, crisps, olives - which means it is packed during apertivo time on the weekend.

Rosa Rose This place transforms at night with great crowds of sunglassed fighetti spilling out onto the narrow street with the gigantic appetizers. Currently one of the trendiest night-spots the bar is jam-packed in the evenings and the locals fall over themselves to be seen here.

Celtic Druid Irish Pub This is the Irish pub with the highest concentration of Irish people in Bologna. Here you can drink an Irish pint(Harp, Guinness, Kilkenny) pulled by an Irish barman.The pub is always full of friendly people: of course not just the Irish!There's no table service but there are loads of bar snacks to eat like popcorn and bags of crisps. There are also slices of pizza and sandwiches.

Godot Wine Bar During the day it is the perfect place for students. But at night Il Godot is a very classy wine bar! Not far from the Duse theatre, it is perfect for a quiet post-theatre evening.In this small and welcoming venue they serve wine of exceptional quality even by the glass. And to accompany the wine there is great salami and cheese.The quality of service is of course high and the rest speaks for itself.Prices are not the most moderate but if you are wanting to celebrate in style you won't mind paying a bit more. Via Cartolerie, 12

Osvaldo You don't see many bars like this in Bologna any more! This brings old style bars to mind and another along the very same lines has also appeared in the same area and with the same opening times! This is an essential, simple, economic bar without pretenses and there's really no need to talk prices and products. All that you will see is blue coloured seats and tables, a lady at the bar and the sandwich girl, an old man sipping his wine. This is a place with bags of character.