An interesting museum! The building itself is beautiful with tiled floors and arches. It has a…read moresmall, well stocked gift shop and a cafe. The exhibits were cool with artifacts. I don't speak Italian so I couldn't read the descriptions. It was nice to just take it all in

A small focused museum. If you decide to visit pay attention…read moreto days/hours as they are limited. Worth it for about an hour+.

A piece of history! Worthwhile to take a stop nearby the main square in Bologna and admire these…read morefeats of medieval architecture. As of end Dec 2023 both towers are closed for maintenance as the base and building materials have deteriorated and are no longer safe for tours. Prior to closing stairway access to the top via 498 steps (according to their website) was available for €5 to the taller tower Asinelli, with shorter tower Garisenda already under repair. There is a public website commune.bologna.it where anyone can donate to the restoration campaign.

Between the 12th and the 13th century, Bologna was a city full of towers. Almost all the towers…read morewere tall defensive stone towers. Besides the towers, there are still some fortified porticos that correspond to the gates of the 12th-century city. The richest families used these towers for offensive/defensive purposes during the period of the Investiture Controversy. In the 13th century, many towers were demolished or collapsed. Many towers have been used as a prison, city tower, shop or residential building. The 2 towers remained a famous sight of Bologna throughout the later periods; even Dante mentioned some of the towers in his Inferno.

Cyndy's Bottom Line: Learn about the origin of the word ghetto and the history…read more The word ghetto comes from the Italian word gettare, which means "to cast" or "to throw". The Jewish ghetto of Bologna was born in the XVI century, around 1555 a.d., following the papal bull issued by Pope Paul IV which established the provision of a delimited area of the city for the Jewish community.

Interesting use of this space for an art exhibit showing replicas of Banksy works…read more There were 7 galleries showing small and large Banksy art with background descriptions of where these pieces were created. The history and stories were very useful. I have to say the space itself (the ceilings) could use some restoration. I hope the profits from the exhibit contribute to this effort.

This square is almost like a hub to all of the best sightseeing in Bologna. It's the central…read moresquare where a lot of the interesting sights are located. While we were there, they were setting up for some sort of viewing with a huge screen and plenty of seats. I didn't look up what it was for but I assume that because this square is so large and central, they do this sort of thing all of the time. We visited the fountain, the church and the shops and restaurants branching off from this square and we also took the San Luca express from here. Great way to landmark yourself in the city.

Other Yelp reviewers have covered many of the major points regarding location and this square's…read morecentrality to all the major site seeing attractions nearby. I'll add a few notes on some of the notable places to visit in and around this piazza: - Palazzo Re Enzo in April 2024 wasn't open to the public for general viewing, inside are mainly government offices. - Biblioteca Salaborsa: cool library building for history and architecture fans. Aside from the impressive details of the current building. Roman ruins are visible from main library floor and visitable underneath the library. See my separate review for this! - Biblioteca Communale and the Two Towers (Asinelli Tower and Garisenda Tower--not to be confused with LOTR) are about a 5 minute walk from this square. Towards the south for the historical library with a historic anatomical studies operating room, and directly east for the towers. - Signorvino: decent spot to people watch, enjoy some wine and a light meal or charcuterie while taking in the view of the piazza. Indoor and outdoor seating available. - Fontana del Nettuno: ask the locals about the legend around the sea god's sculpture...walk around it to view at different angles...maybe not appropriate for kiddies. - Cinema Modernissimo: recently renovated (end 2023) old school movie theater from 1915 that's underground and on the block next to the piazza. They play Italian classics, and both old and modern movies, tickets starting at €6 and some movies with free entry. All showings book up very quickly, so move fast--as of end June all paid shows were booked up thru end November. Hope anyone reading this enjoys their time in Bologna as much as I did!

Boring. Lots of useless information. Not worth a visit. Spent less than 10 minutes in hereread more

Excellent. Lots of interesting information…read more Beautiful instruments. Definitely worth a visit. We spent about an hour here. €8 for 2