Why Bologna is the laidback rival to Italy’s big hitters

Tourists are flocking to Bologna but locals plan to stop it becoming the next Florence, says Julia Buckley
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Julia Buckley16 March 2018

Bologna is booming. In Piazza Maggiore, locals squat on the steps of the basilica, looking towards the newly restored Neptune fountain. In the streets of the Quadrilatero — the medieval food market that’s still going strong — Americans wander aimlessly, like 21st-century flaneurs. On the outskirts, cars pile towards FICO Eataly World, the new “foodie theme park” that opened in November. Bologna is finally getting the global attention that, hitherto, it’s been criminally lacking.

And not everyone is happy.

“I’m worried about the future,” says Francesca Durussel of Grassilli, a city- centre restaurant. “We’re now gearing ourselves towards tourists and the quality has changed.” Is the city that always prided itself on being anti-establishment — not for nothing is it known as La Rossa (the red) — sliding towards theme-park status? For Italy snobs like me, it’s a horrifying thought.

Enter Francesca Fumana, Silvia Rigo and Alice Gnesini, three thirtysomething Bolognesi who have a plan. Their project, Taldeg (dialect for “I’m telling you”), is a cross between Airbnb (they have five flats) and a digital concierge which promises to show you the real Bologna beyond ragù and tortellini. “Tourism is exploding here,” says Francesca. “But it’s ‘confezionato’ — packaged up. A tortellino isn’t just a tortellino; it’s a way of life.”

Cafe on Via Caprarie in city centre
Alamy Stock Photo

The experience starts the moment I walk through the (frescoed on the inside) door. La Casa del Dottore — The Doctor’s House — sits in a 16th-century landmark palazzo in the shadow of Bologna’s famous twin medieval towers. Beyond the blue plaque on the outside portico is a courtyard decorated with renaissance friezes. A fierce-looking bust in a niche guards the entrance to my own renaissance idyll, with beamed ceilings sporting original frescoes. It’s like sleeping in the Uffizi.

Facing the future

But Taldeg isn’t just about hooking you up with a nice flat; its raison d’être is to submerge you in the local culture. They have seen, Francesca says, the fate that has befallen Bologna’s more celebrated Italian cousins — locals fleeing, artisans folding, pavements choking with crowds — and want to encourage a more thoughtful kind of tourism here before it’s too late.

So Taldeg apartments are filled with locally made things — whether that’s antique furniture or modern art — each sporting a QR code which, if you scan it, will tell you the history of that item. In the Casa del Dottore, the modern painting dominating the living room takes you to a video of artist Alessandro Saturno, while a cracked canvas of the “due torri” gives you the history of the two towers — and the dozens that once surrounded them.

Not for me reheated tortellini at Tamburini, a world-famous delicatessen; on orders from Taldeg (provided via its WhatsApp “concierge service”), I nip over to Sfoglia Rina for handmade tortellini smothered in parmesan zabaione.

Sfoglia Rina
Alamy Stock Photo

Local curation

The Taldeg service works in two ways. First there’s the curated Google map, listing the trio’s favourite places to eat, shop and drink as well as marking insidery things to spy around town.

Then there’s the WhatsApp concierge service for more spontaneous advice. Stomach rumbling as you leave the seven conjoined churches of Santo Stefano? Flayed human figures in the anatomical theatre at the Archiginnasio put you in need of a drink? Message them and they’ll tell you where to go nearby. That way, they say, you won’t get lured into any tourist traps.

They work hard on the service — the first time (I liked it so much I booked a second visit), they guide me around Bologna in real time, from breakfast suggestions to obscure stationery shops when I need a computer mouse.

Returning for a weekend, I try their map. That’s how I end up at Grassilli — an old-school restaurant (it opened in 1944 and the decor hasn’t changed since the Seventies) where everyone’s eating cotoletta alla Bolognese (veal wrapped in prosciutto and drowned in parmesan sauce) and speaking Italian. The next day, having brunch at Colazione da Bianca — a chi-chi café and the kind of sit-down place you rarely find in Italy — I’m the only foreigner. In fact, everywhere I go on Taldeg’s list is foreigner-free. It’s blissful.

The drawbacks

It’s also not for everyone. I don’t set foot inside the Quadrilatero this time — though its famous food shops are exactly what most people come to Bologna for. The shops on their list are ones that trendy Bolognesi love, rather than belonging to Bolognese artisans (of which there’s a growing number). It can be, in a way, almost too insidery.

Buca San Petronio restaurant
Alamy Stock Photo

Then there are the general issues that can go hand in hand with self-catering. While my first visit goes beautifully, the second time I arrive at 1am to find the boiler in the flat has broken — and since it’s too late to rouse the Taldeg ladies, I have to decamp to a hotel. These are small details in the grand scheme of things — the grand scheme being the development of sustainable tourism in Italy and the preservation of Bologna as a living city. On that level, Taldeg can’t be faulted. I’m telling you.

Details

BA, easyJet and Ryanair fly from Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted respectively. Taldeg apartments start from €90, or €107 for the Casa del Dottore. taldeg.com

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