If you want to visit Bologna, it's better not to take your car. The city center is a limited trafic zone where the non-residents are not allowed to drive (except the clients of the hotels). You will get a +/-100 € fine if you drive in that area, which is only indicated by road signs (no gates). If you want to stay in Bologna and are not staying in an hotel, you can purchase a card wichs allows you to park your car in the streets outside the city center (35€ for one month). You can also leave your car in a covered parking outside the city center (Parking Santa Orsola) for 79€ a month.

Bologna is a nice City...if it had had some more cleanliness and some more Services. Unfortunately it is not that safe city anymore and even if it has a good averall average Living Standard, this depends a lot on what you do, where you live and when you live the city and its Services. Hard to find services on a Sunday or close to a Public Holiday, pretty stressing and frustarting to get home in the late Evening/ Night. Great Sites there: San Luca and the Portici are worth a visit and so are the Shops in via Clavature and the stunning athmospeare of some of it's squares... and the "dirty" Via Zamboni if you really need that "ONE MORE Pint of beer"!

What could I say, it's my home town... Don't miss Piazza Maggiore and the Notary Palace, Saint Petronio, the municipal building and King Enzo Palace. Not too far you can visit the Two Towers and Saint Stephen's seven churches. By night, go to Pratello area for the inns and to Zamboni St. for the pubs (they are not completely safe areas, so do not go there alone). If you want to go to disco, don't miss the mithycal Kinki just under the Two Towers. ---- Che dire, è la mia città natale... Non perdetevi Piazza Maggiore con il Palazzo dei Notai, San Petronio, il Palazzo Comunale e Palazzo Re Enzo. Non troppo lontano ci sono le Due Torri e le sette chiese di Santo Stefano. Di sera, andate al Pratello per le osterie e via Zamboni per i pub (occhio che non sono esattamente zone pacifiche, evitate di girarci soli). Per le discoteche, il mitico Kinki proprio sotto le Due Torri

beware of north africans

Bologna è una delle città più note in Italia, c'è poco da dire... gran posto, pieno di cose da fare e luoghi da visitare... certo è anche pieno di gente strana, ma dopo un po' ci si fa l'abitudine... :P

If you plan to take a nighttrain from Bologna remember that there are NO LOCKERS at the station. There's just a luggage deposit which is quite expensive and closes at 9 p.m.
When we were in Bologna we left our hostel before noon and wanted to leave our luggage in a locker and fetch it right before the train leaves. It wasn't possible so we had to fetch our luggage at 9 p.m. and waited for hours at the station bc we couldn't leave our luggage anywhere.
Make sure you have a place where you can leave it or be prepared to carry it around for hours.