When to Come

1. Januarycold, fog
2. Februarycold, fog
3. Marchspring beginsfair season
4. Aprilspringfair weeks
5. Maythe best walking weatherthe Madonna di San Luca comes down
6. Junewarmsummer film festival begins in Piazza Maggiore
7. Julyhot, humidopen-air cinema
8. Augusthot, and the city emptiesFerragosto — many kitchens close
9. Septemberwarm, clearfair weeks
10. Octoberthe best walking weather4 October — San Petronio
11. Novemberdamp, fog returns
12. DecembercoldChristmas fair · the Vecchione burnsfair weeks

• best for walking
• hot
• cold, fog
• mild

1. 01The shape of the year
2. 02August
3. 03The fair weeks
4. 04The city's calendar
5. 05What is shut, and when

01The shape of the year

Bologna sits on the edge of the Po plain, and the plain decides the weather. Summers are hot and humid, winters cold and damp, often with fog. Spring and autumn are the best seasons to walk the city — and the porticoes make every season more bearable than it would be anywhere else.

02August

In August much of the city's own life stops for the summer holidays, above all around Ferragosto on 15 August. Many family-run restaurants and shops close for a week or more. The sights stay; the city thins out.

03The fair weeks

Bologna has one of Italy's largest exhibition centers, BolognaFiere, and its big trade fairs — among them Cosmoprof, Cersaie and the Bologna Children's Book Fair — bring tens of thousands of visitors at once.

In those weeks hotels fill and room rates climb. The dates move every year; check the fair calendar for your dates before you book anything else. See booking ahead.

04The city's calendar

Spring: in the days before Ascension, the icon of the Madonna di San Luca is carried down the portico into the city — see San Luca.

Summer: an outdoor film festival fills Piazza Maggiore with a screen and seats.

4 October: the feast of San Petronio, the patron saint, a holiday in the city.

December: a Christmas fair under the Portico dei Servi on Strada Maggiore. On New Year's Eve a giant effigy of the old year, the Vecchione, is burned in Piazza Maggiore.

05What is shut, and when

Italy's state museums close one day a week, and churches often close for a long pause in the middle of the day. Build days around that — see itineraries.

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