Central Bologna is small enough to measure from one square. From Piazza Maggiore, the Neptune Fountain is 58 meters away, the Due Torri 485 meters, Santo Stefano 575 meters and Bologna Centrale 1.5 km, about 20 minutes on foot. The map plots the sights, the station and the car parks, and a 2.2 km loop links the main sights.
Every place on the map is also listed below.
The map opens on the old center. Zoom out to see the 4 places further out.
Piazza Maggiore is the middle of Bologna, and almost everything a visitor wants is within 15 minutes’ walk of it. The map above plots the main sights, the railway station, the airport monorail and the central car parks. Below it, every distance is measured from the middle of the square on foot, using OpenStreetMap foot routing at a steady adult pace, checked in October 2026.
| Place | Distance on foot | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Bologna Welcome tourist office | 31 m | Under 1 min |
| Palazzo del Podestà | 37 m | Under 1 min |
| Palazzo Re Enzo | 52 m | Under 1 min |
| Fontana del Nettuno | 58 m | 1 min |
| Basilica di San Petronio | 124 m | 2 min |
| Biblioteca Salaborsa | 142 m | 2 min |
| Palazzo d’Accursio | 155 m | 2 min |
| Santa Maria della Vita | 181 m | 2.5 min |
| Quadrilatero market streets | 214 m | 3 min |
| Archiginnasio | 284 m | 4 min |
| Due Torri | 485 m | 6 min |
| Santo Stefano | 575 m | 8 min |
| Mercato delle Erbe | 562 m | 7.5 min |
| Basilica di San Domenico | 705 m | 9.5 min |
| Finestrella di Via Piella | 761 m | 10 min |
| Pinacoteca Nazionale | 1,095 m | 15 min |
| Bologna Centrale station | 1,512 m | 20 min |
| San Luca sanctuary | about 4.7 km, uphill | About 1 hour or more |
Each distance runs to the point that marks the building or street, so the palaces on the square come out at under a minute. San Luca sits on a hill south-west of the city; the router’s shortest path gives 4.7 km, and the climb makes it slower than the flat minutes above suggest.
This loop links six of the main stops in 2.2 km, about 30 minutes of walking without stops. With time inside each sight, it fills a morning.
The tour in the box above covers much of the same ground with a guide, and the things to do in Bologna guide explains what to look at in each place.
Read the map with north at the top and the square in the middle:
Most of the old center inside the ring road is a camera-controlled limited traffic zone, the ZTL. Fees, hours and the rules for drivers are in our Bologna parking guide.
The hotels closest to the square are in the streets just around it and in the Quadrilatero, two to four minutes away. The quieter residential streets around Santo Stefano and Strada Maggiore lie east and south-east. The university quarter around Via Zamboni starts just north-east of the Due Torri. The station hotels are 13 to 20 minutes north. Our where to stay in Bologna guide names hotels in each.
For a paper map, the tourist office on the square is the place to ask, and Bologna Welcome offers a city center map to download from its website.
2.5 hours
Starts on Piazza Maggiore, goes inside the Archiginnasio and its wooden anatomy theatre, and finishes with your own climb up the Clock Tower above the square.
from$55
Check availability1.5-2 hours
A short small-group walk past the main sights, useful if you only have an afternoon in the city.
from$24
Check availabilityPrices and ratings checked on GetYourGuide in October 2026 and can change. Booking through these links supports this site at no extra cost to you.
Yes. The center is flat and compact, and every main sight but one is within 15 minutes of the main square. From Piazza Maggiore, the Due Torri are about 6 minutes on foot, Santo Stefano about 8, San Domenico about 9 and the Pinacoteca about 15. Bologna Centrale station is about 20 minutes away. The only main sight you would think twice about walking to is San Luca, on a hill outside the walls.
Start on Piazza Maggiore itself: the unfinished front and the meridian line of San Petronio, the Neptune Fountain, the whispering corners of the Voltone del Podestà and the glass floor of Biblioteca Salaborsa, all within 160 meters of the middle of the square. Then walk to the Quadrilatero market streets, the Archiginnasio's anatomy theatre, the Due Torri and Santo Stefano.
1,512 meters on foot, about 20 minutes, measured with OpenStreetMap foot routing in October 2026. The route runs almost straight down Via dell'Indipendenza, which has been pedestrian from Via Righi to the Via Rizzoli junction since December 2025. From the Marconi Express platform it is 1,782 meters, about 24 minutes.
485 meters, about 6 minutes on foot east along Via Rizzoli, measured to the point that marks the pair of towers. The Torre degli Asinelli has been closed to visitors since 23 October 2023 and the Garisenda is closed too, so the visit is from the street. Hotel San Donato and the university quarter start just beyond them.
The Bologna Welcome tourist office is on the square itself, at Piazza Maggiore 1/e, about 30 meters from the middle. Bologna Welcome also offers a high-resolution map of the city center to download from its website. The map on this page shows the sights, the station and the car parks with walking distances from the square.
Almost everything worth seeing in Bologna sits within a fifteen-minute walk of Piazza Maggiore.
Piazza Maggiore is 1.5 km from Bologna Centrale, about a 20-minute walk south down Via dell'Indipendenza, which has been pedestrian near the square since December 2025.
Do not drive into the center.