Top 9 culinary specialities in Bologna

Gastronomy

Marie

Publié le 20/05/2025

Italy will always surprise you with its culinary specialities. Each Italian city has its own touch, making each region unique. Italians can transform simple foods into delights that only they know how to create. The variety of their specialities has something for everyone. Whether you like light and refreshing starters, hot and savoury dishes, good cheese or exceptional wine and desserts, you’re bound to succumb to Italian flavours.

1- Tagliatelle al ragù

Let’s start with a classic of Bolognese cuisine. Everyone knows tagliatelle al ragù, the famous Bolognese-style pasta recipe. I’m certainly not telling you anything new if I tell you that this dish is made with minced meat and tomato coulis. However, the traditional recipe calls for the addition of onion, celery, carrots, a dash of dry white wine and a few sprigs of basil. The meat used in the dish is a mixture of beef, veal, a little pancetta and finely chopped sausage meat. This sauce is delicately placed over a generous portion of fresh tagliatelle. Add a dose of parmigiano to make this dish even better. It’s impossible to leave Bologna without trying this world-famous dish.

2- Mortadella

Let’s move on to another speciality known the world over: mortadella. This sweet delicatessen is much appreciated by locals and visitors alike. To obtain the final product, pork is used, mixed in lard before being stuffed and cooked. This speciality is so emblematic that a celebration is held every October in honour of this delicatessen. The festival is called MortadellaBo. Tastings are organised in Bologna’s main square, along with other events linked to this emblem of Bolognese cuisine.

3- Cotoletta Bolognese o Petroniana

This is the hearty Bolognese dish par excellence. This speciality doesn’t even need a side dish, as the portion is so generous. The veal escalope is dipped in egg yolk before being covered entirely in breadcrumbs. The meat is then fried in lard or butter. Parmigiano Reggiano and prosciutto cotto then cover the meat. For an extra touch of flavour, local white truffles are added in small quantities, but their taste is very pronounced.

4- Gnocco fritto

Bolognese cuisine has a reputation for being fatty, but that’s okay, the aim here is to enjoy as many specialities as possible. It’s a recipe adopted by several regions, with a few variations depending on geographical location. In Bologna, the dough is made with flour, brewer’s yeast, salt and water. Some add a little olive oil to the mixture. The dough is then placed in a bowl wrapped in a cloth. The dough is kneaded every 20 minutes. Finally, the dough is dipped in boiling lard for frying.

5- Tortellini

Tortellini are a veritable institution in Bolognese gastronomy. The Bolognese don’t mess around with the recipe, and it’s essential that you stick to it if you want to call it tortellini. It’s a very thin egg pastry filled with a meat filling such as mortadella, pork, cured ham and Parmigiano Reggiano, egg and nutmeg. The whole thing is closed into a ring and is ready to be cooked.

6- Lasagna verdi

At last, a dish that won’t stop you doing what you want to do after you’ve eaten! Well, I say that because it’s one of the few dishes in this ranking that contains mainly vegetables. The preparation is similar to that of a normal lasagne, with several layers of pasta and meat normally added between each layer. For lasagna verdi, the meat is replaced by spinach and courgettes mixed with ricotta.

7- The piadina

Piadina is an excellent way to sample Bolognese street food. Piadina is bread made from purely local wheat flour. Piadina does not resemble traditional bread like the famous French baguette. It is a rather thin dough, similar to a galette. It is then folded on itself and stuffed mainly with meat. A vegetarian version of piadina is also available.

8- The wines of Emilia-Romagna

The Emilia-Romagna region is renowned for its generous and very tasty dishes, but did you know that it also boasts some exceptional wines? The local vineyards produce such popular wines as Lambrusco, Sangiovese and Cagnina di Romagna. Whether it’s white, red or even rosé, Bologna has some sumptuous wines to match your dishes.