Bologna has a nickname: la Grassa, the Fat One. It earned it honestly.

This three-hour tour moves through the medieval streets and medieval logic of the city — the idea that learning and eating have always gone together here, that the university founded in 1088 and the salumerias that surrounded it were part of the same story. You start at Piazza Maggiore, the civic heart of Bologna since the 1200s, and walk the ancient Via Emilia before diving into the Quadrilatero, the medieval market quarter where tortellini, tagliatelle, and Bolognese sauce were first sold.

At La Salumeria di Bruno e Franco, watch the women who roll pasta by hand every morning. Then two ages of Parmigiano Reggiano and two balsamic vinegars. At Salumeria Simoni, mortadella on homemade focaccia. At the Two Towers, the story of the medieval skyline and Dante. At La Cotica, friggione and prosciutto on a tigella with a glass of Lambrusco. Past Santo Stefano's Seven Churches, then down to Buca delle Campane, where a pope was born in 1675 and the tagliatelle al ragù has been on the menu ever since.

The tour ends with a chocolate tortellino from Majani, the factory that has been making chocolate in Bologna since 1796.

Come hungry and leave knowing exactly why Bologna's reputation is well deserved!