Via del Pratello is probably the street you are thinking of.
Close enough 
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I’ve been to Verona and Bologna recently (Bologna a couple of weekends ago actually).
Verona is a really nice city, definitely just a great place for a day trip. I’m someone who just likes walking around really so I don’t have much in the way of specific recommendations. The initial walk in to the centre from the station isn’t the best but don’t let that put you off.
I actually lived in Bologna so if you don’t mind sharing the street where you are staying I may have some hyper specific tips.
Oh yes Bologna is a bit of a mess at the moment as they are digging all the streets up to put a tram system in. Just adds to the chaos but once you get away from the main thoroughfares it’s a lot calmer.
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Same here really. Just nice areas to walk around are enough to keep me occupied in the most part.
We’re staying on Via San Vitale in Bologna.
Ace. Well you’ll find a whole load of cafes, bars, gelateria, places to eat etc on San Vitale. That’s sort of on the student side of town that @safebruv mentioned. If you turn off San Vitale onto Via Petroni you get the long student bar and cheap eats strip that goes across Piazza Verdi (student hangout) onto Via de Castagnoli. Loads of bars and cheap eats - there is a great Lebanese kebab place and an ultra cheap but great Indian place down here if you fancy a change from Italian.
If you turn the other way off Vitale (instead of down Petroni) you go on to Piazza Aldrovandi where there are some nice small restaurants and also during the daytime at least (can’t recall at night) some really good food stalls.
Via Pratello also mention by Bruv is on the other side of town and is a sort of post-student type area, really good vibe with people out drinking. Most likely places to hear some DiS friendly music. Very much drinks rather than food focus but some of the bars do sell decent food as well and there used to be a great little pasta place that did just 3 or 4 pasta dishes, cheap but great for soaking up the beers.
My main tip for places to eat would be Via Saragozza. Again on the other side of town to you but this is the road you walk down if you are planning on doing the walk under the portici up to San Luca. It’s a long road - as you cross the main road after the gates marking the end of the centro storico walk under the arches on the right hand side of the road. Initially there are some nice cafes and cake shops but as you walk along the street there are loads of small eateries. My recommendation would be to take a walk all the way down (as far as when you reach the covered staircase that takes you over the road still under the portico to start the climb to San Luca) on a Saturday lunchtime. At that time all the restaurants will be open so you can check menus and opening times.
If you are right in the centre my main insider tip is to go to the library on the main square - Piazza Maggiore - entrance is up a few steps next to the fountain. There is a wonderful cafe, great for simple lunch things like sandwiches/salads or just great coffee and cakes. Way better than the tourist cafes round the edge of the Piazza and a real oasis of calm in the city (except on Saturday when it will be packed).
Really Bologna is just full of places to eat and drink so you’ll find a thousand places just walking around the city. ‘Pam’ is the main supermarket you’ll see around if you just want to pick up drinks or whatever.
Oh the covered market off Via Ugo Bassi might also be worth a look as this also has a number of eateries in/around (via Gervasio is the adjacent street).
Via and Piazza Santa Stefano are also worth walking along for eating and drinking options but I’m sure you’ll find yourself there anyway.
Finally need to do a shout out to PizzAltro - there are a few of these dotted around the city - simple, always fresh out of the oven squares of pizza. Perfect lunch/afternoon snack on the go.
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This is great, thank you so much!
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Just quickly on Verona. It’s just a great city to have a day in wondering around, the river is lovely. The walk (or short funicular ride) up to Castel San Pietro is great.
For getting to Verona and indeed other places the Frecciarossa trains are the quick ones - 2 hours to Verona compared to 3 for the local trains, but the local trains do have the advantage of being cheap and just standard price even if you book them last minute.
Some of the frecciarossa trains at Bologna station go from platforms that are a bit of a walk from the main station entrance so give yourself a bit of leeway on your first trip.
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I would recommend Ferrara for an easy / accessible day trip. A compact and atmospheric medieval and renaissance outpost. I spent a very enjoyable long weekend there about 15 years ago. On the mainline from Bologna to Padova. Ravenna worth visiting too for the stunning churches and mosaics.
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Love Bologna.
Some other recs for you:
Bar Senza Nome - a bar completely staffed by D/deaf bartenders. They can lipread or you can just point to what you want, but they also have these little pieces of paper hanging on the wall that show you the signs for most drinks you can think of. I loved ordering my spritzes here and getting more confident with the signing each time. It’s near the big food market Mercato delle Erbe where I had really good seafood at a place called Banco 32
Pasta Fresca Naldi - little takeaway fresh pasta place, perfect spot for a cheap lunch. You order at a window and then eat your box of pasta at the bar across the road, Birrificio Barazzo (as long as you buy a drink from them)
My favourite gelati places were either Ugo or Gelateria Gianni
Favourite pizza place and this place for amazing, cheap loaded focaccia
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You can do a really nice walk following the old walls of the city, with just one small gap to cross a road, to do a full lap of the city. Can’t remember how far it is but maybe 10km?
Ferrara isn’t great for food and coffee though.
I actually lived in Ferrara for about a year and it’s a terrible place to live but no need to go into all that here and as an easy day trip from Bologna it is good.
I need to properly read through this thread, as going to Rome and Florence in a few weeks! Any more up-to-date tips for either city gratefully received, grazie
Padua is nice but there’s probably not enough there to justify the three hour round trip from Bologna unless you’re really into cathedrals.
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In Florence you can go the bar the negroni was invented in
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Thanks again to you all for the tips!
Had a little bite along here before we did the walk up to San Luca. Nice to see Bologna’s stadium along the way!
Ferrara was probably my favourite trip of the break. We did the walk around the city walls, beautiful autumn day with the leaves on the ground, and it was a perfect break from the intensity of the centre of Bologna.
Made time to visit both of these! Both excellent 
Yeah, decided to sack it off and went to places a bit closer. Particularly liked Parma, there was a river and a nice park.
Not sure I was fully in the right head space for Bologna when i first got there. I found it quite overwhelming at first, but once i adjusted I had a good time.
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Back from a week in Rome and Florence. Was a bit of a strange trip (see grief thread for context), but I’m so glad we went. The best holidays of my adult life have been to Italy and it’s a place I feel very at home in, even though I’d never been to either city before.
We’d always planned it to be an art-focused trip and we saw so many great things. In Rome we did the Villa Borghese and the Palazzo Barberini, mostly focusing on Bernini statues and Caravaggio paintings. Bernini’s Rape of Proserpina is really just astonishing, her terror, his bland glee, the weight of his hands pressing into her flesh and the dimples he leaves in her thigh. Truly boggles my brain how this was one block of marble at one point.
I will always go out of my way to see a Caravaggio and we were spoiled in each city, probably saw about a dozen of his including the Medusa painted on a shield (a photo can’t do it justice). Love his details like the filthy nails of his Bacchus:
One thing I always love about Italy is being able to go see masterpieces for free, in situ inside churches. We saw the Ecstasy of St Theresa in one, and then two massive Caravaggios in another, which had to be illuminatede every couple of minutes by someone putting two euro in a slot. Really added to the drama.
Ate wonderfully too, really cheap slices of Roman-style square pizza for a euro a pop. One evening in Rome we ended up getting takeaway pasta at this little run-down place which has a rotating menu of two daily options, Pork / No Pork. Super cheap, charmingly home-made signs, and really good.
Other highlights: seeing Sunset Boulevard in a lovely arthouse cinema in Rome, visiting Argento’s shop and museum, espresso every morning and spritz every evening, open air sculptures in Florence, stumbling across some fantastic secondhand bookshops, meeting the cats who live in the non-Catholic cemetery practicing my Italian.
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Depends if that’s the only places you want to go, day trips to both are doable from bologna but you get the added bonus of being able to go south as well
It’s 1.5hrs to venice and 2.5 hours to lake garda on the train from bologna
You can also get to florence in about 40 minutes and san marino in about 1.5hrs
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…and lots of nice spots near Bologna accessible on the (very cheap) local trains - like Parma, Modena, Ferrara, etc.
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Verona is definitely a quieter city than Bologna although this is Italy so nowhere is quiet:)
As safebruv says Bologna is really a bit of a train network hub so more day trip options but if it is a short trip and you have identified where you’d like to go then Verona works.
Verona has a large Christmas market so the centre will be a bit busier than usual. Bologna has a small but absolutely fantastic French food Christmas market.
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Apparently Pisa has a tower? That leans?!
We’re staying in Pisa for one day/night on our way back from Elba over Christmas/New Year and was wondering if there’s anything worth doing apart from the obvious…
Get the train out for the day and see the cinque terre. Pisa isn’t amazing.
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