Bologna Street Food Guide: 10 Best Foods & Places (2025 Updated)

Let's say it loud and clear: Bologna is not a city of street food. We prefer to eat slowly and with our legs under the table.
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But how great would it be to walk around the 2 towers with a cone of fried custard in your hands?

​Check out this list of the most popular street foods of Bologna and where to eat them well made.

It’s a bit like love: if it’s true, you simply know that.
If you add many things to make it work, there’s something wrong.

Bread and mortadella: best couple ever. The perfect marriage is between a soft rosetta bread and a few slices of artisanal mortadella.

Undermine the couple’s balance with a glass of sparkling Pignoletto and see what happens.

Where to eat it
In Bologna, it is almost impossible not to get a Panino alla mortadella. Pigro, alongside San Petronio church, it’s the modern mortadella temple. You just have to be lucky and find it open: Pigro in Italian means lazy, and they take their name pretty seriously.

Pigro Mortadelleria
Via Dè Pignattari, 1b, Bologna
​Tel +39 366 508 9699
Facebook page

For the best mortadella though, I have to recommend the one served during our Bologna food tours. I promise it's not less than memorable.

Until a few years ago, "pizza al taglio" in Bologna meant only one place: Altero. A historic, nostalgic spot, but let's be honest: the pizza game has changed massively since then.

Today, the quality has skyrocketed. While places like Mozzabella (inside Mercato delle Erbe) and Pizzartist offer fantastic crunchy slices, there is one spot that stole my heart.

Where to eat it
My pick is O Fiore Mio. Originating from Faenza, they brought the Roman "teglia" style (inspired by the legendary Bonci) to Bologna. The dough is light, digestible, and the toppings are seasonal masterpieces.

If you visit in Autumn or Winter, don't leave without trying the slice with Pumpkin cream, gorgonzola, and pancetta. It’s a hug in a bite.
In other seasons?
The classic Margherita with Buffalo Mozzarella never disappoints.

O Fiore Mio - Pizze di Strada
Piazza Malpighi 8, 40123 Bologna
ofioremio.it

If I say Bologna you may immediately think about mortadella, tortellini, or lasagne.
But some of you, especially if you've already joined our Bologna food tour, will go straight to gelato.

Gelato is the perfect street food: cup or cone, summer or winter, nothing can beat it.

And I can share with you a list of the best gelato places in Bologna to spend a month around the porticoes.

So get your scoop and mouth ready.
It's time to salivate.

Where to eat it
It's hard mentioning just one place so I'd go with the last born. Sablé is a tiny lab with a daily selection of flavors that always look for something different.
An example?
Moss or spruce resin. Yes, you read well. Open your mind and mouth and enjoy it all!

Sablé
Via dei Mille, 3a, 40121 Bologna BO
instagram.com

Small, round, warm, and usually filled with a pesto made of lard, rosemary, and garlic (cunza). Tigelle are a religion in Emilia Romagna.

But here is a confession: Tigelle are originally from the Apennines of Modena, not Bologna.

And to be 100% honest with you, I haven't found the "perfect" tigella in Bologna yet.
The standards in Modena are just different.

Where to eat it
If you want to get a good idea of what they are, Il Tigellino near Piazza Maggiore is a valid choice for a quick, tasty pit-stop.

However, if you are a true food lover, you should take a 25-minute train ride and join our Modena Food Tour. That's where you'll taste the real magic (and the best Balsamic Vinegar, too).

Il Tigellino
Via Calzolerie 1/D, 40125 Bologna
Facebook Page

You can call it crescentine, gnocco fritto, pizza fritta, torta fritta, piadina fritta.
Wherever you go around Emilia Romagna its name, its shape or its filling change, but we're talking about the same food.

A thin fried dough folded to host a filling of cured meat or cheese.
If you've joined our Modena food tour you know they call it gnocco fritto, in Parma torta fritta...whatever works the essence is the same.

Where to eat it
The best way to have crescentine is at a sagra: the country fairs that take place in all the small villages of the region during summertime.

In Bologna, you can have it at Indegno: a new street corner in Via del Pratello where the tradition meets gourmet ingredients.

Indegno
Via del Pratello, 84/A, 40122 Bologna
Tel. 051 014 3306

Repeat after me: not all that is fat is bad.
In the case of ciccioli (pronounced: tchee-tchee-all-ee), pork fat is nothing else than delicious.

What are ciccioli made of?
It’s better not to investigate further.

Something like dried pressed and spiced lard. All you need to know is that they’re not properly vegetarian, and the chances of getting addicted to them are very high.

Where to eat it
You can find ciccioli in every salumeria, in the shape of a brown cake.
​Stay in line at Simoni and take it away in a yellow paper cone.

Simoni
Via Pescherie Vecchie, 3/b, 40124 Bologna
Tel. 051 231843
salumeriasimoni.it

Fish never appears in Bologna's traditional cookbooks.
We’re far from the seaside, so the traditional cuisine focuses on meat and dairy.

But it hasn't always been like that.

I found out there were a lot of fish in the city in the past. It was freshwater fish coming from Bologna's canals. It was so abundant that they called it “the poor’ bread”.

Some fish have never disappeared. Fried small anchovies, for instance, have survived during the centuries.
They’re fried and sold in paper cones.
Eat them with all the head, bone and tail.
And please don't squeeze lemon on it. Please.

Where to eat it
A Marcello, in front of the old fish shops of Via Pescherie Vecchie, is perfect if you’re in a rush.
From the same owners, ​Osteria Bartolini is one of the restaurants where to eat great fish in Bologna. You can relax and snack on a bucket of fried fish under the oldest tree in the city.

A Marcello
Via Pescherie Vecchie, 10, 40124 Bologna BO
051 284 5291

amarcello.com

Crema Fritta is a small cube of custard cream with a light lemon scent. It’s sprinkled with a mix of flour, eggs and breadcrumbs, then fried in seed oil.

In the big family of salty finger food, crema fritta is the strange, creative sibling that never fights with anyone: sweet and a little bit of an outsider.

During Carnival season, the craving for fried food peaks, making it the perfect time to enjoy a whole cone of it.

Where to eat it
Order a fritto misto in Bologna’s Trattorias: crema should be included. It’s a plate that mixes fried zucchini, meat, artichokes and some cheese as well.
​During Carnival time, the best bakeries of Bologna, like Paolo Atti, always display whole trays of crema fritta on their window.

Paolo Atti & Figli
Via Caprarie 7 , Bologna
Tel +39 051-220425
www.paoloatti.com

When summer is over, leaves are falling down, and I need blankets on my bed, only one thing can cheer me up: it’s caldarroste time.

Since October, small roasting kiosks have appeared in the streets, selling roasted chestnuts for a few euros.

It’s hard to resist this temptation. So just don’t. Get a bag of hot caldarroste, eat them on your way home and remember: if you’re burning your fingertips, you’re doing it right.

Where to eat it
Caldarroste kiosks are in the streets around Piazza Maggiore. I love the one in the corner of Piazza Re Enzo and via Rizzoli.
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​If you're lucky you can find other street foods made of chestnuts. Mistocchine and castagnaccio are less popular in Bologna but even more addictive.

Caldarroste da Nicola
Via Rizzoli, 1 40121 Bologna
Facebook page

Bologna isn't a city of "fast food," even when you're eating it on a sidewalk.

Every slice of mortadella, every warm tigella, and every cup of tortellini carries centuries of tradition and a deep respect for ingredients. Eating street food here is the fastest way to feel the pulse of the city and connect with the locals.

I hope this guide helps you navigate the delicious maze of our medieval center.
Things move fast in the food scene, but these spots are the ones I personally return to when I want a taste of home.

A small favor? If you try one of these places and love it, or if you find a new hidden gem, send me a message or tag @tastebologna on Instagram. I love hearing about your food adventures!

And remember: if you want to skip the research and just enjoy the best bites with a group of new friends, I'm always here to lead the way. Check out our Bologna Food Tours for an unforgettable day.

Buon appetito!

[photo credits: Dissapore, Sara Querzola]