Bologna began life as an Etruscan town, and relics of the town's early phase of development can be seen in the town's archeology museum, the Museo Civico Archeologico. Bologna is a handsome, red-brick city, packed with palazzi. One of Bologna's defining features for the last thousand years has been its university, the oldest in Europe. Many of the buildings and museums which dominate the town's historic centre are legacies of this heritage. There was a shortage of roomspace for university's many students; Bologna's solution was to build porticoes over its streets, extending the houses above to create more accommodation. These sweeping porticoes are a striking feature of the town's distinctive architecture. Today Bologna is still noticeably a student town, lively and entertaining. The town is also renowned for its left-wing politics and freedom from the Italian blight of political corruption.

Bergamo tourist attractions are centred around the town's main square, Piazza Maggiore, and the adjacent Piazza Nettuno (complete with fountain of Neptune). The large cathedral is the Basilica di San Petronio, which has impressive reliefs on the doors, and interior fifteenth-century frescoes of heaven and hell. Like so many Italian cities, medieval Bologna was the scene of inter-clan rivalry, and two of the towers resulting from the competition between the town's families are now famous tourist sights. The Due Torri of Bologna are two leaning structures, built in 1119. The shorter, Torre Garisenda, was immortalised in Dante's Inferno. The taller tower is the Torre degli Asinelli, which is over 300ft tall, and which is open to the public. It leans about 3ft, and if you're not feeling too giddy, the views are worth the climb. Bergamo's principal art gallery is the Pinacoteca Nazionale, containing works by local artists and others, including Guido Reni, Raphael, Giotto, Titian and Perugino.