Bologna has forty kilometres of arcades, and it may be that these were built for no other purpose than to let you walk off a lunch in the rain.
Friday evening
Arrive by train if you possibly can, drop your bags and walk straight to the river while it is still light. Have a drink somewhere that does not take bookings and eat whatever the person next to you is eating. There is nothing to achieve tonight. That is rather the point of it.
Plan your days around lunch. Then plan the rest around dinner.
Saturday, unhurried
Start Saturday slowly, with coffee and a pastry at the covered market, and then wander without any particular purpose until lunchtime. Save the main museum for the afternoon, when the school groups have gone home and the light through the upper gallery windows is at its most flattering.
Sunday, before the train
Autumn and early spring are the sweet spots: fewer crowds, lower room rates and a good reason to spend an hour in every café you pass. Book the dinner reservation ahead of time and leave everything else open. The best thing that happens this weekend will not be on any list.
On Sunday morning, have one last walk along the old walls before the bells start, and pick up some food for the journey at the bakery by the station. Everyone else on your train will be wishing that they had thought of that, and they will be eyeing your cheese.
