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Bologna has a kicking bar and club scene. Ever since the city became a university centre its students have needed to be entertained, distracted from their studies and inspired by alcoholic hedonism and hallucination. The drinking traditions of Bologna's down-at-heel osterie goes back almost a thousand years and they are still intact now even if the venues themselves have gone a little more upmarket. Add to that historic vibrancy a present-day openness and an ability to absorb and experiment with new influences and you have a city that is more unchained than most in Italy. Music and original hybrid bar-cum-nightclub experiences to suit most tastes, persuasions and moods are on offer. A number of Bologna's clubs attract international names on the DJ circuit. Activity centres around two or three areas, kicking off the evening in the Quadrilatero, piazza Minghetti or piazza Malpighi before the ritual of supper after which the crowds move on to the concentration of bars in either the university district or around via del Pratello.
Aperitivo time (1900-2100) is when everyone gets going, drinking tiny multi-coloured cocktails, or prosecco and snacking on a wide selection of free nibbles that every bar provides. Then it's dinner time which stretches until around 2300, when you can again change venue for a digestivo (after dinner drink).
Most of the innovative and edgy nightclubs are in the northwest of the city and just outside, while more traditional, boppy discos are to be found in the surrounding hills. Bars with English names are generally to be avoided. Some bars and clubs legally have to belong to social circles and you may be asked for a tessera (membership card) for one of the social clubs (eg ARCI). Usually if you say you are just visiting and leave some ID at the door you won't have to buy the membership which otherwise costs around €20-30 for a year. Clubs that don't require membership usually charge around €10-15. This generally includes an obligatory (alcoholic) drink. For a comprehensive listing of bars and nightclubs and for up to date information on who or what's on where, consult the excellent TalkaBOut English language monthly or the new bi-lingual monthly magazine published by the commune, BOnews.
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