Strada Maggiore is one of the oldest streets in Bologna, running east from the Two Towers along the line of the Roman road toward the Via Emilia, and it is a street where the arcades seem to be a different style every hundred metres. Some are medieval and made of timber, with beams that look too old to hold anything up, others are Renaissance and graceful, with slender columns. Along the way the street passes tall palaces, small shops, old churches and, on the right, the lovely porch of Santa Maria dei Servi, a Gothic church whose portico is among the most beautiful in the city.
Gioachino Rossini, the composer of The Barber of Seville, lived in a palace on this street in his later years and made it his home in Bologna, and the museum of music in a nearby palace now houses a collection of instruments, portraits and scores that tells the story of European music. A short distance away is the Casa Isolani, a medieval house from the thirteenth century with a wooden portico that is one of the oldest surviving in the city.
For anyone arriving by motorbike, this is a walking street, not a riding street. The centre has traffic restrictions, and the roads are narrow, so it is better to leave the bike outside the old walls in the supervised parking areas or on the street on the outskirts, such as the Ponticella district to the east. From there, the walk toward the heart of town is gentle and pleasant, and the arcades keep off sun and rain.
Ponticella is a small place with a few shops and cafés, but for fuel, supermarkets and larger services, Bologna itself is the place to look. Food is, as everywhere in the city, a pleasure: look for a trattoria where tortelloni with butter and sage or tagliatelle al ragù are made by hand, and a plate of mixed fried food, the fritto misto, if the season allows.
The best time of day is late afternoon, when the light slants under the porticoes and students gather on the steps.