Bologna | Water Routes

Beneath Our Feet: The Hidden Blue Heart of the City

When he was young, my grandfather used to play in those canals. Down by the port, small boats carried goods to be shipped across the Adriatic Sea.

Funny enough, many people back then had never even seen the sea—my grandfather himself saw it for the first time at 23. But sailors often spoke of the waterway to the Po River and then on to the sea.

Water was not only the most precious resource we had—it was once the people’s main mode of communication and transport:
safe, free, and fast, and a key driver of economic and commercial development in the city.

Over time, the canals were covered, and the boats abandoned—left to rot on the riverbanks.

Today, only a few canals are still visible.
This tour is a rare opportunity to rediscover the city’s incredible “blue heritage”, still flowing silently beneath our feet.