Bologna

Ask most people to name the first Italian city that comes into their head and few will trump out Bologna. That suits this city just fine. While the tourist hordes clog up Florence, Rome and Venice, Bologna remains relatively tourist free, letting the locals enjoy one of the highest standards of living in Italy unmolested.

The heart of Bologna is around the twin piazzas, Maggiore and Nettuno – a handsome public space sealed on all sides by medieval palazzi and the hulk of San Petronio. Here, amid the pigeons, the Bolognese come to shop, to pray, to chat and, of course, to demonstrate. Not just for the ochre colouring of the medieval buildings in the fading evening light is the city known as 'Red Bologna', with socialism and communism a major feature of Bolognese life, ever since determined partisan resistance in World War II.

In Bologna, however, a social conscience and cultural knowledge go hand in hand with a hearty appetite, with the city fully justifying its other moniker, La Grassa, which translates literally as 'The Fat', a reference to the seriousness with which the locals take Epicurean pursuits.