Two Towers of Bologna

What you can and can’t actually do right now

The Two Towers stand at the foot of Via Rizzoli on Piazza di Porta Ravegnana, and the first thing to know is that you probably can’t go up them. The taller Asinelli — 97 metres and 498 wooden steps — has been closed to climbers for area maintenance while engineers work on the shorter, alarmingly tilted Garisenda beside it. After surveys found the Garisenda at risk of structural failure, the city fenced off the area in late 2023 and started a consolidation project using steel scaffolding and the same kind of restraining cables once used on the Tower of Pisa. It’s a multi-year job, so for now you’ll see the Garisenda braced and wrapped rather than bare, and the Asinelli ticket office shut.

That still leaves something worth doing. Both towers are free to see from the street at any hour, and the Garisenda’s lean is far more obvious in person than in photos — it overhangs its base by metres and looks genuinely precarious. Give it ten to fifteen minutes, walk a half-circle to see the two towers offset against each other, and move on. When the Asinelli climb reopens it costs about €5 (£4.30) full price, booked through Bologna Welcome with timed slots and small group sizes — but there is no confirmed reopening date, so don’t plan a trip around it. Always check duetorribologna.com before counting on the climb.

The view to book instead, and the verdict

If you came to Bologna for a rooftop view, climb the Clock Tower (Torre dell’Orologio) on Piazza Maggiore instead. It’s part of Palazzo d’Accursio, costs about €10 (£8.60) full price, runs three admissions an hour with the first at 10:00 and the last at 18:20 (later, to 20:20, from June into early September), and delivers a proper 360-degree look over the terracotta rooftops without the Asinelli’s relentless step count. It’s the honest stand-in while the famous towers are off-limits.

Our verdict: the Two Towers are the symbol of Bologna and they reward a short, free stop, but in their current state they’re a photo, not an experience. Skip any tour priced mainly on “climb the Two Towers” — you can’t — and treat the street-level visit as one beat in a day spent eating your way through the Quadrilatero or walking the porticoes up to San Luca. See the towers, feel suitably unnerved by the Garisenda, then go and do the things Bologna actually does best.