Bologna or Catania?
Two destinations compared on nine measures of openly sourced data. Weight what matters to you and the verdict follows.
Your match
Too close to call, level with your weighting
Wins on sights concentration and good for families with your weighting.
Wins on beaches & swimming and year-round weather with your weighting.
What matters to you?
Pick a travel style or drag the sliders. The match scores above update as you do.
The verdict
Choose Bologna if the trip is about walking a compact centre: many more notable places within reach on foot, roughly twice the museums, and more park space and attractions for children.
Choose Catania if you want the coast and warmth: 5 beaches nearby, a sea warm enough for swimming across much of the year, and winter days around 16°C rather than genuinely cold ones.
Scoreboard
Each measure scored 0 to 100. Open a row for the figures behind the score.
Beaches & swimming. Catania leads by 58 points.58
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 0 | 58 |
| Swim season months | 0 | 5 |
| Beaches 10 km | 2 | 5 |
| Coast distance | 74 km | 1 km |
| Water distance | — | 1 km |
Places to eat. Bologna leads by 9 points.9
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 58 | 49 |
| Restaurants within 2 km of centre | 822 | 637 |
| Effective number of cuisines within 2 km | 20 | 14 |
Museums & heritage. Bologna leads by 8 points.8
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 59 |
| Museums within 10 km | 58 | 34 |
| Museums within 2 km of centre | 43 | 27 |
| Share of museums within 2 km % | 74 | 79 |
| Unesco sites within 50 km | 3 | 3 |
Nightlife. Bologna leads by 6 points.6
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 53 | 47 |
| Drinking venues within 4 km | 720 | 537 |
| Drinking venues within 2 km of centre | 531 | 403 |
| Share of drinking venues within 2 km % | 74 | 75 |
| Nightclubs within 4 km | 30 | 18 |
Nature & day trips. Bologna leads by 8 points.8
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 39 | 31 |
| Protected land share 50 km % | 7 | 10 |
| Landscape blanket share 50 km % | 1 | 0 |
| Land share of disc % | 100 | 61 |
| Park area within 2 km | 119 hectares | 11 hectares |
Good for families. Bologna leads by 19 points.19
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 55 | 36 |
| Tourist attractions within 2 km | 32 | 25 |
| Park area within 2 km | 119 hectares | 11 hectares |
| Theme parks within 30 km | 0 | 1 |
Sights concentration. Bologna leads by 21 points.21
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 60 | 39 |
| Notable places within 2 km | 120 | 37 |
| Min wikipedia languages | 5 | 5 |
Value for money. Bologna and Catania are level on 68.
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 68 | 68 |
| Price level global | 64.9 | 64.9 |
| Daily budget | €155 | €155 |
Year-round weather. Catania leads by 10 points.10
| Bologna | Catania | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 67 | 77 |
| Monthly daytime high | 7 °C to 31.5 °C | 15.8 °C to 34.5 °C |
| Monthly rainfall | 34 mm to 75 mm | 9 mm to 83 mm |
| Dry months | 5 | 5 |
Where they differ
Bologna fits about three times as many notable places into walking distance of the centre and roughly twice as many museums, so days need less transport. It also has more restaurants near the centre, a somewhat wider range of kitchens, and far more park space and attractions for children.
Catania has the coast: 5 beaches nearby against Bologna's 2, and sea at 21°C or more for five months, which Bologna never offers at all. It runs warmer through the year, 16-35°C against 7-32°C, and has 1 theme park within reach.
Where they are alike
Nightlife is where the two are closest. Both keep their bars and clubs near the centre, so an evening out needs no planning around transport; Bologna simply has somewhat more of each.
They are also close on heritage, eating out and the countryside. Each has 3 UNESCO-listed places within day-trip reach, restaurant choice near the centre differs only somewhat, and protected land is limited around both, 10% around Catania and 7% around Bologna.
Which traveller are you?
A traveller here for museums and old streets should take Bologna: many more notable places within walking distance of the centre, about twice the museums, and enough restaurant choice nearby that days need little transport.
Anyone whose holiday means swimming belongs in Catania: 5 beaches nearby against Bologna's 2, and sea at 21°C or more for five months, where Bologna has no swimmable coast at any point in the year.
Families lean towards Bologna, with more attractions near the centre and many times the park space. Catania holds the one theme park and winters around 16°C, which suits a trip out of season.
What the numbers don't tell you
The value comparison between these two carries no information. That figure is a national price level, identical for both by construction, and the €155 daily budget beside it is one national estimate rather than a measurement of either city. Neither can be called the cheaper trip on this evidence.
Catania's coastal advantage lands in the months when heat peaks at 35°C, so the warmest sea arrives with the heaviest crowds and the least comfortable middays. Bologna's strongest months are its busiest too, and its autumn brings the year's heaviest rain rather than any extra warmth.
When should you go?
The figures behind each month. Each row is shaded against that destination's own year, so the deepest cell is its best month for that measure and the palest its weakest. Shades are not comparable between the two rows.
Temperature and rainfall are thirty-year climate normals, averaged over the years shown. Bologna: 1991-2020 normals, Bologna / Borgo Panigale (5.5 km from centre). Catania: 1991-2020 normals, Catania / Sigonella (18.9 km from centre).
Bologna is at its best in May and June, with highs of 24-29°C and comparatively dry weather. Midsummer is hotter but still workable; from September the rain arrives at 70-75mm a month, which makes autumn the weakest stretch for walking the city.
Catania spreads wider through the year. April and May bring 21-26°C with little rain, and midsummer is almost dry at under 10mm, though the heat peaks then. Autumn stays warm enough to swim, while December is the wettest month at 83mm.
Getting there
| Flying from | Bologna | Catania |
|---|---|---|
| RomeFCO, CIA | 1 h 0 m no fares BLQ · 6 km | 1 h 20 m €38-50 CTA · 4 km |
| LondonLHR, LGW, STN, LTN +2 | 2 h 0 m €114-267 BLQ · 6 km | 3 h 0 m €106-144 1 stop CTA · 4 km |
| TiranaTIA | 1 h 35 m €96-199 BLQ · 6 km | 1 h 20 m no fares CTA · 4 km |
| ParisCDG, ORY, BVA | 1 h 40 m €158-262 1 stop BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 35 m €91-153 1 stop CTA · 4 km |
| IstanbulIST, SAW | 2 h 25 m €154-191 1 stop BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 10 m €166-455 CTA · 4 km |
| BarcelonaBCN | 1 h 40 m €42-75 BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 5 m €89-123 1 stop CTA · 4 km |
| BucharestOTP, BBU | 2 h 5 m €74-144 BLQ · 6 km | 2 h 5 m €54-109 CTA · 4 km |
| MaltaMLA | 1 h 50 m no fares BLQ · 6 km | 55 m €52-68 CTA · 4 km |
| CasablancaCMN | 3 h 5 m €180-238 1 stop BLQ · 6 km | 3 h 10 m no fares CTA · 4 km |
| New YorkJFK, EWR, LGA | 8 h 30 m €637-650 VCE · 138 km | 9 h 15 m no fares CTA · 4 km |
The busiest departure cities for these two, with a place kept for each other part of the world. Busiest means arriving passengers where an official count exists, and where none does, the number of non-stop services flown: official route statistics are published by the European reporting countries and by nobody else, so a table ranked on them alone would offer a reader in New York or Tokyo ten European cities. Flying times are estimated from the distance between airports, and every row is a city flown non-stop to both. Where the typical offer connects anyway, the stops are shown. Under each figure is the airport the flight lands at and how far that is from the centre, because the nearest airport is not always the one a route is flown to. Where both columns name the same airport it is one flight, and the difference between the two is the distance printed beside it. Typical return fares for 2026-08 to 2026-09, cached market data up to 7 days old. The figure is the middle half of the offers found, so a single price means they agreed and a range means they did not; for a typical route that middle half spans about a quarter of the median, and for the least settled routes rather more than the median itself.
Before you go
| Measure | Bologna | Catania |
|---|---|---|
| Official language | Italian | Italian |
| Currency | Euro (EUR) | Euro (EUR) |
| Sockets | CFL230 V, 50 Hz | CFL230 V, 50 Hz |
| Driving side | Right | Right |
| Time zone | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer | UTC+1, UTC+2 in summer |
| Emergency number | 112 | 112 |
| Elevation | 54 m | 7 m |
| Main airport | Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport (BLQ)6 km from centre97 non-stop destinations | Catania-Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)4 km from centre95 non-stop destinations |
| Public holidays this year | 13 days | 13 days |
By the numbers
| Measure | Bologna | Catania |
|---|---|---|
| City population | 387,971 | 311,584 |
| People per km² | 2,754 | 1,704 |
| Museums within 10 km | 66 | 25 |
| UNESCO World Heritage sites within 50 km | 3 | 3 |
| Distinct cuisines in the centre | 62 | 30 |
| Swim season, months above 21 °C | – | 5 months |
Where else could you go?
Every comparison below shares a destination with this one, so you can follow Bologna or Catania somewhere new.