Italy · Emilia-Romagna · Bologna
Navile, Bologna — Area Guide & Where to Stay
Navile is a northern borough of Bologna. It stretches from the edge of the historic centre out across flat farmland toward Corticella, taking in the railway quarter of Bolognina along the way. The borough is named for the Canale Navile, the medieval canal that once let boats travel from the city all the way down to the Po and the Adriatic.
About Navile
Where to stay in Navile
Where you base yourself shapes the visit — here's the character of each area.
Few travellers set out to sleep in Navile itself, and its hotels come scattered rather than clustered. The appeal is practical. Rooms in Bolognina sit within a short walk of Bologna Centrale, so early departures are easy and beds run cheaper than inside the walls.
This is a place to live like a resident. Its own draws lie out among the houses, the Museo per la Memoria di Ustica and the ippodromo Arcoveggio, while the Cathedral and the Basilica of Saint Francis wait a few tram stops south in the old centre.
About Navile
What are the main landmarks in Navile?
The borough's best-known sight is the Museo per la Memoria di Ustica, where the reassembled wreck of an airliner hangs as a memorial. Sport has its corner too. Trotting races run at the ippodromo Arcoveggio, and the old public-transport fleet survives in the Collezione storica TPER.
Along the canal stand quiet churches such as Santa Maria della Visitazione al Ponte delle Lame and San Girolamo dell'Arcoveggio. Grander company waits just south in the centre, from Bologna Cathedral and Palazzo Fava to the Bologna Museum of Modern Art and the Basilica of Saint Francis.
What is the history of Navile?
The canal came first. From the Middle Ages, the Canale Navile carried barges north from Bologna toward the Po and, beyond it, the Adriatic, its descent broken by a staircase of locks that let a landlocked city trade as a port. Mills lined the banks, grinding grain and spinning silk, while goods changed hands at wharves near Ponte delle Lame.
Corticella grew up as one of the canal villages strung along the route. Much later the northern fields were built over as Bolognina, a workers' quarter that rose beside the new railway yards after Italian unification.
Where is Navile?
Navile lies north of the old city. Its land runs from the edge of Bologna's medieval walls, just past the central railway station, out along the Canale Navile toward Ponte delle Lame, Arcoveggio, and the village of Corticella. Porto - Saragozza borders it to the west, San Donato - San Vitale to the east. Bolognina forms its dense core, a grid pressed between the station tracks and the canal.
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Updated July 2026