If the mere mention of hand-rolled tortellini drizzled with rich olive oil and succulent streaked ham makes your mouth water then the Italian city of Bologna will have you salivating with delight.

The city is known as La Grassa (the fat) for sumptuous array of pasta, meat and, of course, ice cream which can tempt even the fussiest of eaters. But there's more to this red-roofed medieval city than its culinary pleasures and a wander round its cobbled streets will soon acquaint you with its charms - not to mention working off the extra pounds from over-indulging at the dinner table.

At the core of the city lies the Piazza Maggiore and the adjacent Piazza del Nettuno complete with its extravagant sixteenth century fountain. Both are home to many imposing secular and religious buildings from Bologna's turbulent past but are more noticeably now a place where locals gather to catch up on the gossip.

Head to the Palazzo Comunale to admire the ornate furniture and paintings from the Bolognese art world in the Collezioni Comunali d'Arte and the Museo Morandi dedicated to the life and work of one of Italy's most significant twentieth century painters. Those who like their Egyptian and Roman antiquities can while away the hours at the Museo Civico Archeologico.

For a great panoramic of the city head for the Due Torri relics from the Middle Ages to gaze out over the red tiles of the sloping rooftops and to the rolling hills of the Emilia-Romagna countryside beyond.

Bologna is also packed with churches from the elegant Santa Maria dei Servi with frescos from Vitale da Bologna, the father of Bolognese painting to the Santi Vitale e Agricola, dating from the fourth century.

The city's university, the Archiginnasio, is one of the oldest in Europe and those who are so inclined can pop in for a quick lecture or view the Teatro Anatomico where dissections used to take place around a professor's chair with a canopy covered by figures known as the "skinned ones".

And for a more anatomical take on Madame Tussauds, visit the waxworks in the Museo di Anatomia Umana which were used medical demonstrations at the university until the nineteenth century.

The swarming student population makes the area one of the liveliest and cheapest in the cities to take the weight off your feet with a not-so-quiet drink. During summertime, people spill out of the many bars and cafes into the street to just chat, drink and listen to the live music.

Food connoisseurs who happen to visit in Autumn can follow their noses to the market stalls at Via Clavature to dribble at the sight of porcini mushrooms, truffles in baskets of rice pheasant and even the odd skinned frog. Those who arrive during the summer months can enjoy a spot of music and theatre at the annual Viva Bologna festival or let their hair down at one of the open-air raves.

Bologna is a city more about quality than quantity but this certainly comes at a price. A night out can easily cause significant damage to the average bank balance whilst finding somewhere to rest your head afterwards can prove nothing short of a nightmare if you happen to arrive when one of the many trade shows for Bologna's light engineering and hi-tech industries hit town. But then who needs sleep when you can eat and drink your way through the night.