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Clubs And Live Music Venues
Blade Runner , Via S. Isaia 57d. Designer disco-bar with diversion floor in basement - a favourite with hip young Bolognese. Closed Tues. Café Caracol , Piazza Galileo. Centrally placed Mexican bar by the police station that’s open until 2am, serves great food, and has a small diversion floor. Cheap cocktails too during the club’s happy hour (7.30-8.30pm). Closed Sun.
Candilejas , Via Bentini 20. Salsa and merengue music, alternating with indie stuff. To get there take bus #27 from Piazza del Nettuno to the suburb of Corticella (a 25min journey); nightbus #62 runs, on the hour, back into town. Closed Sun.
Cantina Bentivoglio , Via Mascarella 4b. On the edge of the university quarter, and as much an osteria as a club. Live bands, often including jazz, play at around 9.30pm in the cellars of this sixteenth-century palazzo, where the food and wine are excellent. Closed Mon.
Cassero , Piazza di Porta Saragozza 2. Actually inside the city gate itself, this is a mostly male, gay club with café and bookshop open sporadically during the day but hotting up around 10pm or 11pm with a bar and diversion at night, and a beautiful roof garden with some good views over the city.
Down Town , Via delle Moline 16b. Off the left-hand side of Via dell’Independenza, about halfway down, as you head away from the train station. Live bands playing a mix of jazz, bluegrass and country - simple eats, a well-stocked bar and plenty of atmosphere. Things start to kick off around 11pm. Closed Mon.
Link , Via Fioravanti 14 (tel 051.370.971). Just behind the train station, this centro sociale has a cyber-style bar upstairs and enormous diversion floor downstairs. Avant-garde performance art and live bands primeval on, with ambient or techno sounds later. No entrance fee, except for gigs. Daily 10pm-5am.
Palazzo dei Congressi , Piazza Costituzione 4 (tel 051.637.5165). The venue for bands commanding bigger audiences; get there on bus #18 from Via Rizzoli, just off Piazza Maggiore. Tickets from Fonte dell’Oro, Galleria Accuisio 14, off Via Rizzoli (tel 051.235.324).
Porto di Mare , Via Sampieri. Right behind the Due Torri, with good live bands at the weekend and a Greek taverna downstairs. Open 10.30pm-2.30am; closed Mon.
Vicolo Bolognetti , Vicolo Bolognetti 2. More of an open-air bar than a club, set in the middle of an impressive cloister. Open summer only, but a great place to while away balmy evenings.
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