You are invited
Save the Date
We hope you can join us in…
We’d love for you to be part of our celebration! A formal invitation will follow — let us know if you hope to join us.
Preliminary RSVP
Via Palazzo Rossi 3, 40037
Pontecchio Marconi · Bologna, Italia
Palazzo de' Rossi is a 15th-century medieval estate and the heart of our celebration. For more than six centuries, its walls, courtyards, and halls have witnessed generations of history, welcoming popes, poets, ambassadors, and noble families along the way.
The palazzo has endured sieges, changing eras, and centuries of transformation, yet its historic character has remained remarkably intact. Today, it offers a rare glimpse into medieval Italy, and we feel incredibly lucky to celebrate our wedding within a place so deeply shaped by time.
Saturday · July 10
Time & location details to follow.
Sunday · July 11
The ceremony and celebration at Palazzo de’ Rossi, just outside the city.
The evening, hour by hour
5:00 pm
Shuttle from city center
6:00 pm
Ceremony
6:30 pm
Aperitivo
8:00 pm
Reception
11:00 pm
After party
1:30 am
Shuttle home
A shuttle runs from the city center to the palazzo and back for every guest — no car needed.
Getting here
When booking your flights, we recommend choosing your arrival airport based on the rest of your Italy itinerary. Flights to Italy are overnight, so plan to depart the evening before you arrive.
Option one
Fly straight to Bologna
You can fly into Bologna Airport (BLQ), with one layover from most U.S. cities.
Suggested arrival · Saturday, July 10th
From the airport into the city: about 20 minutes by taxi, or 7 minutes on the Marconi Express monorail to Bologna Centrale.
Option two
Fly into another Italian city
If you’re turning the wedding weekend into a longer Italian vacation, fly into Milan, Venice or Rome and continue to Bologna by high-speed train — all three are 1–2 hours away.
Suggested arrival · Friday, July 9th — allow enough time to reach Bologna
High-speed trains from Milan, Venice, Florence and Rome arrive at Bologna Centrale, in the heart of the city.
Where to stay
Stay inside the historic center — the area circled below. It’s compact, walkable, and where the shuttle to the palazzo leaves from.
Everything inside the circle is a ten to fifteen minute walk.
A few hotels we suggest, with a special rate for our guests — use the code when you book:
More hotel recommendations to come in October, once July 2027 rates are released.
Bologna’s location makes it one of the easiest places to explore Italy from. High-speed Frecciarossa trains connect the city directly with many of Italy’s most iconic destinations, making it easy to spend a day in Florence or Venice, or continue on to Milan, Rome, and beyond.
Whether you stay in Bologna and take day trips or add a few stops before or after the wedding, getting around Italy by train is simple, fast, and a great way to make the most of your trip.
Click on each city to explore.
Filter destinations
Where we’re getting married — and the perfect hub. Click any city on the map to see how far it is and what to do there.
All destinations by travel time
No destinations on the map match — try another search, or pick a city from the suggestions above.
The Dolomites, the Tuscan hills and Umbria are best with a car — you can pick one up in Bologna or at the airport.
Save the date
We’re so excited to celebrate with you in Italy! Traveling here takes a little extra planning, so we’re gathering a preliminary guest count. This isn’t your official RSVP — just an early sense of whether you hope to join us.
Please reply by November 1st
Trouble with the form? Email us at auroraandjake@gmail.com
We can’t wait to celebrate with you in Bologna, Italy, a city that holds a very special place in our story. As Aurora’s hometown, it has always been close to our hearts, and over the years it has become a place where we’ve shared countless memories together. We’re so happy to welcome you to this beautiful medieval city and share its history, traditions, incredible food, and unmistakable character with you. Celebrating here, surrounded by the people we love, makes it all the more meaningful.
The oldest university in the Western world, the food capital of Italy as Forbes puts it, and a skyline of terracotta rooftops and medieval towers.
Bologna is known for its brick-red buildings and more than 23 miles of covered porticoes lining the streets, declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site for their rich history and architectural beauty.
The main square, and the center of everything — San Petronio on one side, the old town halls around the rest, and a wide platform of pale stone in the middle. Come back after dark, when the buildings are lit and half the city is sitting on the steps with a gelato.
A bronze Neptune with his trident raised, standing on the corner of the main square since 1566. Nobody says “meet me in Piazza Maggiore” — they say “meet me at the Neptune.” Ask a local where to stand for the famously rude optical illusion.
A wide brick square that slopes gently up to the seven churches, with porticoes down both sides. The nicest spot in the center for a morning coffee outside, and there’s an antiques market on the second weekend of the month.
The best view in the city, and the easiest to reach — a lift up Palazzo d’Accursio, then a short climb past the clock to a terrace looking straight down the square. Book online, as entry is by timed slot in small groups. Sunset slots go first.
Bologna once had more than a hundred family towers. Two of them still lean over the crossroads at Via Rizzoli, and the Asinelli is the tall one — 97 meters and 498 wooden steps. It’s closed for restoration this year, so look up at it from the square below and climb the Clock Tower instead.
Bologna used to be full of canals that powered its silk mills, and nearly all of them were covered over. A small window in a wall on Via Piella opens onto the last visible stretch, with green water running between the houses. Two minutes and one photo, but worth the walk.
The vaulted passage under Palazzo del Podestà carries sound from corner to corner. Face into one corner and whisper, and someone in the opposite corner hears every word, even across a crowd. Bring someone to test it with.
Three arrows stuck in the wooden ceiling of the tall portico at Strada Maggiore 19. The story is that they were fired by assassins who missed, distracted by a woman at the window. Hard to spot — stand underneath, look straight up, and keep looking.
In Via Augusto Righi, this portico-lined street holds a special place in Aurora’s family history. Her grandmother’s wool shop, Casa della Lana, has been here for decades, with the family’s store, Cinius, only a few doors away. Stop by while exploring the city and say hello.
The main shopping street: a straight kilometer of portico from the station down to Piazza Maggiore, with the usual shops, plenty of gelato and the cathedral halfway along. Good for anything you forgot to pack, and covered the whole way if it rains.
A pretty pedestrian street running south from the square, with independent boutiques, old bookshops and palazzo courtyards worth a look through the gates. It’s also where the portico walk up to San Luca begins.
Quieter and smarter — jewelers, tailors, galleries and a couple of grand old cafés under a tall portico. Where to go if you want the center without the crowds.
Where luxury meets in Bologna — a glass-roofed marble arcade from the 1950s with the designer names and a good bar to sit at. Cool and quiet in the middle of the day.
The old market lanes just off the main square, still doing what they always have — tortellini rolled in the windows, mortadella sliced to order, fish on ice, crates of fruit. Go before 1pm to see it busy, or after 6pm for a spritz standing in the street.
Bologna’s oldest covered market, right in the middle of the old market streets and now a food hall on three floors — pasta, piadina, fried things, cheese, beer and wine. No bookings, long shared tables. Our pick for a first night if you land early.
Started in 1390 and never finished — the marble front stops halfway up and turns to bare brick. The story is that Rome cut the funding so it couldn’t end up bigger than St. Peter’s. Inside, look for the 67-meter sundial line set into the floor, still lit by a beam of sunlight at noon.
Not one church but seven joined together over many centuries, all off a plain brick courtyard — a Roman temple underneath the oldest part, a dark round chapel, and a beautiful old cloister. Free, quiet, and ten minutes very well spent.
The longest portico in the world — 666 arches over nearly four kilometers — climbing from Porta Saragozza up to the church on the hill. Allow an hour, go early while it’s cool, and the view over the city at the top is the reward. Or take the San Luca Express tourist train up and walk down.
St Dominic is buried here in a beautifully carved marble tomb that took two centuries to finish, including three small figures by Michelangelo when he was twenty. Mozart studied at the organ next door. Almost always empty.
The city’s actual cathedral, less known than San Petronio and easy to miss behind a plain front on Via Indipendenza. Huge, cool and dim inside. Worth five minutes on the walk down from the station.
Modern and contemporary art in the old city bakery, a lovely brick building. Good temporary shows, and the Morandi collection — Bologna’s own painter of still lifes — is included.
The original home of the university, with thousands of painted student coats of arms covering the walls and ceilings. Upstairs is the anatomy theater, carved entirely in wood, where medical students once watched dissections. Quick to see, and unlike anywhere else.
The story of Bologna from the Etruscans to today, told across thirty-odd rooms of a medieval palazzo with a modern glass tower in the courtyard. A good air-conditioned hour if the afternoon gets hot.
At the factory in Borgo Panigale, twenty minutes out of the center — the race bikes, the championship winners and the whole history of the marque. Add the factory tour when you book; it’s the best part.
Forty minutes north at Sant’Agata Bolognese — the Miura, Countach and Diablo alongside the current cars, plus the tractors the company started with. Book the factory tour well ahead, as it sells out.
An hour west in Maranello — the Formula 1 cars and the classic road cars, with a second museum at Enzo Ferrari’s house in Modena on a combined ticket. Make a day of it with lunch in Modena.
One perfect day
If you only have one day, this is the walk we’d send you on.
Begin in Piazza Maggiore, the heart of the city — the Basilica di San Petronio on one side and the Nettuno fountain on the corner.
Climb the Torre dell’Orologio for the view across the terracotta rooftops and the towers.
Wander beneath the porticoes, and stop at the Due Torri — enduring witnesses to a time when dozens of medieval towers shaped Bologna’s skyline.
Carry on to Santo Stefano and the Sette Chiese, seven churches joined together that feel more like a small village.
Visit the Archiginnasio, the heart of the historic University of Bologna, founded in 1088 and considered the oldest university in the world.
Walk the Quadrilatero market streets, then stop for an aperitivo — a spritz or a glass of Lambrusco at any bar.
Take the San Luca Express up to the hills for sunset at the sanctuary, looking out over the whole city.
The center is best on foot, but for the hills or a late night a taxi is easy to arrange.
Where to eat
Bologna is widely celebrated as the culinary heart and food capital of Italy.
Sweet breakfasts and a cappuccino the Italian way — standing at the bar.
Must tryCornetto plain or with crema filling · assorted pastries · biscuits
A few of our favorite spots for an easy, delicious bite between exploring the city.
Must tryCrescentine · tigelle · piadina · mortadella and squacquerone
Drinks and a snack, from six o’clock onwards.
Must tryAperol Spritz · Hugo · Negroni · Americano
Every restaurant is incredible, but here are some of our favorite Bologna classics.
Must tryLasagna · tagliatelle al ragù · gramigna · tortellini alla panna o in brodo · tortelloni burro e salvia · cotoletta alla bolognese
Pizza is a must — and as an Italian would, one individual pizza each.
You can never go wrong. Our favorites: pistachio, hazelnut, zabaione and crema.
Good to know
Yes. A shuttle will run from Bologna's city center to Palazzo de' Rossi and back for all guests. It departs at 5:00 PM and returns at 1:30 AM.
The ceremony begins at 6:00 PM. Please plan to board the shuttle by 5:00 PM.
The shuttle back to the center leaves at 1:30 AM. If you'd like to head home earlier, a taxi is the easiest way — book one in advance at Taxi Bologna.
Your formal invitation will note whether a plus-one is included. If you're unsure, just ask us.
In Bologna's historic center — see the Travel section above for hotel suggestions and tips.
No. Bologna is walkable, and the shuttle covers the trip to the venue and back.
Write to us any time at auroraandjake@gmail.com, or call or text us — Aurora at (914) 343-0916, Jake at (516) 510-0403. We're always happy to help.