🇮🇹
Bologna
Italy
Oldest university in Europe and Italy's food capital.
🇮🇹
Padova
Italy
Historic university town, just 30 minutes from Venice.
Estimated monthly student budget
🇮🇹 Bologna
€1,000–1,300 / month
Estimated monthly student budget
🇮🇹 Padova
€800–1,100 / month
Best for
🇮🇹 Bologna
- Students looking for a true university city
- Those who want an authentic Italian experience
- People interested in combining studies and social life
Best for
🇮🇹 Padova
- Students who want a real university-town atmosphere
- Those who plan to travel around northern Italy frequently
- People who value academic prestige
Category profile
How each city tends to feel across the things students care about — different, not better or worse.
🇮🇹 Bologna
🇮🇹 Padova
Moderate
Cost of Living
Moderate
Moderate
Nightlife
Moderate
Good
Weather
Good
Excellent
Travel Opportunities
Excellent
Outstanding
Student Life
Outstanding
Manageable
Housing
Manageable
Top-Tier
University Reputation
Top-Tier
Student insights
🇮🇹 Bologna
- Exceptional university atmosphere
- Very high academic prestige
- Excellent location for travelling around Italy
Student insights
🇮🇹 Padova
- One of Italy's oldest and most prestigious universities
- Just 30 minutes by train to Venice
- Strong sense of student community
Student voice — 🇮🇹 Bologna
“University life in Bologna is unlike anything else.”
Student voice — 🇮🇹 Padova
“Padova surprised me — I'd choose it again over Milan.”
🇮🇹 Bologna
Pros
- Exceptional university atmosphere
- Very high academic prestige
- Excellent location for travelling around Italy
- Strong student identity
- Compact and walkable city
Cons
- Increasingly expensive accommodation
- Cost of living higher than Central Europe
- Less favourable climate than southern Europe
- Smaller international community than Barcelona or Lisbon
- Less leisure offer than major European capitals
🇮🇹 Padova
Pros
- One of Italy's oldest and most prestigious universities
- Just 30 minutes by train to Venice
- Strong sense of student community
- Compact, walkable historic centre
- Reasonable cost of living for northern Italy
Cons
- Smaller international community than Bologna
- Less famous than Florence or Rome
- Cold and foggy winters
- Limited big-city nightlife
- Housing tightens up at the start of the academic year
Have you studied in one of these cities?
Share your experience and help future students make better Erasmus decisions.