Museo Civico Medievale

Housed in part of the quattrocento Palazzo Fava-Ghisliardi, the Museo Civico Medioevale is one of the unmissable sights of the city. Before you get to the good stuff, however, you’ll have to wade through the delightfully screwy private collections accumulated by 18th-century museums, which are preserved here for no apparent reason beyond our entertainment (also, as you may have noticed by now, Bologna is a city that never throws anything away).

There’s a mummified baby something, carved ostrich eggs and coconut shells from exotic climes, a smattering of pre-Columbian art, a carved narwhal tusk, and courtesans’ slippers from Venice with 18-inch heels (a fashion inspired by the harem of the Ottoman sultans).