A Bologna’s neighborhood I have always fell really close to me is that of via Riva di Reno, Cineteca area, via Lame… living in that part of the city I am used to walk by often and, even though it’s not the most well known and characteristic, I think it has a super strong personality! It’s a mix of a city center and borderline area style; maybe it has a kind of fluidity and renewing energy that come from the river that flows under Bologna , the Reno, that here you can somewhere notice.
In this area during the last years a lot of new restaurants and bars have been opening and now there’s a new interesting cool place full of personality: it’s called Funtanir, from “Fontaniere”, the word for plumber in bolognese slang ;).
Oh no, don’t go there if you have problems with your sink and water tubes… the plumber shop that was there has closed and the owner left his son and daughter the possibility to make a new business adventure, where you can drink and eat in between tubes, vintage pics of Bologna, bath tubes that became artworks or unique sofas. Valerio, the plumber’s son, got artistic inspiration from his family activity and creates original chairs and rocking chairs with bath tubes… so nice, aren’t they?
All the atmosphere is super cool and reflects the new cosmopolitan spirit you can lately feel in the new bares and restaurants that are opening in Bologna. It really makes me fell even more “home”, because I think Bologna is looking every day more “outside” itself… from Bologna you leave, you travel but then you come back with good ideas 😉
I really love this mood, in this unique “chemistry” in which Bologna is at the same time traditional but also super modern and openminded… and you feel as you are at a bar with some friends but also in the center of the world!
There are a lot of vintage details: VHS, pictures, audiotapes… you fell a little like as a teenager at your parents’ living room during the ’90 😉
At Funtanir you go for a drink, a coffee, an aperitivo or for eating something. I tried food at lunch, there are some menu offers that are perfect for a quick break. At night you can go also for eating, there are some some dishes and mixed plates (cheese and cold cuts), the formula is “easy” and I think the best way is to start with a cocktail and then order something to drink when you get hungry. I give a 9+++++ (I don’t want to commit myself with a full 10 :P) to drinks! A place where it’s really worth to have a well mixed cocktail :). I also really like the dark wooden bar counter, with a kind of ’30-’40s look… the BEST for sitting and having an old style drink!
I suggest you to have a look to old prints and pictures hung on the walls, there are really beautiful images of the city and of via Riva di Reno with the Reno river in the middle, as it was in the old times.
I also found out that Funtanir, in the back part of the building where the plumber’s warehouse was in the past, was transformed 2 years ago in a design room rentals… with the same style, a mix of industrial NY and bolognese vintage.
So Funtanir, with a soul similar to the water that flows under it and that it has always been part of this family business, becomes with my 100% approval one of the new places for living Bologna at its best in this new year 🙂
