The venue: two floors in the heart of the university district
Empire is at Via Zamboni 24/A, a few steps from the Two Towers, in Bologna's university district. The pub has two floors, 12 big screens including 4 mega screens, outdoor seating, free wi-fi, takeaway and wheelchair access. We open at 3:00 pm on weekdays and at 1:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday.
At Empire sport is not background noise: it is why the room fills up. English football is our specialty, and alongside the Premier League we show Serie A, the Champions League, Europa League, Formula 1, MotoGP, tennis, NFL, NBA, rugby and national team games.
Twelve big screens across two floors, four of them mega screens, let us run several matches at once: the most watched game with sound upstairs, the other fixtures downstairs for anyone following something different. When Italy play, every screen shows the same match.
After the final whistle the night carries on. From Tuesday to Sunday there is dancing karaoke from 10:30 pm, on Friday and Saturday a DJ set upstairs while people sing downstairs, and on Monday the Quiz Game with Il Cervellone from 9:30 pm.
The upper floor is the main room: a long bar with the twelve taps, large tables for groups and the mega screens for the most watched games. It is the part of the pub that fills first, especially on European nights and Premier League weekends.
The underground is the second room downstairs: quieter, with its own screens and the space where karaoke runs at weekends while the DJ plays upstairs. It is also the room we most often reserve for groups who book ahead.
Outside there is outdoor seating, handy in good weather and when the inside is packed for a match. Wi-fi is free, there is takeaway service and the venue is wheelchair accessible. The kitchen serves burgers with fries, piadine, pinse and fried food, with draught beers such as Guinness, Goose Island IPA, Hoegaarden and Tennent's Super: there is no table service, you order at the bar.
Location is part of why Empire works as a meeting point: Via Zamboni is the university street, two minutes on foot from the Two Towers and ten from Piazza Maggiore. You can walk here from anywhere in the old town.