Qibla direction in Bologna

How to face the Qibla in Bologna

Stand where you will pray and find north first. Then turn towards east and move a further 35.2° towards south: the result is the bearing of 125.2°. Because the angle sits far from the cardinal points, a rough guess such as “east” would be off by more than 30°, which is why a measured bearing matters in Bologna.

Scholars agree that someone who can see the Kaaba must face it exactly, while someone far away faces its direction (jihat al-Ka‘bah) as precisely as reasonably possible. If a mosque is nearby, its mihrab and prayer lines are the easiest reference, since they were set when the building was laid out. At home, mark the direction once with tape or a small arrow so the whole family prays the same way.

Why a flat map shows a different direction

A straight line drawn on a flat (Mercator) map from Bologna to Mecca points to 134.3° (south-east), 9.2° away from the correct 125.2°. That map line is a rhumb line: it keeps the same compass heading all the way, but it is 12 km longer than the true shortest route. The Qibla follows the great circle, the shortest path on the curved Earth, which is why the bearing differs.

The angle on this page is the initial bearing of the great circle from 44.4938° N, 11.3388° E to the Kaaba (21.4225° N, 39.8262° E). It is the method used by mosque architects and by every serious Qibla calculator, and it gives one exact answer for each point on Earth.

Distance from Bologna to Mecca and Medina

Mecca is 3,658 km from Bologna as the crow flies, and Medina, the city of the Prophet ﷺ, is 3,386 km away. A direct flight would take roughly 4 h 48 min, although most pilgrims from Bologna connect through Jeddah or Medina airport.

Clocks in Bologna run 2 hours behind Mecca in winter and 1 hour behind Mecca in summer, because of daylight saving time. Prayer times, however, depend on the sun at your own location, so always use the prayer times of Bologna rather than those of Mecca.

Finding the Qibla with the sun in Bologna

On 323 days of 2027, the sun passes exactly through the Qibla direction of Bologna while it is well above the horizon. At that moment, facing the sun means facing Mecca. The effect is most frequent in March (31 days); for example, on 15 January 2027 it happens at 08:20 local time.

The sun is never opposite the Qibla of Bologna during daylight, so the shadow method does not apply here; the left-hand column is the one to use.

Twice a year the sun passes directly over the Kaaba, on 28 May 2027 and 16 July 2027. Both moments are in daylight in Bologna: at 11:18 and 11:27 local time, face the sun and you face the Qibla exactly, anywhere in the city.

Bologna compared with other cities

Compared with Rome, 305 km away, the Qibla in Bologna is turned 1.9° further clockwise (125.2° against 123.3°), and Mecca is 241 km farther away. The nearest city with its own Qibla page, Modena (37 km), prays towards 124.8°, a difference of 0.4°.

Across the 42 cities in Italy on this site, the Qibla ranges from 115.2° in Cagliari to 130.0° in Trieste, a spread of 14.8°. That is too large to use one national direction, so each city has its own bearing.

See all cities on the Qibla page for Italy.

Qibla in cities near Bologna

• Modena124.8° · 37 km
• Ferrara126.0° · 44 km
• Reggio Emilia124.5° · 60 km
• Forlì125.8° · 64 km
• Prato124.1° · 71 km
• Florence124.1° · 80 km