Back to Bologna is a 2005 novel by Michael Dibdin, and is the tenth entry in the popular Aurelio Zen series.

[1][2][3][4][5][6] Zen, an Italian police detective, is on sick leave after a stomach operation and is feeling a shadow of himself.

Meanwhile, Zen is recalled to duty and is sent to be the liaison officer for a high-profile murder investigation - in Bologna – where the local football team owner has been shot, as well as stabbed with a Parmesan knife.

A series of coincidences leads to Zen being arrested when Ugo is found shot in the wake of the hilariously disastrous event.

The other main characters include a couple of flatmates – a student of Ugo's and a rich kid who fancies himself an 'Ultra' football fan – and the student's illegal immigrant girlfriend, who calls herself Princess Flavia of Ruritania, as well as the world's worst private detective, who fancies himself a Chandleresque Private Eye.