Here’s a question for you: what do Dr Who, Outlander and Bologna have in common? The link between the first two isn’t hard to guess, but what you may not know is that there’s also a portal to the past right here in Bologna.

Okay so it’s not quite the TARDIS or the gateway of the ancient stones, but it is an amazing virtual tour of Bologna as it was in the 13th Century and this week we decided to take a step back in time.

La Macchina del Tempo (the Time Machine) has been created using sophisticated 3D gaming technology. And it’s brilliant! The experience starts with a short but detailed introduction that leaves you wondering whether this might all be a bit too tricky to manage – left hand for information, right hand for movement (‘teleporting’!). Then you’re led to a separate room with little more than a single chair in the centre and a computer screen in the corner. Here your VR headset is carefully fitted, you’re handed the controls and almost before you know it, you’ve landed right in the middle of a busy market in 13th Century Bologna.

It’s a totally immersive experience. Everywhere you turn – literally – you’re surrounded by the sights and sounds of people going about their business. The shouts of vendors selling their wares compete with the clang of the blacksmith beating out a new tool; buyers barter a better price from the fishmonger while a couple of kids chase after a barking dog. And you learn pretty quickly to get yourself out of the way as the fully laden cart rolls past close enough to brush your shoulder, or you find yourself about to step on a rat beside an open drain.

A two-kilometre square section of the oldest part of Bologna has been faithfully recreated by a team that included architects and historians. About a thousand buildings in all – houses, churches and towers – have been reconstructed in their exact original locations, and as you wander around the streets it’s easy to recognise those structures that remain today. The ‘point and click’ information that’s available (at your fingertips) is an important part of the whole experience.

Towards the end of the 25-minutes or so, you find yourself inside a tower built by one of Bologna’s wealthy families. Climbing to the top (with a lot less effort than it takes to climb the Asinelli Tower which still stands in Bologna), you emerge to a spectacular 360 degree view of the city. Another click and you’re off, flying over the red roofs and sweeping around the towers.

It’s exhilarating and very realistic…so much so that after one too many ‘swoop and turn’ manoeuvres I was suddenly feeling decidedly unwell and had to make a forced and fast landing. And just like that, it was back to the 21st Century. But La Macchina del Tempo was such a great experience Greg and I have decided that before the exhibition moves on we might just step into the TARDIS one more time.