Bologna airport is flat both east and west - south the hlls rise quite quickly but the city is between the airport and the hills so for environmental reasons no-one goes that way anyway . North you have 60-70 miles before you reach the mountains so effectively any E-W departure is over totally flat (and very boring but rich) countryside
IIRC a lot of aircraft are parked east of the terminal (v few if any airgates for short-haul = buses) so if the BA flight was right at the end ATC may have just let them have a short taxi to 30 and t/o to the west rather than drive for miles