Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

region in

Northern Italy Northern Italy ( it, Italia settentrionale, it, Nord Italia, label=none, it, Alta Italia, label=none or just it, Nord, label=none) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. It consists of eight administrative regions ...

. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its

metropolitan area A metropolitan area or metro is a region that consists of a densely populated urban agglomeration and its surrounding territories sharing industries, commercial areas, transport network, infrastructures and housing. A metro area usually com ...

is home to more than 1,000,000 people. It is known as the Fat City for its rich cuisine, and the Red City for its Spanish-style red tiled rooftops and, more recently, its leftist politics. It is also called the Learned City because it is home to the oldest

university A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in the world. Originally

Etrusca The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughl ...

n, the city has been an important urban center for centuries, first under the Etruscans (who called it ''Felsina''), then under the Celts as ''Bona'', later under the Romans (''Bonōnia''), then again in the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

, as a free municipality and later ''

signoria A signoria () was the governing authority in many of the Italian city states during the Medieval and Renaissance periods. The word signoria comes from ''signore'' , or "lord"; an abstract noun meaning (roughly) "government; governing authority; ...

'', when it was among the largest European cities by population. Famous for its towers, churches and lengthy

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

es, Bologna has a well-preserved historical centre, thanks to a careful restoration and conservation policy which began at the end of the 1970s. Home to the oldest university in the Western world,Hunt Janin: "The university in medieval life, 1179–1499", McFarland, 2008, , p. 55f.de Ridder-Symoens, Hilde
''A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages''
Cambridge University Press, 1992, , pp. 47–55 the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in continuo ...

, established in AD 1088, the city has a large student population that gives it a cosmopolitan character. In 2000 it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, a

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

"City of Music" and became part of the

Creative Cities Network The UNESCO Creative Cities Network (UCCN) is a project of UNESCO launched in 2004 to promote cooperation among cities which recognized creativity as a major factor in their urban development.UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

recognized the lengthy

porticoes A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cul ...

of the city as a

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

. Bologna is an important agricultural, industrial, financial and transport hub, where many large mechanical, electronic and food companies have their headquarters as well as one of the largest permanent trade fairs in Europe. According to the most recent data gathered by the European Regional Economic Growth Index (E-REGI) of 2009, Bologna is the first Italian city and the 47th European city in terms of its economic growth rate.

History

Antiquity and Middle Ages

Traces of human habitation in the area of Bologna go back to the 3rd millennium BCE, with significant settlements from about the 9th century BCE (

Villanovan culture The Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BC), regarded as the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Italy. It directly followed the Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture which branched off from the Urnfield ...

). The influence of

Etruscan civilization The Etruscan civilization () was developed by a people of Etruria in ancient Italy with a common language and culture who formed a federation of city-states. After conquering adjacent lands, its territory covered, at its greatest extent, roughl ...

reached the area in the 7th to 6th centuries, and the Etruscan city of ''Felsina'' was established at the site of Bologna by the end of the 6th century. By the 4th century BCE, the site was occupied by the

Gaulish Gaulish was an ancient Celtic languages, Celtic language spoken in parts of Continental Europe before and during the period of the Roman Empire. In the narrow sense, Gaulish was the language of the Celts of Gaul (now France, Luxembourg, Belgium ...

Boii The Boii (Latin plural, singular ''Boius''; grc, Βόιοι) were a Celtic tribe of the later Iron Age, attested at various times in Cisalpine Gaul (Northern Italy), Pannonia (Hungary), parts of Bavaria, in and around Bohemia (after whom the ...

, and it became a Roman colony and municipium with the name of ''Bonōnia'' in 196 BCE. During the waning years of the Western Roman Empire Bologna was repeatedly sacked by the

Goths The Goths ( got, 𐌲𐌿𐍄𐌸𐌹𐌿𐌳𐌰, translit=''Gutþiuda''; la, Gothi, grc-gre, Γότθοι, Gótthoi) were a Germanic people who played a major role in the fall of the Western Roman Empire and the emergence of medieval Europe ...

. It is in this period that legendary Bishop

Petronius Gaius Petronius Arbiter"Gaius Petronius Arbiter"
basilica of Saint Stephen. Petronius is still revered as the patron saint of Bologna. In 727–28, the city was sacked and captured by the

Lombards The Lombards () or Langobards ( la, Langobardi) were a Germanic people who ruled most of the Italian Peninsula from 568 to 774. The medieval Lombard historian Paul the Deacon wrote in the ''History of the Lombards'' (written between 787 and ...

under

King Liutprand Liutprand was the king of the Lombards from 712 to 744 and is chiefly remembered for his multiple phases of law-giving, in fifteen separate sessions from 713 to 735 inclusive, and his long reign, which brought him into a series of conflicts, mos ...

, becoming part of that kingdom. These Germanic conquerors built an important new quarter, called "addizione longobarda" (Italian meaning "Longobard addition") near the complex of St. Stephen. In the last quarter of the 8th century,

Charlemagne Charlemagne ( , ) or Charles the Great ( la, Carolus Magnus; german: Karl der Große; 2 April 747 – 28 January 814), a member of the Carolingian dynasty, was King of the Franks from 768, King of the Lombards from 774, and the first Holy ...

, at the request of Pope

Adrian I Pope Adrian I ( la, Hadrianus I; died 25 December 795) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 1 February 772 to his death. He was the son of Theodore, a Roman nobleman. Adrian and his predecessors had to contend with periodic ...

, invaded the Lombard Kingdom, causing its eventual demise. Occupied by Frankish troops in 774 on behalf of the papacy, Bologna remained under imperial authority and prospered as a frontier

mark Mark may refer to: Currency * Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina * East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic * Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927 * Fi ...

of the

Carolingian empire The Carolingian Empire (800–888) was a large Frankish-dominated empire in western and central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. It was ruled by the Carolingian dynasty, which had ruled as kings of the Franks since 751 and as kings of the Lom ...

. Bologna was the center of a revived study of law, including the scholar

Irnerius Irnerius (– after 1125), sometimes referred to as ''lucerna juris'' ("lantern of the law"), was an Italian jurist, and founder of the School of Glossators and thus of the tradition of Medieval Roman Law. He taught the newly recovered Roman la ...

(''c'' 1050 – after 1125) and his famous students, the

Four Doctors of Bologna The Four Doctors of Bologna (Latin: ''Quatuor Doctores'') were Italian jurists and glossators of the 12th century, based in the University of Bologna: Bulgarus, Martinus Gosia, Jacobus de Boragine and Hugo de Porta Ravennate. Their teachings in th ...

. After the death of

Matilda of Tuscany Matilda of Tuscany ( it, Matilde di Canossa , la, Matilda, ; 1046 – 24 July 1115 or Matilda of Canossa after her ancestral castle of Canossa), also referred to as ("the Great Countess"), was a member of the House of Canossa (also known as th ...

in 1115, Bologna obtained substantial concessions from Emperor

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

. However, when

Frederick Barbarossa Frederick Barbarossa (December 1122 – 10 June 1190), also known as Frederick I (german: link=no, Friedrich I, it, Federico I), was the Holy Roman Emperor from 1155 until his death 35 years later. He was elected King of Germany in Frankfurt on ...

subsequently attempted to strike down the deal, Bologna joined the Lombard League, which then defeated the imperial armies at the

Battle of Legnano The Battle of Legnano was a battle between the imperial army of Frederick Barbarossa and the troops of the Lombard League on May 29, 1176, near the town of Legnano in present-day Lombardy, in Italy. Although the presence of the enemy nearby wa ...

and established an effective autonomy at the

Peace of Constance The Peace of Constance (25 June 1183) was a privilege granted by Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his son and co-ruler, Henry VI, King of the Romans, to the members of the Lombard League to end the state of rebellion (war) that had been ong ...

in 1183. Subsequently, the town began to expand rapidly and became one of the main commercial trade centres of northern Italy thanks to a system of canals that allowed barges and ships to come and go. Believed to have been established in 1088, the

is widely considered the world's oldest university in continuous operation. The university originated as a centre for the study of

medieval Roman law Medieval Roman law is the continuation and development of ancient Roman law that developed in the European Late Middle Ages. Based on the ancient text of Roman law, ''Corpus iuris civilis'', it added many new concepts, and formed the basis of the la ...

under major

glossator The scholars of the 11th- and 12th-century legal schools in Italy, France and Germany are identified as glossators in a specific sense. They studied Roman law based on the '' Digesta'', the ''Codex'' of Justinian, the ''Authenticum'' (an abridged ...

s, including Irnerius. It numbered

Dante Dante Alighieri (; – 14 September 1321), probably baptized Durante di Alighiero degli Alighieri and often referred to as Dante (, ), was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher. His ''Divine Comedy'', originally called (modern Italian: '' ...

Boccaccio Giovanni Boccaccio (, , ; 16 June 1313 – 21 December 1375) was an Italian people, Italian writer, poet, correspondent of Petrarch, and an important Renaissance humanism, Renaissance humanist. Born in the town of Certaldo, he became so we ...

and

Petrarch Francesco Petrarca (; 20 July 1304 – 18/19 July 1374), commonly anglicized as Petrarch (), was a scholar and poet of early Renaissance Italy, and one of the earliest humanists. Petrarch's rediscovery of Cicero's letters is often credited w ...

among its students.Nove secoli di storia
– Università di Bologna The medical school was especially renowned. By 1200, Bologna was a thriving commercial and artisanal centre of about 10,000 people. During a campaign to support the imperial cities of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

and

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

against Bologna, Frederick II's son, King

Enzo of Sardinia Enzo (or Enzio; 14 March 1272) was an illegitimate son of the Hohenstaufen emperor Frederick II, who appointed him 'King of Sardinia' in 1238. He played a major role in the wars between Guelphs and Ghibellines in the Imperial kingdom of Italy, an ...

, was defeated and captured on 26 May 1249 at the

Battle of Fossalta The Battle of Fossalta was a battle of the War of the Guelphs and Ghibellines in Northern Italy. It took place in Fossalta, a small location on the Panaro River, and is especially remembered for the capture of Enzio of Sardinia, son of Empero ...

. Though the emperor demanded his release, Enzo was thenceforth kept a knightly prisoner in Bologna, in a palace that came to be named

Palazzo Re Enzo Palazzo Re Enzo is a palace located on Piazza del Nettuno, 1 in the historic center of Bologna, northern Italy. The palace takes its name from Enzio of Sardinia, Frederick II's son, who was prisoner here from 1249 until his death in 1272. The pal ...

after him. Every attempt to escape or to rescue him failed, and he died after more than 22 years in captivity. After the death of his half-brothers

Conrad IV Conrad (25 April 1228 – 21 May 1254), a member of the Hohenstaufen dynasty, was the only son of Emperor Frederick II from his second marriage with Queen Isabella II of Jerusalem. He inherited the title of King of Jerusalem (as Conrad II) up ...

in 1254,

Frederick of Antioch Frederick of Antioch (''c''. 1223 – 1255/6) was an Italian nobleman who served as the imperial vicar of Tuscany from 1246 to 1250. He was an illegitimate son of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, by an unidentified southern Italian noblewoman. ...

in 1256 and

Manfred ''Manfred: A dramatic poem'' is a closet drama written in 1816–1817 by Lord Byron. It contains supernatural elements, in keeping with the popularity of the ghost story in England at the time. It is a typical example of a Gothic fiction. Byr ...

in 1266, as well as the execution of his nephew

Conradin Conrad III (25 March 1252 – 29 October 1268), called ''the Younger'' or ''the Boy'', but usually known by the diminutive Conradin (german: link=no, Konradin, it, Corradino), was the last direct heir of the House of Hohenstaufen. He was Duke ...

in 1268, he was the last of the

Hohenstaufen The Hohenstaufen dynasty (, , ), also known as the Staufer, was a noble family of unclear origin that rose to rule the Duchy of Swabia from 1079, and to royal rule in the Holy Roman Empire during the Middle Ages from 1138 until 1254. The dynasty ...

heirs. During the late 1200s, Bologna was affected by political instability when the most prominent families incessantly fought for the control of the town. The free commune was severely weakened by decades of infighting, allowing the Pope to impose the rule of his envoy Cardinal

Bertrand du Pouget Bertrand du Pouget (Italian ''Bertrando del Poggetto'') (1280 – 3 February 1352) was a French papal diplomat and Cardinal. Bertrand was born in Castelnau-Montratier. He may have been a nephew of Pope John XXII. As cardinal he was closely ...

in 1327. Du Pouget was eventually ousted by a popular rebellion and Bologna became a

under Taddeo Pepoli in 1334. By the arrival of the

Black Death The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

in 1348, Bologna had 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, reduced to just 20,000 to 25,000 after the plague. In 1350, Bologna was conquered by archbishop Giovanni Visconti, the new lord of Milan. But following a rebellion by the town's governor, a renegade member of the Visconti family, Bologna was recuperated to the papacy in 1363 by Cardinal

Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz more commonly Gil de Albornoz ( es, Egidio Álvarez de Albornoz y Luna; – 23 August 1367), was a Spanish curial cardinal, archbishop of Toledo from 13 May 1338 to 17 December 1350. Grand Penitentiary from ...

after a long negotiation involving a huge indemnity paid to

Bernabò Visconti Bernabò or Barnabò Visconti (1323 – 19 December 1385) was an Italian soldier and statesman who was Lord of Milan. Along with his brothers Matteo and Galeazzo II, he inherited the lordship of Milan from his uncle Giovanni. Later in 1355, he an ...

, Giovanni's heir, who died in 1354. In 1376, Bologna again revolted against Papal rule and joined Florence in the unsuccessful

War of the Eight Saints The War of the Eight Saints (1375–1378) was a war between Pope Gregory XI and a coalition of Italian city-states led by Florence that contributed to the end of the Avignon Papacy The Avignon Papacy was the period from 1309 to 1376 during whic ...

. However, extreme infighting inside the Holy See after the

Western Schism The Western Schism, also known as the Papal Schism, the Vatican Standoff, the Great Occidental Schism, or the Schism of 1378 (), was a split within the Catholic Church lasting from 1378 to 1417 in which bishops residing in Rome and Avignon bo ...

prevented the papacy from restoring its domination over Bologna, so it remained relatively independent for some decades as an oligarchic republic. In 1401,

Giovanni I Bentivoglio Giovanni I (c. 1358 in Bologna – June 26, 1402 in Bologna) was the first ruler of Bologna from the Bentivoglio family, who rose to power among the faction-conflicts within the commune of Bologna. He ruled in 1401–02. On March 14, 1401, he ...

took power in a coup with the support of Milan, but the Milanese, having turned his back on them and allied with Florence, marched on Bologna and had Giovanni killed the following year. In 1442, Hannibal I Bentivoglio, Giovanni's nephew, recovered Bologna from the Milanese, only to be assassinated in a conspiracy plotted by Pope

Eugene IV Pope Eugene IV ( la, Eugenius IV; it, Eugenio IV; 1383 – 23 February 1447), born Gabriele Condulmer, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 3 March 1431 to his death in February 1447. Condulmer was a Venetian, and ...

three years later. But the

of the

Bentivoglio family The Bentivoglio family (Latin: ''Bentivoius'') was an Italian noble family that became the ''de facto'' rulers of Bologna and responsible for giving the city its political autonomy during the Renaissance, although their rule did not survive a cent ...

was then firmly established, and the power passed to his cousin

Sante Bentivoglio Sante I Bentivoglio (1426–June 24, 1462) was an Italian nobleman who ruled as tyrant or de facto prince of Bologna from 1445 to 1462. Officially the son of a poor blacksmith, he worked as a youth in the wool industry in Florence under another na ...

, who ruled until 1462, followed by Giovanni II. Giovanni II managed to resist the expansionist designs of

Cesare Borgia Cesare Borgia (; ca-valencia, Cèsar Borja ; es, link=no, César Borja ; 13 September 1475 – 12 March 1507) was an Italian ex- cardinal and '' condottiero'' (mercenary leader) of Aragonese (Spanish) origin, whose fight for power was a major ...

for some time, but on 7 October 1506, Pope

Julius II Pope Julius II ( la, Iulius II; it, Giulio II; born Giuliano della Rovere; 5 December 144321 February 1513) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 1503 to his death in February 1513. Nicknamed the Warrior Pope or the ...

issued a bull deposing and

excommunicating Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to end or at least regulate the Koinonia, communion of a member of a congregation with other members of the religious institution who are in normal communion with each other. The ...

Bentivoglio and placing the city under

interdict In Catholic canon law, an interdict () is an ecclesiastical censure, or ban that prohibits persons, certain active Church individuals or groups from participating in certain rites, or that the rites and services of the church are banished from ...

. When the papal troops, along with a contingent sent by

Louis XII of France Louis XII (27 June 14621 January 1515), was King of France from 1498 to 1515 and King of Naples from 1501 to 1504. The son of Charles, Duke of Orléans, and Maria of Cleves, he succeeded his 2nd cousin once removed and brother in law at the tim ...

, marched against Bologna, Bentivoglio and his family fled. Julius II entered the city triumphantly on 10 November.

Early modern

The period of Papal rule over Bologna (1506–1796) has been generally evaluated by historians as one of severe decline. However, this was not evident in the 1500s, which were marked by some major developments in Bologna. In 1530,

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereignty, sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife (empress consort), ...

Charles V Charles V may refer to: * Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558) * Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain * Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise * Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690) * Infan ...

was crowned in Bologna, the last of the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans ( la, Imperator Romanorum, german: Kaiser der Römer) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period ( la, Imperat ...

s to be crowned by the pope. In 1564, the Piazza del Nettuno and the

Palazzo dei Banchi Palazzo dei Banchi is a Renaissance-style palace façade located on the eastern flank of the Piazza Maggiore in the center of Bologna, region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy. In the 16th century when the present façade was constructed, and still, the P ...

were built, along with the

Archiginnasio The Archiginnasio of Bologna is one of the most important buildings in the city of Bologna; once the main building of the University of Bologna, it currently houses the Archiginnasio Municipal Library and the Anatomical Theatre. In the heart of ...

, the main building of the university. The period of Papal rule saw also the construction of many churches and other religious establishments, and the restoration of older ones. At this time, Bologna had ninety-six convents, more than any other Italian city. Painters working in Bologna during this period established the

Bolognese School The Bolognese School of painting, also known as the ''School of Bologna'', flourished between the 16th and 17th centuries in Bologna, which rivalled Florence and Rome as the center of painting in Italy. Its most important representatives i ...

which includes

Annibale Carracci Annibale Carracci (; November 3, 1560 – July 15, 1609) was an Italian painter and instructor, active in Bologna and later in Rome. Along with his brother and cousin, Annibale was one of the progenitors, if not founders of a leading strand of th ...

Domenichino Domenico Zampieri (, ; October 21, 1581 – April 6, 1641), known by the diminutive Domenichino (, ) after his shortness, was an Italian Baroque painter of the Bolognese School of painters. Life Domenichino was born in Bologna, son of a shoem ...

Guercino Giovanni Francesco Barbieri (February 8, 1591 – December 22, 1666),Miller, 1964 better known as Guercino, or il Guercino , was an Italian Baroque painter and draftsman from Cento in the Emilia region, who was active in Rome and Bologna. The vig ...

and others of European fame.Raimond Van Marle. ''The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, Volume 4'' (1924) pp 394–481. Alberti History of Bologna 1590

It was only towards the end of the 16th century that severe signs of decline began to manifest. A series of plagues in the late 16th to early 17th century reduced the population of the city from some 72,000 in the mid-16th century to about 47,000 by 1630. During the

Italian Plague of 1629–31 Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

alone, Bologna lost up to a third of its population. In the mid-17th century, the population stabilized at roughly 60,000, slowly increasing to some 70,000 by the mid-18th century. The economy of Bologna started to show signs of severe decline as the global centres of trade shifted towards the Atlantic. The traditional silk industry was in a critical state. The university was losing students, who once came from all over Europe, because of the illiberal attitudes of the Church towards culture (especially after the

trial of Galileo The Galileo affair ( it, il processo a Galileo Galilei) began around 1610 and culminated with the trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei by the Roman Catholic Inquisition in 1633. Galileo was prosecuted for his support of heliocentrism, the ...

). Bologna continued to suffer a progressive deindustrialisation also in the 18th century. In the mid-1700s pope

Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...

, a Bolognese, tried to reverse the decline of the city with a series of reforms intended to stimulate the economy and promote the arts. However, these reforms achieved only mixed results. The pope's efforts to stimulate the decaying textile industry had little success, while he was more successful in reforming the tax system, liberalising trade and relaxing the oppressive system of censorship. The economic and demographic decline of Bologna became even more noticeable starting in the second half of the 18th century. In 1790 the city had 72,000 inhabitants, ranking as the second largest in the Papal States; however, this figure had remained unchanged for decades. During this period, Papal economic policies included heavy customs duties and concessions of monopolies to single manufacturers.

Modern history

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

entered Bologna on 19 June 1796. Napoleon briefly reinstated the ancient mode of government, giving power to the Senate, which however had to swear fealty to the short-lived

Cispadane Republic The Cispadane Republic () was a short-lived French client republic, client republic located in northern Italy, founded in 1796 with the protection of the Grande Armee, French army, led by Napoleon Bonaparte. In the following year, it was merged w ...

, created as a

client state A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...

of the

French First Republic In the history of France, the First Republic (french: Première République), sometimes referred to in historiography as Revolutionary France, and officially the French Republic (french: République française), was founded on 21 September 1792 ...

at the congress of Reggio (27 December 1796 – 9 January 1797) but succeeded by the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic ( it, Repubblica Cisalpina) was a sister republic of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organized t ...

on 9 July 1797, later by the

Italian Republic Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and finally the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to ...

. After the fall of Napoleon, the

Congress of Vienna The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon B ...

of 1815 restored Bologna to the

Papal States The Papal States ( ; it, Stato Pontificio, ), officially the State of the Church ( it, Stato della Chiesa, ; la, Status Ecclesiasticus;), were a series of territories in the Italian Peninsula under the direct sovereign rule of the pope fro ...

. Papal rule was contested in the uprisings of 1831. The insurrected provinces planned to unite as the ''

Province Italiane Unite United Italian Provinces or Italian United Provinces ( it, Provincie Unite Italiane, in modern Italian: ''Province Unite Italiane'') was a short-lived state (a Republic) that was established in 1831 in some territories of the Papal States ( Romag ...

'' with Bologna as the capital.

Pope Gregory XVI Pope Gregory XVI ( la, Gregorius XVI; it, Gregorio XVI; born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari; 18 September 1765 – 1 June 1846) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 2 February 1831 to his death in 1 June 1846. He h ...

asked for

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

help against the rebels.

Metternich Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar, Prince of Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein ; german: Klemens Wenzel Nepomuk Lothar Fürst von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein (15 May 1773 – 11 June 1859), known as Klemens von Metternich or Prince Metternic ...

warned French king

Louis Philippe I Louis Philippe (6 October 1773 – 26 August 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France. As Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary War ...

against intervention in Italian affairs, and in the spring of 1831, Austrian forces marched across the Italian peninsula, defeating the rebellion by 26 April. By the mid-1840s, unemployment levels were very high and traditional industries continued to languish or disappear; Bologna became a city of economic disparity with the top 10 percent of the population living off rent, another 20 percent exercising professions or commerce and 70 percent working in low-paid, often insecure manual jobs. The Papal census of 1841 reported 10,000 permanent beggars and another 30,000 (out of a total population of 70,000) who lived in poverty. In the

revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

the Austrian garrisons which controlled the city on behalf of the Pope were temporarily expelled, but eventually came back and crushed the revolutionaries. Papal rule finally ended in the aftermath of

Second War of Italian Independence The Second Italian War of Independence, also called the Franco-Austrian War, the Austro-Sardinian War or Italian War of 1859 ( it, Seconda guerra d'indipendenza italiana; french: Campagne d'Italie), was fought by the Second French Empire and t ...

, when the French and Piedmontese troops expelled the Austrians from Italian lands, on 11 and 12 March 1860, Bologna voted to join the new

. In the last decades of the 19th century, Bologna once again thrived economically and socially. In 1863 Naples was linked to Rome by railway, and the following year Bologna to Florence. Bolognese moderate agrarian elites, that supported liberal insurgencies against the papacy and were admirers of the British political system and of free trade, envisioned a unified national state that would open a bigger market for the massive agricultural production of the Emilian plains. Indeed, Bologna gave Italy one of its first prime ministers,

Marco Minghetti Marco Minghetti (18 November 1818 – 10 December 1886) was an Italian economist and statesman. Biography Minghetti was born at Bologna, then part of the Papal States. He signed the petition to the Papal conclave, 1846, urging the electio ...

. After

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Bologna was heavily involved in the

Biennio Rosso The Biennio Rosso (English: "Red Biennium" or "Two Red Years") was a two-year period, between 1919 and 1920, of intense social conflict in Italy, following the First World War.Brunella Dalla Casa, ''Composizione di classe, rivendicazioni e prof ...

socialist uprisings. As a consequence, the traditionally moderate elites of the city turned their back on the progressive faction and gave their support to the rising

Fascist Fascism is a far-right, Authoritarianism, authoritarian, ultranationalism, ultra-nationalist political Political ideology, ideology and Political movement, movement,: "extreme militaristic nationalism, contempt for electoral democracy and pol ...

movement of

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

Dino Grandi Dino Grandi (4 June 1895 – 21 May 1988), 1st Conte di Mordano, was an Italian Fascist politician, minister of justice, minister of foreign affairs and president of parliament. Early life Born at Mordano, province of Bologna, Grandi was a gr ...

, a high-ranking Fascist party official and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, remembered for being an Anglophile, was from Bologna. During the

interwar years In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...

, Bologna developed into an important manufacturing centre for food processing, agricultural machinery and metalworking. The Fascist regime poured in massive investments, for example with the setting up of a giant tobacco manufacturing plant in 1937.

World War II

Bologna suffered extensive damage during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The strategic importance of the city as an industrial and railway hub connecting northern and central Italy made it a target for the Allied forces. On 24 July 1943, a massive aerial bombardment destroyed a significant part of the historic city centre and killed about 200 people. The main railway station and adjoining areas were severely hit, and 44% of the buildings in the centre were listed as having been destroyed or severely damaged. The city was heavily bombed again on 25 September. The raids, which this time were not confined to the city centre, left 2,481 people dead and 2,000 injured. By the end of the war, 43% of all buildings in Bologna had been destroyed or damaged. After the armistice of 1943, the city became a key centre of the

Italian resistance movement The Italian resistance movement (the ''Resistenza italiana'' and ''la Resistenza'') is an umbrella term for the Italian resistance groups who fought the occupying forces of Nazi Germany and the fascist collaborationists of the Italian Social ...

. On 7 November 1944, a pitched battle around

Porta Lame Porta can refer to: People * Porta (rapper) (born 1988), stagename of Christian Jiménez Bundo, a Spanish rap singer * Bernardo Porta (1758–1829), Italian composer active in France * Bianca Della Porta (born 1991), Canadian ice hockey and rugby ...

, waged by partisans of the 7th Brigade of the ''Gruppi d'Azione Patriottica'' against

and Nazi occupation forces, did not succeed in triggering a general uprising, despite being one of the largest resistance-led urban conflicts in the European theatre. Resistance forces entered Bologna on the morning of 21 April 1945. By this time, the Germans had already largely left the city in the face of the Allied advance, spearheaded by Polish forces advancing from the east during the

Battle of Bologna The Battle of Bologna was fought in Bologna, Italy from 9–21 April 1945 during the Second World War, as part of the Spring 1945 offensive in Italy. The Allied forces were victorious, with the Polish II Corps and supporting Allied units capturin ...

which had been fought since 9 April. First to arrive in the centre was the 87th Infantry Regiment of the Friuli Combat Group under general

Arturo Scattini Arturo Scattini (Bergamo, 11 July 1890 – Rome, 16 October 1970) was an Italian general during World War II. Biography During the First World War he fought with the rank of captain in the 59th Infantry Division, earning two Bronze Medals o ...

, who entered the centre from ''Porta Maggiore'' to the south. Since the soldiers were dressed in British outfits, they were initially thought to be part of the allied forces; when the local inhabitants heard the soldiers were speaking Italian, they poured out onto the streets to celebrate.

Cold War period

In the post-war years, Bologna became a thriving industrial centre as well as a political stronghold of the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI). ...

. Between 1945 and 1999, the city was helmed by an uninterrupted succession of

mayors In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities ...

from the PCI and its successors, the

Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, ...

and

Democrats of the Left The Democrats of the Left ( it, Democratici di Sinistra, DS) was a social-democratic political party in Italy. The DS, successor of the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the Italian Communist Party, was formed in 1998 upon the merger of th ...

, the first of whom was

Giuseppe Dozza Giuseppe Dozza (29 November 1901 – 28 December 1974) was an Italian politician, the first Mayor of Bologna after the end of World War II. Biography The resistance One of the founders of the Communist Party of Italy, Dozza was immediately pe ...

. At the end of the 1960s the city authorities, worried by massive

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more Wealth, affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and urban planning, planning. Gentrification ...

and suburbanisation, asked Japanese

starchitect Starchitect is a portmanteau used to describe architects whose celebrity and critical acclaim have transformed them into idols of the architecture world and may even have given them some degree of fame among the general public. Celebrity status is ...

Kenzo Tange is a common masculine Japanese given name. Possible writings Kenzō can be written using different kanji characters and can mean: *賢三, "wise, three" *健三, "healthy, three" *謙三, "humble, three" *健想, "healthy, concept" *建造, "bu ...

to sketch a master plan for a

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

north of Bologna; however, the project that came out in 1970 was evaluated as too ambitious and expensive. Eventually the city council, in spite of vetoing Tange's master plan, decided to keep his project for a new exhibition centre and business district. At the end of 1978 the construction of a tower block and several diverse buildings and structures started. In 1985 the headquarters of the regional government of

moved in the new district. In 1977, Bologna was the scene of

rioting A riot is a form of civil disorder commonly characterized by a group lashing out in a violent public disturbance against authority, property, or people. Riots typically involve destruction of property, public or private. The property targete ...

linked to the

Movement of 1977 The movement of 1977 was a spontaneous political movement that arose in Italy in 1977. It grew primarily out of the extra-parliamentary left; in form and substance, it was completely unlike previous student movements such as the protests of 1968. ...

, a spontaneous political movement of the time. The police shooting of a far-left activist,

Francesco Lorusso Pierfrancesco Lorusso (Bologna, 7 October 1952 – Bologna, 11 March 1977), generally known as Francesco Lorusso, was an Italian militant of the far-left organization Lotta Continua who was shot dead by carabinieri in Bologna on 11 March 1977 durin ...

, sparked two days of street clashes. On 2 August 1980, at the height of the " years of lead", a terrorist bomb was set off in the central railway station of Bologna killing 85 people and wounding 200, an event which is known in Italy as the

Bologna massacre The Bologna massacre ( it, strage di Bologna) was a terrorist bombing of the Bologna Centrale railway station in Bologna, Italy, on the morning of 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people and wounded over 200. Several members of the neo-fascist t ...

. In 1995, members of the

neo-fascist Neo-fascism is a post-World War II far-right ideology that includes significant elements of fascism. Neo-fascism usually includes ultranationalism, racial supremacy, populism, authoritarianism, nativism, xenophobia, and anti-immigration sent ...

group

Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari The Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari ( en, Armed Revolutionary Nuclei), abbreviated NAR, was an Italian terrorist neo-fascist militant organization active during the Years of Lead from 1977 to November 1981. It committed 33 murders in four years, an ...

were convicted for carrying out the attack, while

Licio Gelli Licio Gelli (; April 21, 1919 – December 15, 2015) was an Italian financier. A Fascist volunteer in his youth, he is chiefly known for his role in the Banco Ambrosiano scandal. He was revealed in 1981 as being the Venerable Master of the ...

—Grand Master of the underground Freemason lodge

Propaganda Due Propaganda Due (; P2) was a Masonic lodge under the Grand Orient of Italy, founded in 1877. Its Masonic charter was withdrawn in 1976, and it transformed into a criminal, clandestine, anti-communist, anti-Soviet, anti-leftist, pseudo-Masonic, a ...

(P2)—was convicted for hampering the investigation, together with three agents of the secret military intelligence service

SISMI Servizio per le Informazioni e la Sicurezza Militare (abbreviated SISMI, ''Military Intelligence and Security Service'') was the military intelligence agency of Italy from 1977–2007. With the reform of the Italian Intelligence Services app ...

(including

Francesco Pazienza Francesco Pazienza (born in 1946, Monteparano) is an Italian businessman, and former officer of the Italian military intelligence agency, SISMI. As of April 2007, he has been paroled to the community of Lerici, after serving many years in prison, i ...

and

Pietro Musumeci Pietro Musumeci (born 18 May 1920) was a general and deputy director of Italy's military intelligence agency, SISMI. Musumeci was born in Catania on 18 May 1920. A member of ''Propaganda Due'', Musumeci was convicted in 1985, along with other SISMI ...

). Commemorations take place in Bologna on 2 August each year, culminating in a concert in the main square.

21st century

In 1999, the long tradition of left-wing mayors was interrupted by the victory of independent centre-right candidate

Giorgio Guazzaloca Giorgio Guazzaloca (6 February 1944 – 26 April 2017) was an Italian politician, Mayor of Bologna from 1999 to 2004. Biography Guazzaloca left school when he was 14 and started working in his father's butcher's shop, opening one of his own i ...

. However, Bologna reverted to form in 2004 when

Sergio Cofferati Sergio Cofferati (born 30 January 1948) is an Italian trade unionist and politician. Secretary general of CGIL from 1994 to 2002, Mayor of Bologna for the Democrats of the Left from 2004 to 2009 and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 20 ...

, a former trade union leader, unseated Guazzaloca. The next centre-left mayor,

Flavio Delbono Flavio Delbono (born 17 September 1959) is an Italian politician and economist. He served as the mayor of Bologna from 25 June 2009 until 28 January 2010, when he was forced to resign as he was being investigated for crimes such as embezzlement, ...

, elected in June 2009, resigned in January 2010 after being involved in a corruption scandal. After a 15-month period in which the city was administered under

Anna Maria Cancellieri Annamaria Cancellieri (born 22 October 1943) is an Italian official and prefect who served as Minister of Interior in the Monti Cabinet and Minister of Justice in the Letta Cabinet. Early life and education Cancellieri was born in Rome on 22 Oct ...

(as a state-appointed

prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect's ...

Virginio Merola Virginio Merola (born 14 February 1955) is an Italian politician. Merola is a member of the Democratic Party and former Mayor of Bologna. Early life Virginio Merola was born on 14 February 1955 in Santa Maria Capua Vetere in the Province of Case ...

was elected as mayor, leading a left-wing coalition comprising the

Democratic Party Democratic Party most often refers to: *Democratic Party (United States) Democratic Party and similar terms may also refer to: Active parties Africa *Botswana Democratic Party *Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea *Gabonese Democratic Party *Demo ...

Left Ecology Freedom Left Ecology Freedom ( it, Sinistra Ecologia Libertà, SEL) was a democratic socialist political party in Italy whose bulk was formed by former members of the Communist Refoundation Party. The party's leader was Nichi Vendola, a former President ...

and

Italy of Values Italy of Values ( it, Italia dei Valori, IdV) is a populist and anti-corruption political party in Italy. The party was founded in 1998 by former ''Mani pulite'' prosecutor Antonio Di Pietro, who entered politics in 1996 and finally left the par ...

. In

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

, Merola was confirmed mayor, defeating the conservative candidate,

Lucia Borgonzoni Lucia Borgonzoni (born September 18, 1976) is an Italian politician and member of the Senate of Italy. She served as Undersecretary for Cultural Heritage and Activities in the Conte I Cabinet. Biography Daughter of Italian architect Giambattista ...

. In 2021, after ten years of Merola's mayorship, one of his closest allies,

Matteo Lepore Matteo Lepore (born 10 October 1980) is an Italian politician, member of the Democratic Party (PD) and he is serving as mayor of Bologna since 11 October 2021. Early life Lepore was born in Bologna in 1980 and grew up in the Savena district. He a ...

, was elected mayor with 61.9% of votes, becoming the most voted mayor of Bologna since the introduction of the direct elections in 1995.Elezioni 2021: Lepore vince a Bologna con una percentuale travolgente
''ANSA''

Geography

Territory

Bologna is situated on the edge of the

Po Plain The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain ( it, Pianura Padana , or ''Val Padana'') is a major geographical feature of Northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetic ex ...

at the foot of the

Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

, at the meeting of the

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

and

Savena The Savena ( egl, label= Bolognese, Sèvna) is a river in the Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna regions of Italy. The source of the river is in the province of Florence west of Firenzuola in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano mountains. The river flows north ...

river valleys. As Bologna's two main watercourses flow directly to the sea, the town lies outside of the drainage basin of the

River Po The Po ( , ; la, Padus or ; Ancient Ligurian: or ) is the longest river in Italy. It flows eastward across northern Italy starting from the Cottian Alps. The river's length is either or , if the Maira, a right bank tributary, is included. Th ...

. The

Province of Bologna The province of Bologna ( it, provincia di Bologna) was a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital was the city of Bologna. The province of Bologna covered an area of and had a total population of 1,004,323 inhabitan ...

stretches from the western edge of the Po Plain on the border with

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

to the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. The centre of the town is

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

(while elevation within the municipality ranges from in the suburb of Corticella to in Sabbiuno and the Colle della Guardia). The Province of Bologna stretches from the Po Plain into the Apennines; the highest point in the province is the peak of Corno alle Scale (in

Lizzano in Belvedere Lizzano in Belvedere ( High Mountain Bolognese: ; City Bolognese: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Bologna in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about southwest of Bologna. Among the parishes is the church of ...

) at above sea level.

Climate

Bologna has a

mid-latitude The middle latitudes (also called the mid-latitudes, sometimes midlatitudes, or moderate latitudes) are a spatial region on Earth located between the Tropic of Cancer (latitudes 23°26'22") to the Arctic Circle (66°33'39"), and Tropic of Caprico ...

, four-season

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...

(

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

: ''Cfa''). Annual precipitation oscillates between around and , with the majority generally falling in spring and autumn. Snow is not uncommon between late November and early March; one of the snowiest months of the past decade was February 2012.

Government

Municipal government

The legislative body of the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...

is the City Council (''Consiglio Comunale''), which is composed by 48 councillors elected every five years with a corrected proportional system (granting the majority to the list or alliance of lists which receives more votes), contextually to the mayoral elections. The executive body is the City Committee (''Giunta Comunale''), composed by 12 assessors, that is nominated and presided over by a directly elected

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. The current mayor of Bologna is

( PD), elected on 4 October 2021 with 61.9% of the votes. The municipality of Bologna is subdivided into six administrative Boroughs (''Quartieri''), down from the former nine before the 2015 administrative reform. Each Borough is governed by a Council (''Consiglio'') and a President, elected contextually to the city Mayor. The urban organization is governed by the Italian Constitution (art. 114). The Boroughs have the power to advise the Mayor with nonbinding opinions on a large spectrum of topics (environment, construction, public health, local markets) and exercise the functions delegated to them by the City Council; in addition, they are supplied with an autonomous founding to finance local activities.

Provincial and regional government

Bologna is the capital of the eponymous metropolitan city and of

, one of the twenty

regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

of Italy. While the Province of Bologna has a population of 1,007,644, making it the twelfth most populated province of Italy, Emilia-Romagna ranks as the sixth most populated region of Italy, with about 4.5 million inhabitants, more than 7% of the national total. The seat of the regional government is

Fiera District The Fiera di Bologna is the business district of the city of Bologna, in central Italy. The area includes a trade exhibition centre and several office towers occupied by the regional government of Emilia-Romagna and various private companies. Hi ...

, a tower complex designed by Japanese architect

in 1985. According to the last governmental dispositions concerning administrative reorganisation, the urban area of Bologna is one of the 15 Metropolitan municipalities (''città metropolitane''), new administrative bodies fully operative since 1 January 2015. The new Metro municipalities, giving large urban areas the administrative powers of a province, are conceived for improving the performance of local administrations and to slash local spending by better co-ordinating the municipalities in providing basic services (including transport, school and social programs) and environment protection. In this policy framework, the Mayor of Bologna is designated to exercise the functions of Metropolitan mayor (''Sindaco metropolitano''), presiding over a Metropolitan Council formed by 18 mayors of municipalities within the Metro municipality. The Metropolitan City of Bologna is headed by the Metropolitan Mayor (''Sindaco metropolitano'') and by the Metropolitan Council (''Consiglio metropolitano''). Since 21 June 2016

, as mayor of the capital city, has been the mayor of the Metropolitan City.

Cityscape

View_from_the_Torre_degli_Asinelli,_Bologna_3

Bologna, Santuario della Madonna di San Luca 004

Until the late 19th century, when a large-scale urban renewal project was undertaken, Bologna was one of the few remaining large walled cities in Europe; to this day and despite having suffered considerable bombing damage in 1944, Bologna's historic centre is Europe's second largest, containing an immense wealth of important medieval, renaissance, and baroque artistic monuments. Bologna developed along the

Via Emilia The ( it, Via Emilia; en, Aemilian Way) was a trunk Roman road in the north Italian plain, running from ''Ariminum'' (Rimini), on the Adriatic coast, to ''Placentia'' (Piacenza) on the river ''Padus'' ( Po). It was completed in 187 BC. The ' ...

as an Etruscan and later Roman colony; the Via Emilia still runs straight through the city under the changing names of Strada Maggiore, Rizzoli, Ugo Bassi, and San Felice. Due to its Roman heritage, the central streets of Bologna, today largely pedestrianized, follow the grid pattern of the Roman settlement. The original Roman ramparts were supplanted by a high medieval system of fortifications, remains of which are still visible, and finally by a third and final set of ramparts built in the 13th century, of which numerous sections survive. No more than twenty medieval defensive towers remain out of up to 180 that were built in the 12th and 13th centuries before the arrival of unified civic government. The most famous of the

towers of Bologna The Towers of Bologna are a group of medieval structures in Bologna, Italy. The two most prominent ones remaining, known as the Two Towers, are a landmark of the city. History Between the 12th and the 13th century, Bologna was a city full of ...

are the central "Due Torri" (''Asinelli'' and ''Garisenda''), whose iconic leaning forms provide a popular symbol of the town. The cityscape is further enriched by its elegant and extensive

, for which the city is famous. In total, there are some of

es in the city's historical centre (over in the city proper), which make it possible to walk for long distances sheltered from the elements. The Portico di San Luca is possibly the world's longest. It connects

Porta Saragozza The Porta Saragozza of Bologna was one of the gates or portals in the medieval walls of this city. The gate was built in the 13-14th centuries, and by 1334 it was provided with a drawbridge crossing a moat. It was not used much until 1674, whe ...

(one of the twelve gates of the ancient walls built in the Middle Ages, which circled a part of the city) with the

Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca The Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca is a basilica church in Bologna, northern Italy, sited atop a forested hill, Colle or Monte della Guardia, some 300 metres above the city plain, just south-west of the historical centre of the city. While ...

, a church begun in 1723 on the site of an 11th-century edifice which had already been enlarged in the 14th century, prominently located on a hill () overlooking the town, which is one of Bologna's main landmarks. The windy 666 vault arcades, almost four kilometres () long, effectively links ''San Luca'', as the church is commonly called, to the city centre. Its porticos provide shelter for the traditional procession which every year since 1433 has carried a Byzantine icon of the Madonna with Child attributed to

Luke the Evangelist Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...

down to the

Bologna Cathedral Bologna Cathedral ( it, Cattedrale Metropolitana di San Pietro, ''Cattedrale di Bologna''), dedicated to Saint Peter, is the cathedral of Bologna in Italy, and the seat and the Metropolitan bishop, metropolitan cathedral of the Archbishop of Bolog ...

during the

Feast of the Ascension The Solemnity of the Ascension of Jesus Christ, also called Ascension Day, Ascension Thursday, or sometimes Holy Thursday, commemorates the Christian belief of the bodily Ascension of Jesus into heaven. It is one of the ecumenical (i.e., shared by ...

. In 2021, the porticoes were named as a

UNESCO World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for h ...

San Petronio Basilica The Basilica of San Petronio is a minor basilica and church of the Archdiocese of Bologna located in Bologna, Emilia Romagna, northern Italy. It dominates Piazza Maggiore. The basilica is dedicated to the patron saint of the city, Saint Petronius ...

, built between 1388 and 1479 (but still unfinished), is the tenth-largest church in the world by volume, 132 metres long and 66 metres wide, while the vault reaches 45 metres inside and 51 metres in the facade. With its volume of 258,000 m³, it is the largest (Gothic or otherwise) church built of bricks of the world. The Basilica of

Saint Stephen Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ''Stéphanos'', meaning "wreath, crown" and by extension "reward, honor, renown, fame", often given as a title rather than as a name; c. 5 – c. 34 AD) is traditionally venerated as the protomartyr or first ...

and its sanctuary are among the oldest structures in Bologna, having been built starting from the 8th century, according to the tradition on the site of an ancient temple dedicated to Egyptian goddess

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

. The

Basilica of Saint Dominic The Basilica of San Domenico is one of the major churches in Bologna, Italy. The remains of Saint Dominic, founder of the Order of Preachers ( Dominicans), are buried inside the exquisite shrine Arca di San Domenico, made by Nicola Pisano and ...

is an example of Romanic architecture from the 13th century, enriched by the monumental tombs of great Bolognese

s Rolandino de'Passeggeri and Egidio Foscherari. Basilicas of St Francis, Santa Maria dei Servi and

San Giacomo Maggiore The Basilica of San Giacomo Maggiore is an historic Roman Catholic church in Bologna, region of Emilia Romagna, Italy, serving a monastery of Augustinian friars. It was built starting in 1267 and houses, among the rest, the Bentivoglio Chapel, f ...

are other magnificent examples of 14th-century architecture, the latter also featuring Renaissance artworks such as the

Bentivoglio Altarpiece The ''Bentivoglio Altarpiece'' is a painting by the Italian Renaissance painter Lorenzo Costa the Elder, dating to August 1488. It is displayed in the Bentivoglio Chapel of the church of San Giacomo Maggiore, Bologna, Italy. It was commissioned ...

Lorenzo Costa Lorenzo Costa (1460 – 5 March 1535) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance. Biography He was born at Ferrara, but moved to Bologna by his early twenties, and was probably influenced by the Bolognese School. However, many artists worked i ...

. Finally, the Church of

San Michele in Bosco San Michele in Bosco is a religious complex in Bologna, central Italy, including the church with the same name and the annexed Olivetan monastery. The buildings of the monastery were acquired in 1955 by the municipality of Bologna, to house an o ...

is a 15th-century religious complex located on a hill not far from the city's historical center. Bologna Panorama

Economy

In terms of total GDP, the

Metropolitan City of Bologna The Metropolitan City of Bologna ( it, Città Metropolitana di Bologna) is a metropolitan city in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy. Its capital is ''de facto'' the city of Bologna, though the body does not explicitly outline it. It was created by ...

generated a value of about €35 billion ($40.6 billion) in 2017, equivalent to €34,251 ($40,165) per capita, the third highest figure among Italian provinces (after

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

and Bolzano/Bozen). The economy of Bologna is characterized by a flourishing industrial sector, traditionally centered on the transformation of agricultural and zootechnical products ( Eridania, Granarolo,

Segafredo Zanetti Massimo Zanetti Beverage Group is an Italian coffee company that owns brands such as ''Segafredo'' and ''MJB''. With turnover of around US$1.2 billion per year, it claims to be the biggest private company in the coffee industry. The group Today, ...

, ), machinery (, IMA, Sacmi), construction equipment (

Maccaferri Officine Maccaferri SpA (Maccaferri) is an Italian multinational company, headquartered in Zola Predosa, Bologna. The company specialises in products for the construction industry. Maccaferri's products are used for: retaining structures, soil r ...

); energy (

Hera Group Hera S.p.A (Holding Energia Risorse Ambiente, ''Energy Resource Environment Holdings'') is a multiutility company based in Bologna, Italy. Hera operates in the distribution of gas, water, energy, and waste disposal in the provinces of Bologna, Fe ...

), automotive (

Ducati Ducati Motor Holding S.p.A. () is the motorcycle-manufacturing division of Italian company Ducati, headquartered in Bologna, Italy. The company is directly owned by Italian automotive manufacturer Lamborghini, whose German parent company is Au ...

Lamborghini Automobili Lamborghini S.p.A. () is an Italian brand and manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs based in Sant'Agata Bolognese. The company is owned by the Volkswagen Group through its subsidiary Audi. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1916–1993) ...

), footwear, textile, engineering, chemical, printing and publishing ( Cappelli, il Mulino, ,

Zanichelli Zanichelli editore S.p.A. is an Italian publishing company founded in Modena, Italy, in 1859. It publishes mainly textbooks for school, university and professional books (legal texts and medicine), dictionaries, and reference books. History The ...

). In particular, Bologna is considered the centre of the so-called "packaging valley", an area well known for its high concentration of firms specialised in the manufacturing of automatic packaging machines (, IMA). Furthermore, Bologna is well known for its dense network of

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...

s, a feature that dates back to the social struggles of farmers and workers in the 1800s and that today produces up to a third of its GDP and occupies 265 thousand people in the Emilia-Romagna region.

Transport

Bologna is home to the

Guglielmo Marconi International Airport Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport ( it, Aeroporto di Bologna-Guglielmo Marconi) is an international airport serving the city of Bologna in Italy. It is approximately northwest of the city centre in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. The airpo ...

, the

seventh Seventh is the ordinal form of the number seven. Seventh may refer to: * Seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution * A fraction (mathematics), , equal to one of seven equal parts Film and television *"The Seventh", a second-season e ...

busiest Italian airport for passenger traffic (8 million passengers handled in 2017).

Bologna Centrale railway station Bologna Centrale is a railway station in Bologna, Italy. The station is situated at the northern edge of the city centre. It is located at the southern end of the Milan-Bologna high-speed line, which opened on 13 December 2008, and the northern ...

is one of Italy's most important train hubs thanks to the city's strategic location as a crossroad between north–south and east–west routes. It serves 58 million passengers annually. The city hosts several minor railway stations (see

List of railway stations in Bologna Below is a list of current railway stations in Bologna, Italy. Active stations Planned stations (as of 2018) * Bologna Borgo Panigale Scala railway station * Bologna Prati di Caprara railway station * Bologna Zanardi railway station ...

). Bologna San Donato

classification yard A classification yard (American and Canadian English ( Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English ( Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railway ...

, with 33 railway tracks, used to be the largest freight hub in Italy by size and traffic. Since 2018, it has been repurposed as the

Bologna San Donato railway test circuit {{one source, date=May 2021 The Bologna San Donato railway test circuit ( it, Circuito ferroviario di prova di Bologna San Donato) is a railway rolling stock testing facility located in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The facility started operatin ...

.Gian Guido Turchi, ''Bologna San Donato: metamorfosi di un impianto'', in I Treni 434 (2020), pages 12–17, Editrice Trasporti su Rotaie, ISSN 0392-4602. The city is also served by a large network of public bus lines, including trolleybus lines, operated since 2012 by

Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna (TPER, Italian for ''Emilia-Romagna passenger transportation'') is a public company overseeing public transportation in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, in the province of Ferrara and in parts of the province ...

(TPER). A large

commuter rail Commuter rail, or suburban rail, is a passenger rail transport service that primarily operates within a metropolitan area, connecting commuters to a central city from adjacent suburbs or commuter towns. Generally commuter rail systems are con ...

service is currently under development (see

Bologna metropolitan railway service The Bologna metropolitan railway service (Italian: ''servizio ferroviario metropolitano di Bologna'', acronym: ''SFMBO'') is a commuter railway service around the Italian city of Bologna. It is currently under construction. History Launched in 1 ...

), and a four line tram network is also planned (see

Trams in Bologna The Bologna tramway network ( it, Rete tranviaria di Bologna) was an important part of the public transport network of Bologna, Italy. It was established in 1880 and discontinued in 1963. On 7 March 2019, the mayor of Bologna revealed plans to bui ...

Bologna public transportation statistics

The average amount of time people spend commuting with public transit in Bologna, for example to and from work, on a weekday is 53 min. 9% of public transit riders ride for more than 2 hours every day. The average amount of time people wait at a stop or station for public transit is 12 min, while 16% of riders wait for over 20 minutes on average every day. The average distance people usually ride in a single trip with public transit is 5.4 km, while 7% travel for over 12 km in a single direction.

Demographics

At the end of 2016, the city proper had a population of 388,254 (while 1 million live in the greater Bologna area), located in the province of Bologna,

Emilia Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, of whom 46.7% were male and 53.3% were female. Minors (children ages 18 and younger) totalled 12.86 percent of the population compared to pensioners who number 27.02 percent. This compares with the Italian average of 18.06 percent (minors) and 19.94 percent (pensioners). The average age of Bologna resident is 51 compared to the Italian average of 42. In the five years between 2002 and 2007, the population of Bologna grew by 0.0 percent, while Italy as a whole grew by 3.56 percent. The current birth rate of Bologna is 8.07 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.

Education

The

, conventionally said to have been founded in 1088 by

and

Pepo PEPO Lappeenranta (abbreviated PEPO) is a football club from Lappeenranta in Finland. The club was formed in 1958 and their home ground is at the Kimpinen Sports Centre. The men's first team currently plays in the Ykkönen (Second Division). ...

, is the oldest university in Europe. It was an important centre of European intellectual life during the Middle Ages, attracting scholars from Italy and throughout Europe. The Studium, as it was originally known, began as a loosely organized teaching system with each master collecting fees from students on an individual basis. The location of the early University was thus spread throughout the city, with various colleges being founded to support students of a specific nationality. Bologna,_Archiginnasio,_Teatro_anatomico_(6)

Bologna,_Archiginnasio,_Teatro_anatomico_(6)

In the Napoleonic era, the headquarters of the university were moved to their present location on

Via Zamboni Via or VIA may refer to the following: Science and technology * MOS Technology 6522, Versatile Interface Adapter * ''Via'' (moth), a genus of moths in the family Noctuidae * Via (electronics), a through-connection * VIA Technologies, a Taiwan ...

, in the northeastern sector of the city centre. Today, the university's 11 schools, 33 departments, and 93 libraries are spread across the city and include four subsidiary campuses in nearby

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and ''comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was o ...

Forlì Forlì ( , ; rgn, Furlè ; la, Forum Livii) is a ''comune'' (municipality) and city in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. It is the central city of Romagna. The city is situated along the Via E ...

Ravenna Ravenna ( , , also ; rgn, Ravèna) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 408 until its collapse in 476. It then served as the cap ...

, and

Rimini Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...

. Noteworthy students present at the university in centuries past included

Thomas Becket Thomas Becket (), also known as Saint Thomas of Canterbury, Thomas of London and later Thomas à Becket (21 December 1119 or 1120 – 29 December 1170), was an English nobleman who served as Lord Chancellor from 1155 to 1162, and then ...

Pope Nicholas V Pope Nicholas V ( la, Nicholaus V; it, Niccolò V; 13 November 1397 – 24 March 1455), born Tommaso Parentucelli, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 March 1447 until his death in March 1455. Pope Eugene IV, Po ...

Erasmus of Rotterdam Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus (; ; English: Erasmus of Rotterdam or Erasmus;''Erasmus'' was his baptismal name, given after St. Erasmus of Formiae. ''Desiderius'' was an adopted additional name, which he used from 1496. The ''Roterodamus'' wa ...

Peter Martyr Vermigli Peter Martyr Vermigli (8 September 149912 November 1562) was an Italian-born Reformed theologian. His early work as a reformer in Catholic Italy and his decision to flee for Protestant northern Europe influenced many other Italians to convert a ...

, and

Copernicus Nicolaus Copernicus (; pl, Mikołaj Kopernik; gml, Niklas Koppernigk, german: Nikolaus Kopernikus; 19 February 1473 – 24 May 1543) was a Renaissance polymath, active as a mathematician, astronomer, and Catholic canon, who formulated ...

Laura Bassi Laura Maria Caterina Bassi Veratti (29 October 1711 – 20 February 1778) was an Italian physicist and academic. Recognized and depicted as "Minerva" (goddess of wisdom), she was the first woman to have a doctorate in science, and the second wo ...

, appointed in 1732, became the first woman to officially teach at a university in Europe. In more recent history,

Luigi Galvani Luigi Galvani (, also ; ; la, Aloysius Galvanus; 9 September 1737 – 4 December 1798) was an Italian physician, physicist, biologist and philosopher, who studied animal electricity. In 1780, he discovered that the muscles of dead frogs' legs ...

, the discoverer of

bioelectromagnetics Bioelectromagnetics, also known as bioelectromagnetism, is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological entities. Areas of study include electromagnetic fields produced by living cells, tissues or organisms, the e ...

, and

Guglielmo Marconi Guglielmo Giovanni Maria Marconi, 1st Marquis of Marconi (; 25 April 187420 July 1937) was an Italians, Italian inventor and electrical engineering, electrical engineer, known for his creation of a practical radio wave-based Wireless telegrap ...

, the pioneer of radio technology, also worked at the university. The University of Bologna remains one of the most respected and dynamic post-secondary educational institutions in Italy. To this day, Bologna is still very much a university town, with over 80,000 enrolled students in 2015. This community includes a great number of Erasmus, Socrates, and overseas students. The university's

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

, the

Orto Botanico dell'Università di Bologna The Orto Botanico dell'Università di Bologna, also known as the Orto Botanico di Bologna, is a botanical garden operated by the University of Bologna. It is located at Via Irnerio, 42, 40126 Bologna, Italy, and open daily except Mondays. Establi ...

, was established in 1568; it is the fourth oldest in Europe.

Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hem ...

maintains its

Bologna Center The Johns Hopkins University SAIS Europe in Bologna, Italy, is the European campus of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), a division of Johns Hopkins University located in Washington, D.C. SAIS Europe offers an int ...

in the city, which hosts one of the overseas campuses of the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). SAIS Bologna was founded in 1955 as the first campus of a US post-graduate school to open in Europe. It was inspired by Marshall Plan efforts to build a cultural bridge between America and Europe. Today, the Bologna Center also hosts the ''Associazione italo-americana "Luciano Finelli"'', which supports cross-cultural awareness and exchange between Italy and the United States.

Dickinson College , mottoeng = Freedom is made safe through character and learning , established = , type = Private liberal arts college , endowment = $645.5 million (2022) , president = J ...

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...

also have campuses or antennas in the city. In addition, Bologna hosts a music school,

Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini The Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini (previously known as the Liceo Musicale di Bologna, and sometimes referred to in English as the Bologna Conservatory) is a college of music in Bologna, Italy. The conservatory opened on 3 December 1804 ...

, established in 1804, and an art school,

Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia f ...

, founded in 1802. Both institutions were born as part of the reforms introduced by Napoleon Bonaparte.

Culture

Over the centuries, Bologna has acquired many nicknames: "the fat" (''la grassa'') refers to its cuisine, in which the most famous specialities are prepared using rich meats (especially pork), egg pasta and dairy products, such as butter and Parmesan. Another nickname that has been given to the city is "the red" (''la rossa''), which was originally used as a reference to the colour of the buildings in the city centre, has later become connected with the communist ideology supported by the majority of the population, in particular after World War II: until the election of a centre-right mayor in 1999, the city was renowned as a bastion of the

. The centre-left regained power again in the 2004 mayoral elections, with the election of

. It was one of the first European cities to experiment with the concept of

free public transport Free public transport, often called fare-free public transit or zero-fare public transport, refers to public transport funded in full by means other than by collecting fares from passengers. It may be funded by national, regional or local gover ...

. Bologna has also two other nicknames: the first one, "the towered" (''la turrita'') refers to the high number of medieval towers that can be found in the city, even if today only 24 towers are still standing. The second one, "the learned" (''la dotta'') is a reference to its university.

University

Bologna's

was founded in 1088 and it is considered the oldest university in the Western world. According to the QS University Rankings, Bologna university is the 4th-ranked Italian university and the 180th-ranked in the world. The high number of students coming from all over Italy and the world (in Bologna there are several campuses of foreign universities such as Johns Hopkins University, Dickinson College, Indiana University, Brown University, University of California and more) has a considerable effect on everyday life. While it contributes to livening up the city centre (an area in which the average age of the residents is very high) and it also helps to promote cultural initiatives, on the other hand, it creates public order and waste management problems that stem from the lively nightlife of the university district.

Entertainment and performing arts

The city of Bologna became a

City of Music on 26 May 2006. According to UNESCO, "As the first Italian city to be appointed to the Network, Bologna has demonstrated a rich musical tradition that is continuing to evolve as a vibrant factor of contemporary life and creation. It has also shown a strong commitment to promoting music as an important vehicle for inclusion in the fight against racism and in an effort to encourage economic and social development. Fostering a wide range of genres from classical to electronic, jazz, folk and opera, Bologna offers its citizens a musical vitality that deeply infiltrates the city's professional, academic, social and cultural facets." The theatre was a popular form of entertainment in Bologna until the 16th century. The first public theater was the Teatro alla Scala, active since 1547 in Palazzo del Podestà. An important figure of Italian Bolognese theatre was

Alfredo Testoni Alfredo Testoni (1856–1931) was an Italian playwright and poet known for his work in the Bolognese dialect. In 1888 he established his own company at the Teatro Contavalli in Bologna. Amongst his best known plays is ''Cardinal Lambertini'', a 1 ...

, the playwright, and author of ''

Cardinal Lambertini Pope Benedict XIV ( la, Benedictus XIV; it, Benedetto XIV; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Be ...

'', which has had great theatrical success since 1905, repeated on screen by the Bolognese actor

Gino Cervi Luigi Cervi (3 May 1901 – 3 January 1974), better known as Gino Cervi (), was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character ''Don Camillo'' (1952-1965), and police detective Jules M ...

. In 1998, the City of Bologna initiated the project "Bologna dei Teatri" (Bologna of the Theatres), an association of the major theatrical facilities in the city. This is a circuit of theatres which offer diverse theatrical opportunities, ranging from Bolognese dialect to contemporary dance, but with a communications strategy and promoting unity. Specifically, the shows on the bill in various theatres participating in the project are advertised weekly through a single poster. Bologna's opera house is the

Teatro Comunale di Bologna The Teatro Comunale di Bologna is an opera house in Bologna, Italy. Typically, it presents eight operas with six performances during its November to April season. While there had been various theatres presenting opera in Bologna since the early 1 ...

. The

Orchestra Mozart The Orchestra Mozart or Orchestra Mozart Bologna is an Italian orchestra based in Bologna. Creation The orchestra was created in 2004 by Carlo Maria Badini, as a special project within the Regia Accademia Filarmonica (Philharmonic Academy) of Bo ...

, whose music director was

Claudio Abbado Claudio Abbado (; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony ...

until his death in 2014, was created in 2004. Bologna hosts a number of international music, art, dance and film festivals, including Angelica, ''Bologna'' and ''Contemporanea'' (festivals on contemporary music), Bolognafestival (international classical music festival), Bologna Jazz Festival, Biografilm Festival (devoted to biographical movies), BilBolBul (a comics festival), Danza Urbana (a street contemporary dance festival), F.I.S.Co (festival on contemporary art, now merged into

Live Arts Week Live Arts Week is a project by Xing, born in 2012 out the fusion of the experiences of the two Bologna festivals (2000>2011): Netmage - International Live Media Festival and F.I.S.Co. - Festival Internazionale sullo Spettacolo Contemporaneo. Live ...

), Future Film Festival (animation and special effects), ''Il Cinema Ritrovato'' (film festival about rare and forgotten movies),

, Gender Bender (festival on gender identity, sexual orientation, and body representation), Homework festival (electronic music festival), Human Rights Film Festival, Some Prefer Cake (lesbian film festival),

Zecchino d'Oro Zecchino d'Oro (; meaning "Golden Sequin") is an annual international children's song competition established in 1959 by Niny Comolli. It is broadcast by Rai 1. The first two contests were held in Milan. In 1961, the contest was taken up by th ...

(a children's song contest).

Cuisine

Bologna is renowned for its culinary tradition. It is the home of the famous

Bolognese sauce Bolognese sauce (, ; known in Italian as ''ragù alla bolognese'', , ''ragù bolognese'', or simply ''ragù'') is a meat-based sauce in Italian cuisine, typical of the city of Bologna. It is customarily used to dress ''tagliatelle al ragù'' and ...

, a meat-based pasta sauce. In Italy, it is called ''

ragù In Italian cuisine, ragù () is a meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, documented several ragù recipes. The recipes' common characteristics are the presence of mea ...

'' and is substantially different from the variety found worldwide. In Bologna, the sauce is used only as a dressing for

tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...

, and serving it with

spaghetti Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical pasta.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridg ...

is considered odd. Situated in the fertile Po River Valley, the rich local cuisine depends heavily on meats and cheeses. As in all of Emilia-Romagna, the production of cured pork meats such as

prosciutto ''Prosciutto crudo'', in English often shortened to prosciutto ( , ), is Italian uncooked, unsmoked, and dry-cured ham. ''Prosciutto crudo'' is usually served thinly sliced. Several regions in Italy have their own variations of ''prosciutto crudo ...

mortadella Mortadella () is a large Italian cuisine, Italian sausage or luncheon meat (''salumi, salume'' ) made of finely hashed or ground heat-cured pork, which incorporates at least 15% small cubes of pork fat (principally the hard fat from the neck o ...

and

salumi Salumi (singular salume) are Italian meat products typical of an antipasto, predominantly made from pork and cured. Salumi also include bresaola, which is made from beef, and some cooked products, such as mortadella and prosciutto cotto. The ...

is an important part of the local food industry. Well-regarded nearby vineyards include Pignoletto dei Colli Bolognesi,

Lambrusco Lambrusco (; ) is the name of both an Italian red wine grape and a wine made principally from said grape. The grapes and the wine originate from four zones in Emilia-Romagna and one in Lombardy―principally around the central provinces of Mode ...

di Modena and

Sangiovese Sangiovese (, also , , ) is a red Italian wine grape variety that derives its name from the Latin ''sanguis Jovis'', "the blood of Jupiter". Though it is the grape of most of central Italy from Romagna down to Lazio (the most widespread grape i ...

di Romagna.

Tagliatelle Tagliatelle (; from the Italian ''tagliare'', meaning "to cut") are a traditional type of pasta from the Emilia-Romagna and Marche regions of Italy. Individual pieces of ''tagliatelle'' are long, flat ribbons that are similar in shape to fettucci ...

with

lasagne Lasagna (, also , also known as lasagne, ) is a type of pasta, possibly one of the oldest types, made of very wide, flat sheets. Either term can also refer to an Italian dish made of stacked layers of lasagna alternating with fillings such as ...

tortellini ''Tortellini'' are pasta originally from the Italian region of Emilia (in particular Bologna and Modena). Traditionally they are stuffed with a mix of meat (pork loin, raw prosciutto, mortadella), Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, egg and nutmeg and serv ...

served in broth, and

, the original

Bologna sausage Bologna sausage, informally baloney ( ), is a sausage derived from the Italian mortadella, a similar-looking, finely ground pork sausage, originally from the city of Bologna (). Typical seasonings for bologna include black pepper, nutmeg, a ...

, are among the local specialties. Traditional Bolognese desserts are often linked to holidays, such as ''fave dei morti'' ("cookies of the dead"), multi-coloured

almond paste Almond paste is made from ground almonds or almond meal and sugar in equal quantities, with small amounts of cooking oil, beaten eggs, heavy cream or corn syrup added as a binder. It is similar to ''marzipan'', but has a coarser texture. Almond pa ...

cookies made for

All Saints' Day All Saints' Day, also known as All Hallows' Day, the Feast of All Saints, the Feast of All Hallows, the Solemnity of All Saints, and Hallowmas, is a Christian solemnity celebrated in honour of all the saints of the church, whether they are know ...

, jam-filled raviole cookies that are served on

Saint Joseph's Day Saint Joseph's Day, also called the Feast of Saint Joseph or the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, is in Western Christianity the principal feast day of Saint Joseph, husband of the Virgin Mary and legal father of Jesus Christ, celebrated on 19 March. ...

, and carnival sweets known as ''sfrappole'', a light and delicate fried pastry topped with powder sugar, ''certosino'' or ''panspeziale'' ("carthusian" or "apothecary-cake"), a spicy cake served on Christmas. ''Torta di riso'', a custard-like cake made of almonds, rice and amaretto, is made throughout the year, as well as the zuppa inglese.

Sport

Differently from the vaste majority of Italian cities, in Bologna,

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

is the most followed sport. In fact, the sporting nickname for Bologna is ''Basket City'' in reference to the successes of the town's two rival historic basketball clubs,

Virtus ''Virtus'' () was a specific virtue in Ancient Rome. It carries connotations of valor, manliness, excellence, courage, character, and worth, perceived as masculine strengths (from Latin ''vir'', "man"). It was thus a frequently stated virtue o ...

and

Fortitudo Fortitudo means courage or fortitude. It may also refer to: * Fortitudo (planet), also known Xi Aquilae b * Fortitudo-Pro Roma S.G.S., a sports society in Rome, formerly named "Fortitudo" * Cosenza Calcio 1914, soccer team in Cosenza formerly named ...

. Of the two, the former won, among others, 16 Italian basketball championships, two Euroleagues, one EuroCup and one

FIBA Saporta Cup The FIBA Saporta Cup was the name of the second-tier level European-wide professional club basketball competition, where the domestic National Cup winners, from all over Europe, played against each other. The competition was organized by FIBA ...

, making them one of the most influential European basketball clubs; the latter won two league titles between 1999 and 2005. The Italian Basketball League, which operates both Lega A and LegADue, has its headquarters in Bologna. There are two indoor arenas in the city: PalaDozza, the oldest one with a capacity of 5,570 seats, and Virtus Segafredo Arena, Segafredo Arena, a temporary venue with a capacity of 9,980 seats. Stadio Dall'Ara 01-02-2020

Association football, Football also has a strong tradition in Bologna. The city's main club, Bologna F.C. 1909, have won seven Italian league championships (the latest in 1963–64 Serie A, 1963–64), which makes them the sixth most successful team in the history of the league; in their heyday in the 1930s Bologna FC was called ''"Lo squadrone che tremare il mondo fa"'' (Italian for "The Team that Shakes the World"). The club play at the 38,000-capacity Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, which has hosted the Italian national team in both football and rugby union, as well as the San Marino national football team. It was also a venue at the 1990 FIFA World Cup. Rugby union is also present in the city: Rugby Bologna 1928 is not only one of the oldest Italian rugby union clubs but also the first club affiliated to the Federazione Italiana Rugby, Italian rugby union federation. and, to date (2014) is Italy's oldest rugby union club still in operation. The club took part in the top tier of the Italian championship for the first 25 years of their history never winning the title but getting to the runner-up place several times; they returned to the top division (Serie A1 then Super 10), in the late 1990s and faced serious financial problems which led them to the relegation and almost to disappearance. Gianni Falchi Stadium is a baseball stadium located in Bologna. It is home to the home games of Fortitudo Baseball Bologna, in the Italian Baseball League.

People

* Luca Carboni (singer-songwriter, born 1962) * Ulisse Aldrovandi (naturalist, 1522–1605) * Antonio Alessandrini (anatomist and parasitologist, 1786–1861) * Maria Gaetana Agnesi (mathematician and humanitarian, 1718–1799) * Amico Aspertini (painter, c. 1474–1552) * Pupi Avati (director, born 1938) * Riccardo Bacchelli (writer, 1891–1985) * Adriano Banchieri (composer, 1568–1634) * Agostino Barelli (architect, 1627–1687) * Massimiliano Bartoli, (chef, restaurateur) * Antonio Basoli (painter and scene designer, 1774–1848) *

(scientist, first female appointed to university chair in Europe, 1711–1788) * Ugo Bassi (Italian nationalist hero, executed for role in 1848 uprisings, 1800–1849) * Pier Francesco Battistelli (painter of quadratura, 17th-century) * Stefano Benni (writer, born 1947) *

(Prospero Lambertini, Pope 1740–58) * Giovanni II Bentivoglio (1443–1508) * Giordano Berti (writer, born 1959) * Amedeo Biavati (footballer, 1915–1979, credited with the invention of the stepover, World Champion 1938, played only for Bologna FC) * Cristina D'Avena (actress and singer, born 1964) * Francesco Ricci Bitti, Italian sports administrator * Simone Bolelli (professional tennis player, born 1985) * Giacomo Bolognini (painter, 1664–1734) * Rafael Bombelli (mathematician, 1526–1572) * Rossano Brazzi (actor, 1916–1994) * Floriano Buroni (engraver, 17th-century) * Arcangelo Canetoli (Roman Catholic priest, canon regular, 1460–1513) * Alessandro Carloni (director, animator, artist who worked on films like ''Kung Fu Panda'' and ''The Croods,'' born 1978) * Raffaella Carrà (singer, 1943–2021) *

(painter, 1560–1609) * Lodovico Carracci (painter, 1555–1619) * Agostino Carracci (painter, 1557–1602) * Corrado Casalini (footballer, born 1914) * Chiara Caselli (actress, born 1967) * Saint Catherine of Bologna (Caterina de' Vigri) (1413–1463) Poor Claire nun, writer, mystic, artist * Pier Ferdinando Casini (politician, born 1955) * Pietro Cataldi (mathematician, 1548–1626) * Pierluigi Collina (football referee, born 1960) * Carlo Colombara (operatic bass, born 1964) * Giovanni Paolo Colonna (composer, 1637–1695) * Alessandro Cortini (musician, born 1976) * Cesare Cremonini (musician), Cesare Cremonini (songwriter, 1980) * Giuseppe Maria Crespi (painter, 1665–1747) * Donato Creti (painter, 1671–1749) * Giulio Cesare Croce (cantastorie and writer, 1550–1609) * Scipione del Ferro (mathematician, solved the cubic equation, 1465–1526) * Francesco Francia (Francesco Raibolini, painter, c. 1450–1517) * Lucio Dalla (singer-songwriter, 1943–2012) *

(Domenico Zampieri, painter, 1581–1641) * Elena Duglioli (Roman Catholic aristocrat, 1472–1520) * Sara Errani (tennis player, born 1987) * Gianfranco Fini (politician, born 1952) * Aristotile Fioravanti (architect, –) * Carlo Fornasini (1854–1931), micropalaeontologist who studied Foraminifera *

(scientist, discoverer of bioelectricity, 1737–1798) * Alessandro Gamberini, (footballer, born 1981) * Serena Grandi (actress, born 1958) * Gregory XIII (Ugo Boncompagni, Pope 1572–85, instituted the Gregorian Calendar) * Gregory XV (Alessandro Ludovisi, Pope 1621–3) * Il Guercino (Giovanni Barbieri, painter, 1591–1666) *

(jurist, c. 1050–at least 1125) * Blessed Imelda Lambertini (Dominican novice, Eucharistic mystic, and child saint, c. 1322–1333) * Claudio Lolli (singer-songwriter, 1950–2018) * Lucius II (Gherardo Caccianemici dell'Orso, Pope 1144–5) * Marcello Malpighi (physiologist, anatomist and histologist, 1628–1694) *

(engineer, pioneer of wireless telegraphy, Nobel prize for Physics, 1874–1937) * Giovanni Battista Martini (musical theorist, 1706–1784) * Giuseppe Mezzofanti (cardinal, linguist and hyperpolyglot, 1774–1839) *

(economist and statesman, 1818–1886) * Giorgio Morandi (painter, 1890–1964) * Gianni Morandi (singer, born 1944) * Ludovico Morbioli (Catholic layman, declared Blessed, 1433–1485) * Edgardo Mortara (Catholic priest that was the subject of the ''Mortara Case'' during the Risorgimento, 1851–1940) * Nella Nobili (poet and writer, 1926–1985) * Gianluca Pagliuca (footballer, born 1966) * Pier Paolo Pasolini (writer, poet, director, 1922–1975) * Agostino delle Prospettive, painter (1525) * Umberto Puppini (1884–1946), mathematician * Roberto Regazzi (luthier, born 1956) * Guido Reni (painter, 1575–1642) * Ottorino Respighi (composer, 1879–1936) * Augusto Righi (physicist, authority on electromagnetism, 1850–1920) * Carlo Ruini (equine anatomist, 1530–1598) * Angelo Schiavio (footballer, 1905–1990, scored the winning goal in extra time in 1934 for Bologna F.C. 1909, Bologna) * Senhit (singer), Senhit (singer, born 1979) * Elisabetta Sirani (painter, 1638–1665) * Alberto Tomba (skier, born 1966) * Ondina Valla (first Italian woman Olympic gold medalist, 1916–2006) * Mariele Ventre (teacher and educator, founder of Piccolo Coro dell' Antoniano choir, 1939–1995) * Christian Vieri (footballer, born 1973) * Vitale da Bologna (painter, fl. 1330, d. 1361) * Anteo Zamboni (anarchist who at the age of 15 attempted to assassinate Benito Mussolini, 1911–1926) * Alex Zanardi (racing driver, born 1966) * Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti (writer, musician, and composer, 1801–1878) In addition to the natives of the city listed above, the following have made Bologna their home: * Giosuè Carducci (poet and academic, Nobel Prize for Literature, born near Lucca, Tuscany, 1835–1907) * Carlo Felice Cillario (Italian conductor of international renown, founder of the Bologna Chamber Orchestra in 1946, 7 February 1915 – 13 December 2007) * Umberto Eco (writer and academic, born in Alessandria, Piedmont, 1932–2016) * Enzio of Sardinia (born , King of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia and illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II, was imprisoned in

from 1249 until his death in 1272) * Vasco Errani (politician, born 1955) * William Girometti (painter, born in Milan, 1924–1998) * Alfonso Lombardi (sculptor, born in Ferrara, –1537) * Niccolò dell'Arca (sculptor, born in Bari, –2 March 1494) * Juan Ignacio Molina (naturalist, born in Chile, 1740–1829) * Giovanni Pascoli (poet and academic, born in San Mauro di Romagna, 1855–1912) * St. Petronius (San Petronio, bishop of Bishopric of Bologna, Bologna and patron saint of the city, birthplace unknown, died ) * Romano Prodi (economist, politician, born in Scandiano, Reggio Emilia, 1939) * Gioachino Rossini (opera composer, born in Pesaro, 1792–1868) * Giuseppe Torelli (composer, born in Verona, 1658–1709) * Wu Ming (collective of writers, active since 2000) * Farinelli (Carlo Broschi, castrato opera singer, 1705–1782) * Giorgio Rosa (engineer, president of short-lived micronation Republic of Rose Island, 1925–2017)

International relations

Bologna is Twin towns and sister cities, twinned with: *Coventry, England, UK, since 1984 *Kharkiv, Ukraine, since 1966 *Leipzig, Germany, since 1962 *La Plata, Argentina, since 1988 *Portland, Oregon, United States, since 2003 *Saint-Louis, Senegal, Saint-Louis, Senegal, since 1991 *St. Louis, United States, since 1987 *San Carlos, Río San Juan, San Carlos, Nicaragua, since 1988 *Thessaloniki, Greece, since 1981 *Toulouse, France, since 1981 *Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina, since 1994 *Valencia, Spain, since 1980 *Zagreb, Croatia, since 1961 *Prijepolje, Serbia, since 1966

References

External links

*
Weather Bologna

Museum of the History of Bologna

International museum and library of music of Bologna

Bologna online cameras
{{Authority control Bologna, 530s BC Boii Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna Roman sites of Emilia-Romagna 6th-century BC establishments in Italy Papal States

History

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See also

References

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