BOLOGNA (ancient Bononia, q.v.), archiepiscopal see of Emilia, Italy, capital of province of Bologna, headquarters of the VI.. army corps. It is at the edge of the plain of Emilia, I 8of t. above sea-level at the base of the Apennines, 82m. N. of Florence by rail, 63m. by road and 5om. direct, and 134m. S.E. of Milan by rail. Pop. (1901), town, 102,122; (1931) 190.375; 090I), Com mune, 153,501; (193I) 246,280. The Roman city, orientated on the points of the compass, with streets at right angles, can be distinguished from the outer city, fortified in 1206. The streets leading to the gates of the latter radiate from the outskirts, and not from the centre, of the former. S. Stefano, S. Giovanni in Monte and SS. Vitale ed Agricola, among the oldest churches, lie in the outer city. S. Stefano is a group of seven buildings, of dif ferent dates; the earliest, the former cathedral of SS. Pietro e Paolo, built in the middle of the 4th century with debris of Roman buildings; while S. Sepolcro (6th-7th centuries) is a circular church with ornamentation in brick and an imitation of opus reticulatum. The present cathedral (S. Pietro), first erected in 910, is now baroque. The largest church (Gothic) of Bologna is that of S. Petronio, the city's patron saint, begun 1390; only nave and aisles as far as the transepts were completed, measuring 384ft. long and 1S7ft. wide, whereas the projected length of the whole (a cruciform basilica) was over 7ooft., with a breadth across the transepts of 46oft., and a dome 5oof t. high over the crossing. S. Domenico contains the body of the saint, who died there in 1221. The beautiful S. Francesco (1246-60), has a fine brick campanile (end of 14th century). It was restored to sacred uses in 1887, and has been carefully liberated from later altera tions. Piazza Vittorio Emanuele (formerly Piazza Maggiore), and Piazza del Nettuno lie at the centre at right angles to one an other. Here are the church of S. Petronio, the massive Palazzo Comunale (I245), the Palazzo del Podesta (1245), Palazzo del Re Enzo, recently restored, and the fine bronze statue of Neptune by Giovanni da Bologna (Jean Bologne of Douai) .
The famous university of Bologna was founded in the 11th century (see UNIVERSITIES). The students numbered between three and five thousand in the 12th to the 15th century, and in 1262, it is said, nearly ten thousand (among them were both Dante and Petrarch). Though autonomous, the university had no fixed residence ; professors lectured in their own houses, or later in rooms hired or lent by the civic authorities. Only in 1520 were professors of law given apartments in a building belonging to S. Petronio; and in 1562, by order of Pius IV., the university itself was built by Carlo Borromeo, then cardinal legate. In 1564, Tasso was a student there, and was tried for writing a satirical poem. One of the most famous professors was Marcello Mal pighi. The building has served as the communal library since 1838. Its courtyard contains the arms of students elected as rep resentatives of their respective nations or faculties. The univer sity, since 1803, is housed in part in the (16th century) Palazzo Poggi. It now has four faculties. Among its professors women have more than once been numbered.
The Museo Civico contains especially fine collections of antiqui ties from the neighbourhood. The important picture gallery sur veys both the earlier Bolognese paintings and the works of the Bolognese eclectics (16th and 17th centuries) the Caracci, Guido Reni, Domenichino, Guercino, etc. The works of Francesco Francia (1450-1517) and Lorenzo Costa of Ferrara (1460-1535), are also of considerable merit. The great treasure is Raphael's S. Cecilia, painted for the church of S. Giovanni in Monte about 1515.
The Torre Asinelli (I 109) and the Torre Garisenda (I 1 I o) are square brick towers, the former 3 2of t. in height and Oft. out of the perpendicular, the latter (unfinished) 163f t. high and 'oft. out of the perpendicular. The town contains many fine private palaces (13th century onwards), mostly in brick. The streets are as a rule arcaded, and this feature has been preserved in modern additions.
Bologna prepares sausages (mortadella), macaroni (tortellini), and liqueurs, refines sugar, hulls rice, and makes railway material.
It is an important railway centre, just as the ancient Bononia was a meeting-point of important roads. Here the main line from Milan divides, one portion going on parallel to the ancient Via Aemilia (which it has followed from Piacenza downwards) to Rimini, thence to Ancona and Brindisi, and the other through the Apennines to Pistoia and Florence and thence to Rome. A shorter line to Florence via Prato is under construction. Another line runs to Ferrara and Padua, another to Verona and a third to Budrio and Portomaggiore (a station on the line from Ferrara to Ravenna). Steam tramways run to Vignola, Pieve di Cento and Malalbergo.
Bologna, briefly held by the Lombards, remained generally under the exarchate of Ravenna, until this was given by Pippin to the papacy. It was sacked by Hungarians in 902, but its early history is little known, and it is uncertain when it ac quired its freedom and its motto Libertas. The first "constitu tion" of the commune of Bologna (I 123) shows it to be free and independent. It strongly supported the Guelph cause against Frederick II. and against the neighbouring cities of Romagna and Emilia; indeed, the Bolognese kept Enzo, the emperor's son, pris oner, from 1249 till his death. But Guelph and Ghibelline strug gles in Bologna itself so weakened the commune that for the next two centuries it fell under various masters, until Pope Julius II. in 5506 brought it under the papacy, where it remained (except in the Napoleonic period between 1796 and 1815 and during the revolutions of 1821 and 1831) until in 186o it became part of the kingdom of Italy.
Among the most illustrious natives of Bologna may be noted Luigi Galvani and Prospero Lambertini (Pope Benedict XIV.). Giosue Carducci, the poet, lived here for many years, and died here in 1907.