MODENA, (Mutina,) a city of Italy, situated in North Latitude 44° 38' 51"; and East Longitude, rec koned from the meridian of Ferro, 28° 34' 59".
This city is situated on the Via Emilia, in the plea sant plain of Lombardy, and is the capital of the duchy of Modena. It is also the seat of the sovereigns, and of the supreme tribunals. It is surrounded by a good wall, with a fortress in the side between the north and west, and is distinguished by spacious squares and streets, adorned with noble edifices, pleasant environs, and by the ample public promenade, which was formed and embellished by the present sovereign, Francis IV. The royal palace is one of the finest in Italy. The tower is of beautiful architecture, all coated over with white mar ble, one of the seven of that descrivion in Italy. It is a singular property of the Modenese soil, that in digging into the earth, to the depth of about sixty feet, there arise veins of very pure spring-water ; thus affording excel lent perennial fountains. The population of this city amounts to about 26,000 souls.
Modena is a very ancient city, of which the first men tion occurs in the year of Rome 535, during the war with Carthage : at which period the triumvirate com missioned to assign the lands to the new colonists shut themselves up in Modena, in order to escape the fury of the Bale Gauls; from which circumstance it may he in ferred, that this city was, at that time, well fortified, and capable of enduring a siege ; and, therefore, most pro bably founded a long time before. In the year 567 it was made a Roman colony ; and, in the civil war which broke out in the year 675, between the two consuls Q. Catulus and M. Lepidus, Pompey here besieged M. Brutus, father of that Brutus who killed Cxsar. Still more celebrated was the siege sustained here by Brutus, in the year of Rome 709, against M. Anthony, and the defeat of the latter in the year 710, under the walls of the city, by the consuls Hirtius and Pansa, with Cxsar Octavianus, afterwards Augustus, in consequence of which Anthony was compelled to raise the siege. Seven months after this victory, Lepidus. Octavianus, and An thony, divided the republic among them into three parts, having met for this purpose in a small island in the river Lavino, in the Modenese territory, according to the opi nion of most writers. The revolutions to which Italy was exposed during the time of Constantibe, and the in vasions of the barbarians, were more or less common to the city of Modena, which, after having figured at the time of the peace of Constance among the Italian re publics, and being in danger from the internal factions of the Guells and the Ghibbellines, threw itself into the arms of the Princes of Este, by electing for its sovereign, on the 15th December, 1288, Obizzo II. Marquis of Este. These princes governed the city until towards the commencement of the fourteenth century, when the desire for republican forms again revived in Italy. From this period there was an interregnum of about forty years, during which Modena was governed by various masters, and suffered much from hostile factions. Finally,
in the year 1336, Obizzo III. of Este, resumed posses sion of the city, which his successors enjoyed till the year 1796, with the exception of some periods of inter ruption, occasioned by the wars which from time to time desolated the Italian peninsula. In the last mentioned year Modena was occupied by the French, and after wards formed a part of the kingdom of Italy, until the year 1814, when it was restored to its legitimate sove reign, Francis IV. Archduke of Austria.
The government is monarchical. There is, however. a noble regency of conservators, who administer the public patrimony of the community, under the direction of a governor named by the sovereign. There is a bishop, a chapter, and a seminary; and also a flourishing college for the education of native and foreign nobles. The university has been restored by the reigning sove reign, who allows the students the use of his vast and elegant library, which is preserved in his royal palace, and is rich in books and precious manuscripts. He has also revived the Academy of Sciences, literature, and the arts, the Academy called Atestina, or the fine arts, and has het c fixed the seat of the Italian Society of Sci ences, formerly instituted by the illustrious Chevalier Gio. Mario Lorgna Veronese. The Capitular archive of the cathedral is celebrated on account of the antiquity of its documents, and its very honourable, royal, and im perial diplomas, among which are some originals of Charlemagne. Still more rich is the secret archive of the family of Este, in which are preserved a great ninny precious parchments and remat kable documents rela tive to the antiquity and grandeur of that family, one of the most ancient and noble lines of sovereign princes. There are various eliatitablc institutions in Modem, among which are the grand hospital, the house of reco very, and the house called St. Paul, which was recently founded by the present sovereign for the education of poor girls.
Many learned men have flourished in the dominions of the house of Este, as may be seen in the work, entitled Biblioteca Modenese, by C. Tiraboschi ; and among whom are distinguished the names of Sigonio, Castelve tro, Montecuccoli, Vallisniere, and Muratori. The means which this city possesses at present for the culti vation of science, literature, and the arts, have brought letters into high estimation, and rendered flourishing the study of the sciences.
The country, in general, is fertile in all kinds of grain, leguminous vegetables, and mulberries; and in all sorts of large and small cattle, grapes, chesnuts, and fruits. The principal commerce of this state consists in wines, spirits, silks, bestial and coarse cloths. Few manufactured articles arc exported; because, being an agricultural country, the greater part of its population is employed in cultivating the ground. It has, however, one very lucrative branch of commerce, viz. that of hats, called canfielli di truicolo, of which great numbers arc exported.