MODENA, mo'cli-ni, Italy, a city and province, part of a former duchy now com prised partly in the compartimenti of Emilia and Tuscany.
The city, capital of the province, pleasantly situated in a fertile plain, between the Secchia and the Panaro, 25 miles northwest of Bologna, is built with great regularity, and has spacious streets and fine promenades on the site of its former ramparts. It consists of three parts— the citadel, the old town and the new town. The most remarkable edifices and establishments are the cathedral, a fine specimen of Roman esque, adorned in front with numerous curious sculptures; the Campanile, erected in 1224-1319, 335 feet high, and one of the finest in North Italy; the church of San Francisco, a hand some Gothic structure, containing a fine terra cotta group of the Descent from the Cross, by Begarelli ; several other churches; the ducal palace, begun in the 17th century, but enlarged by numerous modern additions, and forming a splendid structure, now used as a military school; the Albergo Arti or building containing the municipal collections, especially the Estense Library of over 150,000 works, including several thousand MSS., and the picture-gallery em bracing a large collection of paintings, several of them by the first masters; the theatre, the baths, the university, several other important ed ucational institutions and charitable endow ments. The manufactures consist chiefly of silk goods, silk twist, woolen and hempen cloths, leather and glass; the trade, however, is unim portant. Modena is the see of an archbishop,
and possesses various important public offices. It existed under the Etruscans, and as Mutina rose to great splendor under the Romans. It afterward was repeatedly sacked by the north ern invaders, whose ravages left few vestiges of its ancient grandeur. Pop. 71,000.
The former duchy bordering on Tuscany, Lucca, Bologna, Mantua and Parma, had an area of 2,573 square miles which in 1901 con tained a populalkon of 785,930. It is now divided into the provinces of Modena and Reggio in the compartimento of Emilia, and the province of Massa e Carrara in the compartimento of Tuscany. Modena was made a duchy in 1452, the ruler being Duke Borso of the house of Este, to which noble family Modena had be longed since 1288. In 1796 the French took possession of the country and Modena after ward was included in the Cisalpine Republic. By the Treaty of Vienna in 1815 it was restored to the Este family. The duchy took an import ant part in the turbulent proceedings of the 19th century, which led to the consolidation of the Italian kingdom in 1860, when Modena proper was formed into a separate province with an area of 1,002 square miles. Pop. about 325,000.