{{Short description|Capital and largest city of Emilia-Romagna, Italy}}
{{About|the city in Italy|other uses}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
| name = Bologna
| official_name = Comune di Bologna
| native_name = {{native name|egl|Bulåggna}}
| settlement_type = [[Comune|Municipality]]
| image_skyline = {{Multiple image
| perrow = 1/2/2/3
| border = infobox
| total_width = 280
| caption_align = center
| image1 = Torri di Bologna, Bologna.jpg
| caption1 = View of Bologna with the [[Two Towers, Bologna|Due Torri]]
| image2 = Basilica di San Luca.. Bologna.jpg
| caption2 = [[Madonna di San Luca, Bologna|San Luca]]
| image3 = Bologna fontana del Nettuno 07feb08 03.jpg
| caption3 = [[Fountain of Neptune, Bologna|Fountain of Neptune]]
| image4 = Bologna - Basilica di San Petronio - 202109132319.jpg
| caption4 = [[San Petronio, Bologna|San Petronio]]
| image5 = Bologna - Basilica di Santo Stefano - 2025-09-03 07-56-55 001.jpg
| caption5 = [[Piazza Santo Stefano]]
| image6 = Palazzo d'Accursio -- Bologna.jpg
| caption6 = [[Piazza Maggiore]]
| image7 = Archiginnasio ora blu Bologna.jpg
| caption7 = [[Archiginnasio of Bologna|Archiginnasio]]
}}
| pushpin_label_position = right
| subdivision_type = Country
| subdivision_name = Italy
| subdivision_type2 = [[Regions of Italy|Region]]
| subdivision_name2 = [[Emilia-Romagna]]
| subdivision_type3 = [[Metropolitan Cities of Italy|Metro]]
| subdivision_name3 = [[Metropolitan City of Bologna|Bologna]] (BO)
| government_footnotes =
| governing_body = Bologna City Council
| leader_title = [[Mayor of Bologna|Mayor]]
| leader_name = [[Matteo Lepore]] ([[Democratic Party (Italy)|PD]])
| elevation_footnotes =
| area_blank1_title = [[Metropolitan City of Bologna|Metropolitan city]]
| area_blank1_km2 = 3702.32
| elevation_m = 54
| area_footnotes = [{{cite web|url=https://www.istat.it/it/archivio/156224|title=Superficie di Comuni Province e Regioni italiane al 9 ottobre 2011|language=it|publisher=[[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]]}}]
| area_total_km2 = 140.86
| population_total = 390734 ([[List_of_cities_in_Italy|7th]])
| population_footnotes = [{{cite web|url=https://sociale.regione.emilia-romagna.it/notizie/2019/aprile/la-fotografia-dei-cittadini-stranieri-a-bologna-150-le-nazionalita|title=Ufficio statistica regionale|date=10 April 2019|publisher=Regione Emilia Romagna|language=it}}] Its [[Metropolitan City of Bologna|metropolitan province]] is home to more than 1 million people as of 2025.[{{cite web|title=Monthly Demographic Balance|url=https://demo.istat.it/app/?l=en&a=&i=D7B|publisher=[[Italian National Institute of Statistics|ISTAT]]}}] Bologna is most famous for being the home to the [[List of oldest universities in continuous operation|oldest university in continuous operation]],[[http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/worlds_oldest_universities/ Top Universities] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090117202932/http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/results/2007/overall_rankings/worlds_oldest_universities/|date=17 January 2009}} ''World University Rankings'' Retrieved 6 January 2010][[https://www.unibo.it/en/university/who-we-are/our-history Our History] – Università di Bologna][{{cite book |last=Gaston |first=Paul L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyjnHZ1IIlgC&pg=PA18 |title=The Challenge of Bologna: What United States Higher Education Has to Learn from Europe, and Why It Matters That We Learn It |publisher=Stylus Publishing, LLC. |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-57922-502-5 |page=18}}][Hunt Janin: "The university in medieval life, 1179–1499", McFarland, 2008, {{ISBN|0-7864-3462-7}}, p. 55f.][de Ridder-Symoens, Hilde: [https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z1VBEbF0HAC ''A History of the University in Europe: Volume 1, Universities in the Middle Ages''], Cambridge University Press, 1992, {{ISBN|0-521-36105-2}}, pp. 47–55] the [[University of Bologna]], established in AD 1088.
The city has been an important urban center for centuries, first under the [[Etruscan civilization|Etruscan]]s (who called it ''Felsina''), then under the Celts as ''Bona'', later under the Romans (''Bonōnia''), then again in the [[Middle Ages]], as a free municipality and later ''[[signoria]]'', when it was among the [[List of largest European cities in history|largest European cities by population]]. Famous for its towers, churches and lengthy [[Porticoes of Bologna|porticoes]], Bologna has a well-preserved historical centre, thanks to a careful restoration and [[Historical conservation|conservation]] policy which began at the end of the 1970s.[Romy Grieco (1976), ''Bologna: a city to discover'', pp. 8–12, 138–45.] In 2000, it was declared [[European capital of culture]][{{cite web|url=http://www.travelplan.it/bologna_guide_history_culture.htm |title=Bologna history – Bologna culture – Bologna – attractions in Bologna – art Bologna – history guide Bologna |publisher=Travelplan.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] and in 2006, a [[UNESCO]] "City of Music" and part of the [[Creative Cities Network]].[{{Cite web|url=http://cittadellamusica.comune.bologna.it/en/italian-unesco-creative-cities-lead-bologna/|title=The Italian UNESCO Creative Cities under the lead of Bologna – Bologna Città della Musica|website=cittadellamusica.comune.bologna.it|date=26 October 2016|language=en-US|access-date=3 October 2018|archive-date=23 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200923100537/http://cittadellamusica.comune.bologna.it/en/italian-unesco-creative-cities-lead-bologna/|url-status=dead}}] In 2021, UNESCO recognized the lengthy [[Porticoes of Bologna|porticoes]] of the city as a [[World Heritage Site]].[{{Cite web|last=Dubois|first=Silvia Maria|title=I portici di Bologna sono stati nominati patrimonio dell'Unesco|url=https://corrieredibologna.corriere.it/bologna/cronaca/21_luglio_28/i-portici-bologna-sono-stati-nominati-patrimonio-dell-unesco-cce2a372-ef8f-11eb-919c-80bc3c7a9e47.shtml|publisher=[[Corriere della Sera]]|date=28 July 2021|access-date=28 July 2021|language=it}}]
Bologna is an important agricultural, industrial, financial and transport hub, where many large mechanical, electronic and food companies have their headquarters, and is also home to one of the largest permanent trade fairs in Europe. In 2022, {{Lang|it|[[Il Sole 24 Ore]]}} named Bologna the best city in Italy for overall quality of life,[{{cite web | url=https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/qualita-della-vita/tabelle/ | title=Qualità della vita 2022: La classifica delle province italiane dove si vive meglio. Bologna la migliore nel 2022 | Il Sole 24 ORE }}] although it dropped to 4th place in 2025.[{{Cite web |title=Qualità della vita 2025: tutte le classifiche dal 1990 a oggi {{!}} Il Sole 24 ORE |url=https://lab24.ilsole24ore.com/qualita-della-vita/tabelle/?refresh_ce=1 |access-date=2026-04-03 |website=www.ilsole24ore.com |language=it}}] Bologna intends to become [[carbon neutral]] by 2040 and raise female employment rates, focusing on sustainable and equitable urban development.[{{Cite book |last=Bank |first=European Investment |url=https://www.eib.org/en/publications/20240002-promoting-gender-equality-in-urban-projects-in-bologna |title=Promoting gender equality in urban projects in Bologna |date=2024-07-11 |publisher=European Investment Bank |isbn=978-92-861-5750-9 |language=EN}}] The city is also increasing its investment in sustainability as part of a 2022–2024 program that integrates gender perspectives into urban planning, with an emphasis on sustainable mobility, public infrastructure, and green spaces.[{{cite book|last1=Hornblower|display-authors=et al|first1=Simon|title=The Oxford classical dictionary.|date=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-954556-8|page=230|edition=3rd}}] During the waning years of the Western Roman Empire Bologna was repeatedly sacked by the [[Goths]]. It is in this period that legendary Bishop [[St. Petronius|Petronius]], according to ancient chronicles, rebuilt the ruined town and founded the [[Santo Stefano, Bologna|basilica of Saint Stephen]].[{{cite book|last1=Butler|first1=Alban|title=The Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs, And Other Principal Saints|date=1814|publisher=John Murphy|location=London}}] Petronius is still revered as the patron saint of Bologna.
In 727–728, the city was sacked and captured by the [[Lombards]] under [[King Liutprand]], 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.[{{cite book|last1=Heers|first1=Jacques|title=La città nel medioevo in Occidente : paesaggi, poteri e conflitti|date=1995|publisher=Jaca Book|location=Milano|isbn=978-88-16-40374-1|page=63}}] In the last quarter of the 8th century, [[Charlemagne]], at the request of [[Pope Adrian I]], 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 [[March (territory)|mark]] of the [[Carolingian Empire]].[{{cite book|last1=Kleinhenz|first1=Christopher|title=Medieval Italy : an encyclopedia|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-93929-4|page=134}}]
Bologna was the center of a revived study of law, including the scholar [[Irnerius]][For a detailed account of how the relevant manuscripts and their transmission, see Charles M. Radding & Antonio Ciaralli, ''The Corpus iuris civilis in the Middle Ages: Manuscripts and Transmission from the Sixth Century to the Juristic Revival'' (Leiden: Brill, 2007).] ({{circa|1050}} – after 1125) and his famous students, the [[Four Doctors of Bologna]]. Bologna boasts of having one of the oldest universities in the western world ([[University of Bologna]]), with a continuous operation since 1088, and the first university in the sense of a higher-learning and degree-awarding institute.[{{cite book|title=[[A History of the University in Europe]]|volume=1, Universities in the Middle Ages|page=48|chapter=Patterns|author=Jacques Verger|editor1=Hilde de Ridder-Symoens|editor2=Walter Rüegg|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|date=16 October 2003|isbn=9780521541138|quote=There is no indication, however, that up until around 1180, the Bolognese law schools were anything other than private schools opened and run by each master after his own fashion, gathering together the students that had entered into an agreement with him and paid him fees (collectae) in return for his teaching. The crucial change would seem to have taken place around the years 1180–90. ... The masters, who were themselves mainly Bolognese in origin, agreed from 1189 to swear an oath to the commune not to seek to transfer the ''studium'' elsewhere. The students, on the other hand, began to group themselves in nations, according to their places of origin (we hear of the Lombard nation as early as 1191), and these were soon federated into 'universities' with elected rectors at their head.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5Z1VBEbF0HAC&pg=PA48}}][{{cite web|url=https://www.unibo.it/en/university/who-we-are/our-history/university-from-12th-to-20th-century|title=The University from the 12th to the 20th century|publisher=University of Bologna|access-date=14 February 2021|archive-date=5 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210405221329/https://www.unibo.it/en/university/who-we-are/our-history/university-from-12th-to-20th-century|url-status=live}}][[https://www.unibo.it/Portale/Ateneo/La+nostra+storia/NoveSecoli.htm Nove secoli di storia] – Università di Bologna] The medical school was especially renowned.[Nancy G. Siraisi, ''Taddeo Alderotti and his pupils: two generations of Italian medical learning'' (Princeton University Press, 1981).] By 1200, Bologna was a thriving commercial and artisanal centre of about 10,000 people.[{{cite book|last1=Janin|first1=Hunt|title=The university in medieval life, 1179–1499|date=2008|publisher=McFarland & Co.|location=Jefferson, NC|isbn=978-0-7864-3462-6|page=56}}]
[[File:Bologna. Porta Maggiore. Strada Magiore. Torre degli Asinelli IMG 3874.JPG|thumb|Porta Maggiore, one of the twelve medieval city gates of Bologna]]
[[File:Communal fight in Bologna (Sercambi).jpg|thumb|Depiction of a 14th-century fight between the [[Guelf]] and [[Ghibelline]] factions in Bologna, from the ''Croniche'' of Giovanni Sercambi of Lucca]]
After the death of [[Matilda of Tuscany]] in 1115, Bologna obtained substantial concessions from Emperor [[Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor|Henry V]]. However, when [[Frederick Barbarossa]] subsequently attempted to strike down the deal, Bologna joined the [[Lombard League]], which then defeated the imperial armies at the [[Battle of Legnano]] and established an effective autonomy at the [[Peace of Constance]] 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.[{{cite book|last1=Luzzatto|first1=Gino|title=An Economic History of Italy: From the Fall of the Empire to the Beginning of the 16th Century|date=2015|publisher=Routledge|location=Abingdon-on-Thames|isbn=978-1-138-86495-5|page=111|edition=1st}}]
During a campaign to support the imperial cities of [[Modena]] and [[Cremona]] against Bologna, [[Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor|Frederick II]]'s son, King [[Enzo of Sardinia]], was defeated and captured on 26 May 1249 at the [[Battle of Fossalta]]. Although 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]] after him. Every attempt to escape or to rescue him failed, and he died after more than 22 years in captivity.[{{cite book|last1=Arnaldi|first1=Girolamo|title=Italy and its invaders|date=2008|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=978-0-674-03033-6|page=111}}] After the death of his half-brothers [[Conrad IV]] in 1254, [[Frederick of Antioch]] in 1256 and [[Manfred, King of Sicily|Manfred]] in 1266, as well as the execution of his nephew [[Conradin]] in 1268, he was the last of the [[Hohenstaufen]] heirs.
During the late 13th-century, 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]] in 1327. Du Pouget was eventually ousted by a popular rebellion and Bologna became a ''[[signoria]]'' under Taddeo Pepoli in 1334.[{{cite book|last1=Partner|first1=Peter|title=The lands of St. Peter: the papal state in the Middle Ages and the early Renaissance|date=1972|publisher=Univ. of California Pr.|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0-520-02181-5|pages=[https://archive.org/details/landsofstpeterpa0000part/page/318 318–327]|url=https://archive.org/details/landsofstpeterpa0000part/page/318}}] By the arrival of the [[Black Death]] in 1348, Bologna had 40,000 to 50,000 inhabitants, reduced to just 20,000 to 25,000 after the plague.[{{cite book|last1=Wray|first1=Shona Kelly|title=Communities and crisis : Bologna during the Black Death|date=2009|publisher=Brill|location=Leiden|isbn=978-90-04-17634-8|pages=95–96}}]
In 1350, Bologna was conquered by archbishop [[Giovanni Visconti (archbishop of Milan)|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 recovered by the papacy in 1363 by Cardinal [[Gil Álvarez Carrillo de Albornoz]] after a long negotiation involving a huge indemnity paid to [[Bernabò Visconti]], Giovanni's heir, who died in 1354.[[[Raimond Van Marle]]. ''The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, Volume 4'' (1924) pp 394–481.]
[[File:Alberti History of Bologna 1590.jpg|thumb|Engraving of the city of Bologna from [[Leandro Alberti]]'s ''History of Bologna'', 1590, showing the two surviving towers and several others]]
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 [[1629–1631 Italian plague]] alone, Bologna lost up to a third of its population.[{{cite book|last1=Black |first1=Christopher F.|title=Early Modern Italy a Social History |date=2001 |publisher=Routledge|location=New York|isbn=978-0-415-21434-6|page=23|edition=[Online-Ausg.]}}] 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.[{{cite book |editor-last=Pullan |editor-first=Brian |title=Crisis and change in the Venetian economy in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries |date=2006| publisher=Routledge |location=London |isbn=978-0-415-37700-3 |page=132}}] 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 [[Galileo affair|trial of Galileo]]).[{{cite book|last1=Gross |first1=Hanns|title=Rome in the Age of Enlightenment : the Post-Tridentine Syndrome and the Ancien Regime |date=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-89378-7|page=238}}] Bologna continued to suffer a progressive deindustrialisation also in the 18th century.[{{cite book |last=Gross |first=Hanns |title=Rome in the Age of Enlightenment : the Post-Tridentine Syndrome and the Ancien Regime|date=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge |isbn=978-0-521-89378-7 |page=89}}]
In the mid-1700s, [[Pope Benedict XIV]], 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[{{cite book|last1=Wright|first1=A.D.|title=The early modern papacy : from the Council of Trent to the French Revolution, 1564–1789|date=2000|publisher=Longman|location=Harlow, England |isbn=978-0-582-08747-7 |page=261}}] and relaxing the oppressive system of censorship.[{{cite book|last1=Messberger |display-authors=et al |first1=Rebecca|title=Benedict XIV and the Enlightenment: Art, Science, and Spirituality|date=2016 |publisher=University of Toronto Press|location=Toronto |isbn=978-1-4426-3718-4 |page=211}}]
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.[[https://stats.oecd.org/ Regions and Cities > Regional Statistics > Regional Economy > Regional Gross Domestic Product (Small regions TL3)], OECD.Stats. Accessed on 16 November 2018.][{{cite book|last1=Hearder|first1=Harry|title=Italy in the age of the Risorgimento : 1790 – 1870|date=1994|publisher=Longman|location=London|isbn=978-0-582-49146-5|page=121|edition=7. impr.}}]
===Modern history===
[[File:Bologna Piazza Maggiore c1855.jpg|thumb|Piazza del Nettuno in 1855, looking towards Piazza Maggiore]]
[[Napoleon]] entered Bologna on 19 June 1796. Napoleon briefly reinstated the ancient mode of government, giving power to the [[Senate of Bologna]], which however had to swear fealty to the short-lived [[Cispadane Republic]], created as a [[client state]] of the [[French First Republic]] at the congress of Reggio (27 December 1796 – 9 January 1797) but succeeded by the [[Cisalpine Republic]] on 9 July 1797, later by the [[Italian Republic (Napoleonic)|Italian Republic]] and finally the [[Kingdom of Italy (Napoleonic)|Kingdom of Italy]]. After the fall of Napoleon, the [[Congress of Vienna]] of 1815 restored Bologna to the [[Papal States]]. Papal rule was contested in the [[Revolutions of 1830|uprisings of 1831]]. The insurrected provinces planned to unite as the ''[[Province Italiane Unite]]'' with Bologna as the capital. [[Pope Gregory XVI]] asked for [[Austrian Empire|Austrian]] help against the rebels. [[Metternich]] warned French king [[Louis Philippe I]] against intervention in Italian affairs, and in the spring of 1831, Austrian forces marched across the Italian peninsula, defeating the rebellion by 26 April.{{Citation needed|date=July 2026}}
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.[{{cite book|last1=Hughes|first1=Steven C.|title=Crime, disorder, and the Risorgimento: the politics of policing in Bologna|date=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-44450-7|page=17|edition=1. publ.}}]
In the [[revolutions of 1848]] 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]], when the French and Piedmontese troops expelled the Austrians from Italian lands, on 11 and 12 March 1860, Bologna voted to join the new [[Kingdom of Italy]]. 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.[{{cite book|last1=Toniolo|first1=Gianni|title=An Economic History of Liberal Italy: 1850–1918|publisher=[[Routledge]]|location=Abingdon-on-Thames|isbn=978-1-138-83052-3|page=46|date=8 April 2016}}] 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.[{{cite book|last1=Cardoza|first1=Anthony L.|title=Agrarian Elites and Italian Fascism: The Province of Bologna, 1901–1926|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=978-0-691-64140-9|pages=32–40}}] Indeed, Bologna gave Italy one of its first prime ministers, [[Marco Minghetti]].
After [[World War I]], Bologna was heavily involved in the [[Biennio Rosso]] 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 [[Italian Fascism|Fascist]] movement of [[Benito Mussolini]].[{{cite book|last1=Cardoza|first1=Anthony L.|title=Agrarian Elites and Italian Fascism: The Province of Bologna, 1901–1926|date=2016|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey|isbn=978-0-691-64140-9|pages=387–88}}] [[Dino Grandi]], a high-ranking Fascist party official and Ministry of Foreign Affairs, remembered for being an Anglophile, was from Bologna. During the [[interwar years]], 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.[{{cite book|last1=Sabel|display-authors=et al|first1=Charles F.|title=World of possibilities : flexibility and mass production in western industrialization|date=1997|publisher=Cambridge Univ. Press|location=Cambridge [u.a.]|isbn=978-0-521-49555-4|pages=382–88|edition=1. publ.}}]
====World War II====
[[File:A week before the German surrender in Italy, sappers of 136 Indian Railway Maintenance Company set about repairing some of the extensive damage in the railyards of Bologna, Italy.jpg|thumb|Sappers of the 136 Indian Railway Maintenance Company repair some of the extensive damage to the railyards in 1945.]]
Bologna suffered extensive damage during [[World War II]]. The strategic importance of the city as an industrial and railway hub connecting northern and central Italy made it [[Bombing of Bologna in World War II|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.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.storiaememoriadibologna.it/bombardamenti-aerei-subiti-da-bologna-95-evento|title=Bombardamenti aerei subiti da Bologna - Storia e Memoria di Bologna|website=www.storiaememoriadibologna.it}}][{{cite book|last1=Manaresi|first1=Filippo D'Ajutolo. Testi di Franco|title=Bologna ferita : fotografie inedite 1943–1945|date=1999|publisher=Ed. Pendragon|location=Bologna|isbn=978-88-8342-017-7|page=18}}] By the end of the war, 43% of all buildings in Bologna had been destroyed or damaged.[{{cite book|first=Bernardino|last=Salvati|title=Bologna trema: 1943-1944|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hKuPOTP7wq8C&pg=PA105|year=2003|publisher=Edizioni Pendragon|isbn=978-88-8342-243-0|page=105}}][{{cite book|first=Luca|last=Baccolini|title=Storie segrete della storia di Bologna|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uCxADwAAQBAJ&pg=PT38|year=2017|publisher=Newton Compton Editori|isbn=978-88-227-1332-2|page=38}}]
After the [[Armistice of Cassibile|armistice of 1943]], the city became a key centre of the [[Italian resistance movement]]. On 7 November 1944, a pitched battle around [[Porta Lame, Bologna|Porta Lame]], waged by partisans of the 7th Brigade of the ''Gruppi d'Azione Patriottica'' against [[Italian Social Republic|Fascist]] 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.[{{cite web |url=http://certosa.cineca.it/2/eventi.php?TBL=EVENTI_STORICI&ID=21 |title=7 novembre 1944 – Battaglia di Porta Lame |work=Il Museo Virtuale della Certosa |publisher=Certosa.cineca.it |language=it |access-date=2 May 2012 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707025053/http://certosa.cineca.it/2/eventi.php?TBL=EVENTI_STORICI&ID=21 |archive-date=7 July 2012 |url-status=dead}}] 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]] 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]], 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2018}}
====Cold War period====
[[File:Stragedibologna-2.jpg|thumb|Aftermath of the 1980 terrorist bombing]]
In the post-war years, Bologna became a thriving industrial centre as well as a political stronghold of the [[Italian Communist Party]]. Between 1945 and 1999, the city was helmed by an uninterrupted succession of [[Mayor of Bologna|mayors]] from the PCI and its successors, the [[Democratic Party of the Left]] and [[Democrats of the Left]], the first of whom was [[Giuseppe Dozza]]. At the end of the 1960s the city authorities, worried by massive [[gentrification]] and suburbanisation, asked Japanese [[starchitect]] [[Kenzo Tange]] to sketch a master plan for a [[new town]] north of Bologna; however, the project that came out in 1970 was evaluated as too ambitious and expensive.[{{cite book|last1=Heath|display-authors=et al|first1=Tim|title=Revitalizing historic urban quarters|date=2001|publisher=Architectural Press|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0-7506-2890-7|page=[https://archive.org/details/revitalizinghist0000ties/page/107 107]|edition=Reprinted.|url=https://archive.org/details/revitalizinghist0000ties/page/107}}] Eventually the city council, in spite of vetoing Tange's master plan, decided to keep his project for a [[Fiera District|new exhibition centre and business district]].[{{cite book|last1=Ghirardo|first1=Diane Yvonne|title=Italy: Modern Architectures in History|date=2013|publisher=Reaktion|location=London|isbn=978-1-86189-864-7|page=283|edition=1. publ.}}] At the end of 1978 the construction of a tower block and several diverse buildings and structures started.[{{cite web|title="Chronology of Bologna: 1927" (in Italian)|url=http://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/cronologia/bologna/1978/929|website=www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it|publisher=[[Biblioteca Salaborsa|Salaborsa Library]]|access-date=30 November 2017|archive-date=24 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210924020513/https://www.bibliotecasalaborsa.it/cronologia/bologna/1978/929|url-status=dead}}] In 1985 the headquarters of the regional government of [[Emilia-Romagna]] moved in the new district.[{{cite web|title="La Regione e la sua storia – le sedi della regione" (in Italian)|url=https://www.regione.emilia-romagna.it/storia/sedi|website=www.regione.emilia-romagna.it|publisher=Emilia-Romagna region|access-date=1 December 2017}}]
In 1977, Bologna was the scene of [[Movement of 1977#The riots|rioting]] linked to the [[Movement of 1977]], a spontaneous political movement of the time. The police shooting of a far-left activist, [[Francesco Lorusso]], sparked two days of street clashes. On 2 August 1980, at the height of the "[[Years of Lead (Italy)|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]]. In 1995, members of the [[neo-fascist]] group [[Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari]] were convicted for carrying out the attack, while [[Licio Gelli]]—Grand Master of the underground Freemason lodge [[Propaganda Due]] (P2)—was convicted for hampering the investigation, together with three agents of the secret military intelligence service [[SISMI]] (including [[Francesco Pazienza]] and [[Pietro Musumeci]]). 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]]. However, Bologna reverted to form in 2004 when [[Sergio Cofferati]], a former trade union leader, unseated Guazzaloca. The next centre-left mayor, [[Flavio Delbono]], 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]] (as a state-appointed [[Prefect#Modern sub-national administration|prefect]]), [[Virginio Merola]] was elected as mayor, leading a left-wing coalition comprising the [[Democratic Party (Italy)|Democratic Party]], [[Left Ecology Freedom]] and [[Italy of Values]].[See [http://www.bipr.eu/eventprofile.cfm/idevent=4C9098ED-F72A-7A24-FA7CEF9C574BD7D9/Virginio-Merola---Mayor-of-Bologna-Benvenuti-a-Bologna---Welcome-to-Bologna&zdyx=1 Virginio Merola. "Benvenuti a Bologna – Welcome to Bologna" Oct 18, 2016] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170112001055/http://www.bipr.eu/eventprofile.cfm/idevent%3D4C9098ED-F72A-7A24-FA7CEF9C574BD7D9/Virginio-Merola---Mayor-of-Bologna-Benvenuti-a-Bologna---Welcome-to-Bologna%26zdyx%3D1 |date=12 January 2017 }}] In [[2016 Bologna municipal election|2016]], Merola was confirmed mayor, defeating the conservative candidate, [[Lucia Borgonzoni]]. In 2021, after ten years of Merola's mayorship, one of his closest allies, [[Matteo Lepore]], [[2021 Bologna municipal election|was elected mayor]] with 61.9% of votes, becoming the most voted mayor of Bologna since the introduction of the direct elections in 1995.[[https://www.ansa.it/emiliaromagna/notizie/2021/10/04/per-exit-lepore-verso-la-vittoria-al-primo-turno-a-bologna_24ffc35d-7b30-4ecc-b9ac-f115059c27d9.html Elezioni 2021: Lepore vince a Bologna con una percentuale travolgente], ''ANSA'']
==Geography==
===Territory===
[[File:Luftbild Bologna 01 (RaBoe).jpg|thumb|Aerial photograph of Bologna (north facing on the right)]]
Bologna is situated on the edge of the [[Po Plain]] at the foot of the [[Apennine Mountains]], at the meeting of the [[Reno (river)|Reno]] and [[Savena]] 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 [[province of Bologna]] stretches from the western edge of the Po Plain on the border with [[Ferrara]] to the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines. The centre of the town is {{convert|54|m|ft}} [[above sea level]] (while elevation within the municipality ranges from {{convert|29|m|ft}} in the suburb of Corticella to {{convert|300|m|ft}} 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]]) at {{convert|1945|m|ft}} above sea level.
===Climate===
Bologna has a [[mid-latitude]], four-season subtropical climate ([[Köppen climate classification]]: ''Cfa''). Here are other classifications for the climate of this city:
{{Schemebox
|city =Bologna
| source_k =[{{Cite web|url=https://kkh.ltrr.arizona.edu/kkh/climate/trewartha_maps.htm|title=Trewartha maps|website=kkh.ltrr.arizona.edu|access-date=27 June 2020}}]
| initial_t ={{TrewarthaClimate|Do}}
| description_t =Temperate [[oceanic climate]]
| source_a =[{{Citation|last=Cmapm|first=Kliimavöötmed svg: Urmasderivative work|title=Русский: Климатические пояса Земли по Б. П. Алисову.|date=2011-06-16|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alisov%27s_classification_of_climate_ru.jpg|access-date=27 June 2020}}]
| initial_a ={{n/a}}
| description_a =[[Temperate climate]]
| source_s =[{{Cite web|url=https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c5/16/b8/c516b8c463fa99df0da778f768c85965.jpg|title=World Strahler Climate Map|access-date=27 June 2020}}]
| initial_s = {{center|''10''}}
| description_s =[[Humid continental climate|Moist continental climate]]
| source_tw =[{{Cite journal|last=Feddema|first=Johannes J.|date=January 2005|title=A Revised Thornthwaite-Type Global Climate Classification|journal=Physical Geography|language=en|volume=26|issue=6|pages=442–466|doi=10.2747/0272-3646.26.6.442|bibcode=2005PhGeo..26..442F |s2cid=128745497|issn=0272-3646}}]
| initial_tw ={{center|''C2 s B'2 b'3''}}
| description_tw =Moist subhumid [[mesothermal]] climate
| source_n =[{{Cite web|url=https://www.spektrum.de/lexikon/geographie/klimaklassifikation/4159|title=Klimaklassifikation|website=www.spektrum.de|language=de|access-date=27 June 2020}}]
| initial_n ={{center|''3b''}}
| description_n = Oceanic-continental transition temperate climate
}}
Annual precipitation is around 650–750 mm (25.5–29.5 in),[{{cite web|url=https://www.comune.bologna.it/iperbole/piancont/dati_statistici/Indici/Ambiente%20e%20territorio/index.htm |title=Dati statistici temperature e precipitazioni dal 1991 al 2009 |publisher=comune.bologna.it |access-date=24 January 2014}}] 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.[{{cite web |url=http://www.arpa.emr.it/cms3/documenti/_cerca_doc/ecoscienza/ecoscienza2012_1/nanni_es1_12.pdf |title=Febbraio 2012, ma quanta neve è caduta? |publisher=ARPA Emilia-Romagna |access-date=5 March 2014 |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305021448/http://www.arpa.emr.it/cms3/documenti/_cerca_doc/ecoscienza/ecoscienza2012_1/nanni_es1_12.pdf |url-status=dead }}] Here are [[climate normals]] for the weather station of Bologna Borgo Panigale (at the airport), unaffected by the heat dome of the city, for both 1961–1990 and 1991–2020 periods, in order to highlight changes between the two periods ([[snow]] averages are referred to the city of Bologna, since there is not a complete archive for the Borgo Panigale area):
{{Weather box
| width = auto
| location = Bologna, Guglielmo Marconi Airport (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1991–2020)
| metric first = Yes
| single line = Yes
| Jan record high C = 21
| Feb record high C = 25
| Mar record high C = 27
| Apr record high C = 31
| May record high C = 35
| Jun record high C = 38
| Jul record high C = 40
| Aug record high C = 40
| Sep record high C = 35
| Oct record high C = 30
| Nov record high C = 24
| Dec record high C = 19
| year record high C = 40
| Jan avg record high C = 13.7
| Feb avg record high C = 16.8
| Mar avg record high C = 22.6
| Apr avg record high C = 26.1
| May avg record high C = 30.5
| Jun avg record high C = 34.6
| Jul avg record high C = 36.6
| Aug avg record high C = 36.3
| Sep avg record high C = 31.8
| Oct avg record high C = 26.4
| Nov avg record high C = 19.8
| Dec avg record high C = 14.2
| Jan high C = 7.2
| Feb high C = 9.9
| Mar high C = 15.1
| Apr high C = 19.1
| May high C = 23.9
| Jun high C = 28.5
| Jul high C = 31.4
| Aug high C = 31.3
| Sep high C = 25.7
| Oct high C = 19.3
| Nov high C = 12.6
| Dec high C = 7.7
| Jan mean C = 3.3
| Feb mean C = 5.2
| Mar mean C = 9.6
| Apr mean C = 13.4
| May mean C = 18.2
| Jun mean C = 22.7
| Jul mean C = 25.2
| Aug mean C = 25.1
| Sep mean C = 20.2
| Oct mean C = 14.9
| Nov mean C = 9.0
| Dec mean C = 4.1
| Jan low C = -0.5
| Feb low C = 0.4
| Mar low C = 4.0
| Apr low C = 7.8
| May low C = 12.5
| Jun low C = 16.8
| Jul low C = 19.1
| Aug low C = 19.0
| Sep low C = 14.6
| Oct low C = 10.5
| Nov low C = 5.4
| Dec low C = 0.5
| Jan avg record low C = -5.4
| Feb avg record low C = -4.9
| Mar avg record low C = -1.6
| Apr avg record low C = 2.6
| May avg record low C = 7.5
| Jun avg record low C = 11.7
| Jul avg record low C = 14.4
| Aug avg record low C = 14
| Sep avg record low C = 9.6
| Oct avg record low C = 5
| Nov avg record low C = -0.7
| Dec avg record low C = -5.2
| Jan record low C = -10
| Feb record low C = -17
| Mar record low C = -10
| Apr record low C = -3
| May record low C = 1
| Jun record low C = 7
| Jul record low C = 9
| Aug record low C = 9
| Sep record low C = 6
| Oct record low C = -3
| Nov record low C = -8
| Dec record low C = -13
| year record low C = -17
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 34
| Feb precipitation mm = 56.4
| Mar precipitation mm = 50.3
| Apr precipitation mm = 63.7
| May precipitation mm = 60.6
| Jun precipitation mm = 65.6
| Jul precipitation mm = 32.1
| Aug precipitation mm = 35
| Sep precipitation mm = 60.7
| Oct precipitation mm = 75.4
| Nov precipitation mm = 77.2
| Dec precipitation mm = 56.6
| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
| Jan precipitation days = 5.3
| Feb precipitation days = 5.8
| Mar precipitation days = 6.1
| Apr precipitation days = 7.8
| May precipitation days = 6.9
| Jun precipitation days = 5.9
| Jul precipitation days = 3.2
| Aug precipitation days = 4.1
| Sep precipitation days = 5.7
| Oct precipitation days = 6.9
| Nov precipitation days = 8.2
| Dec precipitation days = 7.1
| unit snow days = 1.0 cm
| Jan humidity = 79.2
| Feb humidity = 72.2
| Mar humidity = 67.5
| Apr humidity = 67.2
| May humidity = 65.1
| Jun humidity = 62.3
| Jul humidity = 59.1
| Aug humidity = 59.8
| Sep humidity = 66.5
| Oct humidity = 75.6
| Nov humidity = 81
| Dec humidity = 80.7
| year humidity =
| source 1 = https://inumeridibolognametropolitana.it/dati-statistici/temperature-e-precipitazioni-stazione-di-bologna-borgo-panigale-dati-mensili
| source 2 = https://centrometeobolognese.com
| date = August 2010[{{cite web
|url = https://centrometeobolognese.com
|title = Nevosità media a Bologna città 1991-2020
|publisher = Centro Meteorologico Bolognese
|access-date = 1 February 2024}}]
| source =
}}
{{Weather box
| width = auto
| location = Bologna, Guglielmo Marconi Airport (1961–1990 normals, extremes 1961–1990)
| metric first = Yes
| single line = Yes
| collapsed = Yes
| Jan record high C = 20
| Feb record high C = 24.8
| Mar record high C = 25.6
| Apr record high C = 28.4
| May record high C = 31.9
| Jun record high C = 35.6
| Jul record high C = 39.6
| Aug record high C = 38.3
| Sep record high C = 34.1
| Oct record high C = 28.2
| Nov record high C = 24
| Dec record high C = 22.8
| year record high C = 39.6
| Jan high C = 4.8
| Feb high C = 8.2
| Mar high C = 13.4
| Apr high C = 17.8
| May high C = 22.7
| Jun high C = 26.8
| Jul high C = 29.9
| Aug high C = 29.2
| Sep high C = 25.3
| Oct high C = 18.9
| Nov high C = 11.1
| Dec high C = 5.9
| Jan mean C = 1.6
| Feb mean C = 4.5
| Mar mean C = 8.7
| Apr mean C = 12.7
| May mean C = 17.3
| Jun mean C = 21.2
| Jul mean C = 24.1
| Aug mean C = 23.6
| Sep mean C = 20.1
| Oct mean C = 14.5
| Nov mean C = 7.7
| Dec mean C = 2.8
| Jan low C = -1.5
| Feb low C = 0.8
| Mar low C = 3.9
| Apr low C = 7.6
| May low C = 11.8
| Jun low C = 15.6
| Jul low C = 18.2
| Aug low C = 17.9
| Sep low C = 14.8
| Oct low C = 10.1
| Nov low C = 4.3
| Dec low C = -0.3
| Jan record low C = -18.8
| Feb record low C = -12.6
| Mar record low C = -8.6
| Apr record low C = -1
| May record low C = 0.8
| Jun record low C = 7
| Jul record low C = 9
| Aug record low C = 9.7
| Sep record low C = 4.5
| Oct record low C = 0.2
| Nov record low C = -9
| Dec record low C = -13.4
| year record low C = -18.8
| precipitation colour = green
| Jan precipitation mm = 42.9
| Feb precipitation mm = 44.9
| Mar precipitation mm = 60.4
| Apr precipitation mm = 67.0
| May precipitation mm = 65.0
| Jun precipitation mm = 52.6
| Jul precipitation mm = 42.8
| Aug precipitation mm = 57.9
| Sep precipitation mm = 61.0
| Oct precipitation mm = 71.6
| Nov precipitation mm = 81.3
| Dec precipitation mm = 61.0
| unit precipitation days = 1.0 mm
| Jan precipitation days = 7
| Feb precipitation days = 6
| Mar precipitation days = 8
| Apr precipitation days = 7
| May precipitation days = 8
| Jun precipitation days = 7
| Jul precipitation days = 5
| Aug precipitation days = 6
| Sep precipitation days = 5
| Oct precipitation days = 7
| Nov precipitation days = 8
| Dec precipitation days = 7
| Jan snow days = 2.4
| Feb snow days = 1.2
| Mar snow days = 0.5
| Apr snow days = 0.05
| May snow days = 0
| Jun snow days = 0
| Jul snow days = 0
| Aug snow days = 0
| Sep snow days = 0
| Oct snow days = 0
| Nov snow days = 0.5
| Dec snow days = 1.7
| Jan humidity = 83
| Feb humidity = 78
| Mar humidity = 70
| Apr humidity = 71
| May humidity = 69
| Jun humidity = 68
| Jul humidity = 65
| Aug humidity = 66
| Sep humidity = 69
| Oct humidity = 76
| Nov humidity = 84
| Dec humidity = 84
| year humidity =
| Jand sun = 2.5
| Febd sun = 3.4
| Mard sun = 4.9
| Aprd sun = 5.8
| Mayd sun = 7.4
| Jund sun = 8.5
| Juld sun = 9.4
| Augd sun = 8.4
| Sepd sun = 6.7
| Octd sun = 4.8
| Novd sun = 2.7
| Decd sun = 2.4
| yeard sun =
| Jan sun = 77.5
| Feb sun = 96.05
| Mar sun = 151.9
| Apr sun = 174
| May sun = 229.4
| Jun sun = 255
| Jul sun = 291.4
| Aug sun = 260.4
| Sep sun = 201
| Oct sun = 148.8
| Nov sun = 81
| Dec sun = 74.4
| year sun =
| Jan percentsun = 27
| Feb percentsun = 33
| Mar percentsun = 41
| Apr percentsun = 43
| May percentsun = 50
| Jun percentsun = 55
| Jul percentsun = 62
| Aug percentsun = 60
| Sep percentsun = 53
| Oct percentsun = 44
| Nov percentsun = 28
| Dec percentsun = 27
| year percentsun =
| source 1 = https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stazione_meteorologica_di_Bologna_Borgo_Panigale
| date = August 2010[
{{cite web
|url = https://centrometeobolognese.com
|title = Nevosità media a Bologna città 1961-1990
|publisher = Centro Meteorologico Bolognese
|access-date = 1 February 2024
}}
]
| source 2 = https://centrometeobolognese.com
}}
==Government==
{{See also|Mayor of Bologna}}
===Municipal government===
The legislative body of the [[Comune|municipality]] is the City Council ({{lang|it|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 [[Assessor (Italy)|assessors]], that is nominated and presided over by a directly elected [[Mayor of Bologna|mayor]]. The current mayor of Bologna is Matteo Lepore ([[Democratic Party (Italy)|PD]]), elected on 4 October 2021 with 61.9% of the votes.[{{cite web|title=Demographic Balance for the year 2017 (provisional data)|url=http://demo.istat.it/bilmens2017gen/index.html|publisher=[[Istituto Nazionale di Statistica|Istat]]|access-date=4 November 2017|archive-date=16 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180716065929/http://demo.istat.it/bilmens2017gen/index.html|url-status=dead}}] 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]], a tower complex designed by Japanese architect [[Kenzo Tange]] in 1985.
According to the last governmental dispositions concerning administrative reorganisation, the urban area of Bologna is one of the 15 [[Metropolitan cities of Italy|metropolitan municipalities]] (''città metropolitane''), new administrative bodies fully operative since 1 January 2015.[{{cite web|title=Spending Review Act |url=http://www.governo.it/Presidenza/Comunicati/dettaglio.asp?d=68656 |publisher=Italian Government |access-date=18 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120714005846/http://www.governo.it/Presidenza/Comunicati/dettaglio.asp?d=68656 |archive-date=14 July 2012}}] 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.[{{cite web|url=http://www.unicreditreviews.com/uploads/03_ferri_ing_201-236.pdf |title=Metropolitan cities in Italy. An institution of federalism |publisher=University of Milan-Bicocca |first=Vittorio |last=Ferri |year=2009 |access-date=23 May 2011}} {{Dead link|date=June 2016|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}] In this policy framework, the mayor of Bologna is designated to exercise the functions of a 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 11 October 2021 [[Matteo Lepore]], as mayor of the capital city, has been the mayor of the Metropolitan City.
==Cityscape==
{{Further|Category:Buildings and structures in Bologna}}
{{see also|Towers of Bologna}}
[[File:View_from_the_Torre_degli_Asinelli,_Bologna_3.jpg|thumb|Panoramic view of central Bologna]]
[[File:Piazza Maggiore - Panoramica.jpg|thumb|[[Piazza Maggiore]], with [[San Petronio Basilica]], [[Palazzo dei Banchi]], and [[Palazzo del Podestà, Bologna|Palazzo del Podestà]]]]
[[File:Bologna Via Pescherie Vecchie 01.jpg|thumb|The colourful open-air market of Via Pescherie Vecchie]]
[[File:Bologna, Santuario della Madonna di San Luca 004.JPG|thumb|right|[[Madonna di San Luca, Bologna|Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca]]]]
[[File:Walkway,_Bologna.jpg|thumb|160px|The [[Porticoes of Bologna|porticoes]] of Bologna are a symbol of the city.]]
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 {{convert|350|acre|0|order=flip}} historic centre is Europe's second largest,[{{Cite book|author = National League of Cities, American Municipal Association|title = Nation's cities, Volume 14|publisher = National League of Cities |year = 1976 |location = United States }}] containing an immense wealth of important medieval, renaissance, and baroque artistic monuments.
Bologna developed along the [[Via Emilia]] 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]] are the central ''Due Torri'' (''Asinelli'' and ''Garisenda''), whose iconic leaning forms provide a popular symbol of the town.[{{cite web|title=The Two Towers: Garisenda e degli Asinelli|url=http://www.artcityemiliaromagna.com/places/bologna/the-two-towers-garisenda-e-degli-asinelli|website=artcityemiliaromagna.com|publisher=Official tourism promotion website of Emilia-Romagna region|access-date=4 November 2017}}]
The cityscape is further enriched by its elegant and extensive [[Porticoes of Bologna|porticoes]], for which the city is famous. In total, there are some {{convert|38|km|0|abbr=off}} of [[portico]]es in the city's historical centre[{{cite web|title=The Porticoes of Bologna|url= https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5010/|type = [[World Heritage Site]] submission |publisher = [[UNESCO]] World Heritage Centre|date = 1 June 2006|access-date = 29 June 2012}}] (over {{convert|45|km|0|abbr=on}} 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.[{{cite news|last=Caird|first=Joe|title=Bologna city guide: top five sights|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/citybreaks/4223609/Bologna-city-guide-top-five-sights.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/citybreaks/4223609/Bologna-city-guide-top-five-sights.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=1 June 2013|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|date=16 January 2009}}{{cbignore}}] It connects [[Porta Saragozza]] (one of the twelve gates of the ancient walls built in the Middle Ages, which circled a {{convert|7.5|km|1|abbr=on}} part of the city) with the [[Madonna di San Luca, Bologna|Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca]], 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 ({{convert|289|m|0|abbr=off}}) overlooking the town, which is one of Bologna's main landmarks. The winding 666 vault arcades, almost four kilometres ({{convert|3796|m|ft|disp=or|abbr=on}}) 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]] down to the [[Bologna Cathedral]] during the [[Feast of the Ascension]].[data from [https://www.bolognawelcome.com/en/places-to-see/history-art/params/CategorieLuoghi_34/Luoghi_129/ref/Basilica%20of%20San%20Petronio http://www.bolognawelcome.com, ''Basilica di San Petronio''] plus calculations as follows:
* San Petronio de Bologna: The floorplan of the building is a simple rectangle
** Area = length of the building x width of the building = 132 m x 60 m
* The volume, without the roofs, can be calculated as a sum of five cuboids, one single (the central nave) and two pairs (the aisles and the files of chapels). The sum of each of the pairs can be calculated as one cuboid of double width. Knowing the height of the central nave and the width of the building, the measures of the sections can be calculated by measuring an orthograde photo of the facade.
** Volume = (traverse section of the central nave [width = 22 m, height = 44.27 m] + sum of the traverse sections of the two aisles [width = 20 m, height = 29.06 m] + sum of the traverse sections of the two files of chapels [width = 18 m, height = 22.38 m]) x length of the building [132 m]
** (973.94 + 581.2 + 402.84) x 132 = 1,957.98 x 132 = 258,453.36] The Basilica of [[Santo Stefano, Bologna|Saint Stephen]] 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]]. The [[Basilica of San Domenico|Basilica of Saint Dominic]] is an example of Romanic architecture from the 13th century, enriched by the monumental tombs of great Bolognese [[glossator]]s Rolandino de'Passeggeri and Egidio Foscherari. Basilicas of [[San Francesco, Bologna|St Francis]], [[Santa Maria dei Servi, Bologna|Santa Maria dei Servi]] and [[San Giacomo Maggiore]] are other magnificent examples of 14th century architecture, the latter also featuring Renaissance artworks such as the [[Bentivoglio Altarpiece]] by [[Lorenzo Costa]]. Finally, the Church of [[San Michele in Bosco]] is a 15th century religious complex located on a hill not far from the city's historical center.
[[File:Bologna Panorama.jpg|thumb|center|upright=3.2|View from the top of the Basilica di San Petronio: the dome of Santuario di Santa Maria della Vita dominates the foreground; the ''Asinelli'' (higher) and ''Garisenda'' towers (''Due Torri'') are seen on the right.]]
==Economy==
[[File:Unipol Tower 02.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Unipol Tower]], at {{Convert|127|m|ft|abbr=on}}, is the city's tallest building.]]
In terms of total GDP, the [[Metropolitan City of Bologna]] 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 [[Metropolitan City of Milan|Milan]] and [[South Tyrol|Bolzano/Bozen]]).[{{cite web|title=Dossier on the Metropolitan City of Bologna|url=https://www.affariregionali.it/media/170175/dossier-citt%C3%A0-metropolitana-di-bologna.pdf|publisher=[[Istituto Nazionale di Statistica|Istat]]|access-date=4 November 2017}}]
The economy of Bologna is characterized by a flourishing industrial sector, traditionally centered on the transformation of agricultural and zootechnical products ([[:it:Eridania|Eridania]], [[Granarolo (company)|Granarolo]], [[Segafredo Zanetti]], {{ill|Conserve Italia|it}}), machinery ({{ill|Coesia|it}}, [[IMA (company)|IMA]], [[Sacmi]]), construction equipment ([[Maccaferri]]); energy ([[Hera Group]]), automotive ([[Ducati]], [[Lamborghini]]), footwear, textile, engineering, chemical, printing and publishing ([[:it:Cappelli (editore)|Cappelli]], [[:it:il Mulino|il Mulino]], {{ill|Monrif Group|it|Monrif}}, [[:it:Zanichelli|Zanichelli]]).
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 machine]]s ({{ill|Coesia|it}}, [[IMA (company)|IMA]]).[{{cite book|last1=Fotis|display-authors=et al|first1=Marco|title=The Automatic Packaging Machinery Sector in Italy and Germany|date=2014|publisher=[[Springer Publishing|Springer]]|isbn=978-3-319-12762-0|pages=1–2}}] Furthermore, Bologna is well known for its dense network of [[cooperative]]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[{{cite news|last=Duda|first=John|title=The Italian Region Where Co-ops Produce a Third of Its GDP|url=https://www.yesmagazine.org/economy/2016/07/05/the-italian-place-where-co-ops-drive-the-economy-and-most-people-are-members|access-date=4 November 2017|publisher=[[Yes! (U.S. magazine)|YES! Magazine]]|date=5 July 2016|language=en}}] and occupies 265,000 people in the Emilia-Romagna region.[{{cite web|last=Caselli|first=Guido|title=Osservatorio della cooperazione in Emilia-Romagna|url=https://imprese.regione.emilia-romagna.it/industria-artigianato-cooperazione-servizi/doc/file/osservatorio-della-cooperazione-in-emilia-romagna|publisher=Chamber of Commerce of Emilia-Romagna|access-date=4 November 2017}}]
==Transport==
[[File:Irisbus Crealis trolley TPER 107 1.jpg|thumb|A [[Trolleybus]] of the [[Trolleybuses in Bologna|urban trolleybus network]] managed by [[TPER]], photographed in Via Saffi]]
The [[Bologna Guglielmo Marconi Airport]] is the [[List of the busiest airports in Europe|seventh busiest]] Italian airport for passenger traffic (11 million passengers in 2025).
[[Bologna Centrale railway station]] 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.[{{cite web|title=Bologna Centrale|url=http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d77f0d935b09a110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD|publisher=Grandi Stazioni|access-date=30 December 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210084923/http://www.grandistazioni.it/cms/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=d77f0d935b09a110VgnVCM1000003f16f90aRCRD|archive-date=10 February 2012|url-status=dead}}] The city hosts several minor railway stations (see [[List of railway stations in Bologna]]).
Bologna San Donato [[classification yard]], with 33 railway tracks, used to be the largest freight hub in Italy by size and traffic.[{{cite web|title=The Bologna Freight Village |url=http://www.interporto.it/imgup/Company%20profile%202013%20v2.pdf |publisher=Bologna Interporto S.p.a. |access-date=1 June 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212140125/http://www.interporto.it/imgup/Company%20profile%202013%20v2.pdf |archive-date=12 December 2013}}] Since 2018, it has been repurposed as the [[Bologna San Donato railway test circuit]].[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 [[Trolleybuses in Bologna|trolleybus lines]], operated since 2012 by [[Trasporto Passeggeri Emilia-Romagna]] (TPER).
As of May 2023, the first line of the new [[Bologna tramway]] is under construction.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.trambologna.it/2023/04/26/partono-cantieri-realizzazione-linea-rossa-tram-deposito-borgo-panigale-terminal-michelino-fiera/|title = Partono i cantieri per la realizzazione della linea rossa del tram, il via dal deposito di Borgo Panigale e dal Terminal Michelino-Fiera|date=2023-04-26|access-date=2023-05-10|language=it}}] Overall, a four-line tramway network is planned.[{{cite web|url=https://www.metro-report.com/news/news-by-region/europe/single-view/view/four-tram-lines-planned-for-bologna.html|title=Four tram lines planned for Bologna|website=Metro Report|date=13 March 2019|access-date=17 March 2019}}]
The large [[commuter rail]] service centred on Bologna is branded as the [[Bologna metropolitan railway service]].
===Public transport statistics===
The average length 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 length 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 {{Convert|5.4|km|mi|abbr=on}}, while 7% travel for over {{Convert|12|km|mi|abbr=on}} in a single direction.[{{cite web|title=Bologna Public Transportation Statistics|publisher= Global Public Transit Index by Moovit|url=https://moovitapp.com/insights/en/Moovit_Insights_Public_Transit_Index_Italy_Bologna_e_Romagna-1783|access-date=19 June 2017}} [[File:CC-BY icon.svg|50px|class=noviewer]] Material was copied from this source, which is available under a [https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License].]
==Demographics==
{{Historical populations|1861|116874|1871|118217|1881|126178|1901|153271|1911|179311|1921|212754|1931|249226|1936|281162|1951|340526|1961|444872|1971|490528|1981|459080|1991|404378|2001|371217|2011|371337|2021|387842|cols=1|align=right|source=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]][{{cite web |title=Popolazione residente e presente dei comuni. Censimenti dal 1861 al 1971|trans-title=Resident and present population of the municipalities. Censuses from 1861 to 1971|url=https://ebiblio.istat.it/digibib/Censimenti%20popolazione/Censimentipopolazioneresidentedal1861/PUV0027177Pop_res_pres_cens_1861_1971_Tomo1.pdf|date=1971-10-24|lang=it|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]}}][{{cite web |title=Dashboard Permanent census of population and housing|url=https://esploradati.censimentopopolazione.istat.it/databrowser/#/en/censtest/dashboards|publisher=[[National Institute of Statistics (Italy)|ISTAT]]}}] The current birth rate of Bologna is 8.07 births per 1,000 inhabitants compared to the Italian average of 9.45 births.
==Education==
[[File:Archiginnasio ora blu Bologna.jpg|thumb|[[Bologna University]], established in AD 1088, is the [[List of oldest universities in continuous operation|world's oldest university in continuous operation]].]]
The [[University of Bologna]], conventionally said to have been founded in 1088 by [[glossator]]s [[Irnerius]] and [[Pepo (jurist)|Pepo]],[{{cite book|last1=Rashdall|first1=Hastings|title=The universities of Europe in the Middle Ages|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge university press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-108-01810-4|pages=119–121}}] is the [[list of oldest universities in continuous operation|oldest university in continuous operation]], and the first university in the sense of a higher-learning and degree-awarding institute, as the word ''universitas'' was coined at its foundation,[{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wyjnHZ1IIlgC&q=the+oldest+university+in+the+world+Bologna&pg=PA18 |title=The Challenge of Bologna|author=Paul L. Gaston |year=2010 |page=18 |publisher=Stylus |isbn=978-1-57922-366-3 |access-date=7 July 2016}}][{{cite web |url=https://bologna.repubblica.it/cronaca/2017/07/03/news/censis_la_classifica_delle_universita_bologna_ancora_prima-169846308/ |title=Censis, la classifica delle università: Bologna ancora prima |date=3 July 2017}}] It was an important centre of European intellectual life during the Middle Ages, attracting scholars from Italy and throughout Europe.[{{cite book|editor-last=Ridder-Symoens|editor-first= Hilde de|title=A history of the university in Europe.|date=2003|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=978-0-521-54113-8|page=12|edition=1st pbk.}}] 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.
[[File:Bologna,_Archiginnasio,_Teatro_anatomico_(6).jpg|thumb|[[Anatomical theatre of the Archiginnasio]], dating from 1637]]
In the Napoleonic era, the headquarters of the university were moved to their present location on [[Via Zamboni]], 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]], [[Forlì]], [[Ravenna]], and [[Rimini]]. Noteworthy students present at the university in centuries past included [[Dante]], [[Petrarch]], [[Thomas Becket]], [[Pope Nicholas V]], [[Erasmus of Rotterdam]], [[Peter Martyr Vermigli]], and [[Copernicus]]. [[Laura Bassi]], appointed in 1732, became the first woman to officially teach at a university in Europe. In more recent history, [[Luigi Galvani]], the discoverer of [[bioelectromagnetics]], and [[Guglielmo Marconi]], 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.[{{cite web|title=THE UNIVERSITY TODAY: NUMBERS AND INNOVATION|url=https://www.unibo.it/en/university/who-we-are/university-today|publisher=University of Bologna|access-date=4 November 2017}}] The university's [[botanical garden]], the [[Orto Botanico dell'Università di Bologna]], was established in 1568; it is the fourth oldest in Europe.
[[Johns Hopkins University]] maintains its [[Bologna Center]] 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.[{{cite web|url=https://www.unibo.it/en/international/agreements-and-networks/american-centres |title=American Centres – University of Bologna |website=Unibo.it |access-date=18 January 2016}}] It was inspired by Marshall Plan efforts to build a cultural bridge between America and Europe.[{{cite web|url=http://2001-2009.state.gov/p/us/rm/2005/46551.htm |title=Remarks at the 50th Anniversary of SAIS in Bologna |website=2001-2009.state.gov |date=19 May 2005 |access-date=18 January 2016}}] 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.[{{cite web|url=http://www.italo-americana.org/wp/about-us/ |title=About Us | Associazione Italo Americana Luciano Finelli |access-date=18 April 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140121074742/http://www.italo-americana.org/wp/about-us/ |archive-date=21 January 2014}}]
The Eastern College Consortium (E.C.Co.), comprising [[Vassar College]], [[Wellesley College]], and [[Wesleyan University]], offers a study abroad program in the city in association with the University of Bologna. [[Dickinson College]], [[Indiana University]], [[Brown University]], and the [[University of California]] also have campuses or antennas in the city.
In addition, Bologna hosts a music school, [[Conservatorio Giovanni Battista Martini]], established in 1804, and an art school, [[Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna]], founded in 1802. Both institutions were born as part of the reforms introduced by Napoleon Bonaparte.
==Culture==
[[File:Museomusicabosala7.jpg|thumb|left|The [[International museum and library of music]] displays ancient musical instruments and unique musical scores from the 16th to the 20th centuries.]]
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 [[Italian Communist Party]].[{{cite web|title=The red, the fat, and the learned: The story behind Bologna's curious nicknames|url=https://www.thelocal.it/20170510/bologna-dotta-grassa-rassa-red-fat-learned-studious-travel-italy-vacation|access-date=4 November 2017|website=[[The Local]]|date=10 May 2017}}] The centre-left regained power again in the 2004 mayoral elections, with the election of [[Sergio Cofferati]]. It was one of the first European cities to experiment with the concept of [[free public transport]].[{{cite web|url=http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/WebCSI/4S/download_paper/download_paper.php?paper=nahuis_van_lente.pdf |title=Repertoires of Democracy: The Case for Public Transport |access-date=19 April 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325224146/http://www.csi.ensmp.fr/WebCSI/4S/download_paper/download_paper.php?paper=nahuis_van_lente.pdf |archive-date=25 March 2009}}] 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 [[University of Bologna|university]] was founded in 1088 and it is considered the oldest university in the world. According to the QS University Rankings, Bologna university is the 3rd-ranked Italian university and the 138th-ranked in the world.
The large number of students coming from all over Italy and the world (there are several campuses of foreign universities in Bologna, including Johns Hopkins University, Dickinson College, Indiana University, Brown University, the 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===
[[File:Arena_del_Sole_(cropped).jpg|thumb|Façade of Arena del Sole theatre]]
The city of Bologna became a [[UNESCO]] 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."[{{cite web |url=http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24544&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713153427/http://portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_ID=24544&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 July 2012 |title=The Creative Cities Network: UNESCO Culture Sector |publisher=Portal.unesco.org |access-date=19 April 2010 }}]
The theatre was a popular form of entertainment in Bologna until the 16th century. The first public theatre was the Teatro alla Scala, active since 1547 in [[Palazzo del Podestà, Bologna|Palazzo del Podestà]]. An important figure of Italian Bolognese theatre was [[Alfredo Testoni]], the playwright and author of ''[[Cardinal Lambertini (play)|Cardinal Lambertini]]'', which has had great theatrical success since 1905, repeated on screen by the Bolognese actor [[Gino Cervi]]. 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 [[Orchestra Mozart]], whose music director was [[Claudio Abbado]] until his death in 2014, was created in 2004.
Bologna hosts a number of international music, art, dance and film festivals, including Angelica,[{{cite web|url=https://www.aaa-angelica.com/ |title=Angelica |publisher=Aaa-angelica.com |access-date=19 April 2010}}] ''Bologna'' and ''Contemporanea'' (festivals on contemporary music),[{{cite web|url=http://www.bolognacontemporanea.it/ |title=Eventi Arte Contemporanea | Bologna contemporanea |website=Bolognacontemporanea.it |access-date=18 January 2016}}] Bolognafestival (international classical music festival),[{{cite web|url=https://www.bolognafestival.it |title=Bolonafestival |publisher=Bolognafestival.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] Bologna Jazz Festival,[{{cite web|url=http://www.bolognajazzfestival.it |title=BolognaJazzFestival |publisher=BolognaJazzFestival.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] Biografilm Festival (devoted to biographical movies),[{{cite web|url=https://www.biografilm.it |title=Biografilm Festival |language= it |publisher=Biografilm.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] BilBolBul (a comics festival),[{{cite web|url=https://www.bilbolbul.net |title=BilBolBul |publisher=BilBolBul |access-date=19 April 2010}}] Danza Urbana (a street contemporary dance festival),[{{cite web|url=http://www.danzaurbana.it |title=Danza Urbana |publisher=Danzaurbana.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] [[F.I.S.Co.|F.I.S.Co]] (festival on contemporary art, now merged into [[Live Arts Week]]), Future Film Festival (animation and special effects),[{{cite web|url=http://www.futurefilmfestival.org |title=futurefilmfestival |website=Futurefilmfestival.org |access-date=19 April 2010}}] ''Il Cinema Ritrovato'' (film festival about rare and forgotten movies),[{{cite web|url=http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/vedere/festival |title=Il CInema Ritrovato |publisher=Cinetecadibologna.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] [[Live Arts Week]], Gender Bender (festival on gender identity, sexual orientation, and body representation),[{{cite web|url=https://www.genderbender.it |title=Gender Bender |publisher=Genderbender.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] Homework festival (electronic music festival),[{{cite web |url=http://www.homeworkfestival.net/ |title=homeworkfestival |publisher=homeworkfestival |access-date=19 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101228154815/http://www.homeworkfestival.net/ |archive-date=28 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}] Human Rights Film Festival,[{{cite web|url=http://www.cinetecadibologna.it/vedere/festival |title=Human Rights Film Festival |publisher=Cinetecadibologna.it |access-date=19 April 2010}}] Some Prefer Cake (lesbian film festival),[{{cite web|url=http://www.someprefercakefestival.com/index_en.htm |title=Some Prefer Cake Lesbian Film Festival |access-date=19 August 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120209111233/http://www.someprefercakefestival.com/index_en.htm |archive-date=9 February 2012}}] [[Zecchino d'Oro]] (a children's song contest).
===Cuisine===
[[File:Tagliatelle_al_ragù_(image_modified).jpg|thumb|''Tagliatelle al ragù'', as served in Bologna]]
Bologna is renowned for its culinary tradition. It is the home of the famous [[Bolognese sauce]], a meat-based pasta sauce. In Italy, it is called [[ragù]] and is substantially different from the variety found worldwide. In Bologna, the sauce is served primarily with [[tagliatelle]], and serving it with [[spaghetti]] is considered odd.[{{cite news|last=Cesarato|first=Monica|title=Why you won't find spaghetti bolognese in Italy|url=https://www.thelocal.it/20160914/the-truth-about-spaghetti-bolognese-ragu-pasta|access-date=November 5, 2017|website=[[The Local]]|date=September 14, 2016}}]
Situated in the fertile [[Po Valley]], the rich local cuisine depends heavily on meats and cheeses. As in all of Emilia-Romagna, the production of [[Cured pork tenderloin|cured pork meats]] such as [[prosciutto]], [[mortadella]] and ''[[salumi]]'' is an important part of the local food industry.[{{cite book|last1=Pauls|first1=Dana Facaros & Michael|title=Italy : Bologna & Emilia Romagna|date=2000|publisher=Cadogan|location=London|isbn=978-1-86011-977-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781860119774/page/57 57]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781860119774/page/57}}] Well-regarded nearby vineyards include [[Pignoletto]] dei Colli Bolognesi, [[Lambrusco]] di Modena and [[Sangiovese]] di Romagna.[{{cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Burton|title=The Wines of Italy. An endless adventure in taste|date=2006|publisher=The Italian Trade Commission|asin=B002H6TK9C|pages=85–89|edition=8th}}] Tagliatelle with ragù, [[tortellini]] served in broth, [[lasagna]] and mortadella Bologna are among the local specialties.[{{cite book|last1=Pauls|first1=Dana Facaros & Michael|title=Italy : Bologna & Emilia Romagna|date=2000|publisher=Cadogan|location=London|isbn=978-1-86011-977-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781860119774/page/52 52]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781860119774/page/52}}]
Traditional Bolognese desserts are often linked to holidays, such as ''fave dei morti'', multi-coloured [[almond paste]] cookies made for [[All Saints' Day]], jam-filled raviole cookies that are served on [[Saint Joseph's Day]], 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,[{{cite book|last1=Pauls|first1=Dana Facaros & Michael|title=Italy : Bologna & Emilia Romagna|date=2000|publisher=Cadogan|location=London|isbn=978-1-86011-977-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781860119774/page/60 60]|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781860119774/page/60}}] as well as [[zuppa inglese]].
==Sport==
[[File:PalaDozza 2022.jpg|thumb|right|The PalaDozza, Bologna's historic basketball arena]]
In Bologna, unlike the vast majority of Italian cities, [[basketball]] is the most followed and practiced 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 Bologna|Virtus]] and [[Fortitudo Bologna|Fortitudo]].[{{cite book |first = Alexander |last = Wolff |title = Big Game, Small World: A Basketball Adventure |year = 2003 |chapter = 6 |publisher = Grand Central Publishing |isbn= 978-0-446-67989-3}}] Of the two, the former has won, among others, 17 [[Serie A (Basketball)|Italian basketball championships]], two [[EuroLeague]]s, one [[EuroCup Basketball|EuroCup]] and one [[FIBA Saporta Cup]], making them one of the most successful European basketball clubs; the latter has won two league titles, in 2000 and 2005. The Italian Basketball League, which operates both [[Lega Basket Serie A|Serie A]] and [[Serie A2 (basketball)|Serie A2]], has its headquarters in Bologna. There are two indoor arenas in the city: [[PalaDozza]] is the oldest, with a capacity of 5,570 seats, while [[Virtus Arena]] is a temporary venue with a capacity of 9,980 seats. A third arena with a capacity of 11,000 seats, the [[Unipol Arena]], is located in the neighbouring town of [[Casalecchio di Reno]].
[[File:Stadio Dall'Ara 01-02-2020.jpg|thumb|left|The 32,000-capacity Stadio Renato Dall'Ara is the home of Bologna FC 1909.]]
[[Association football|Football]] also has a strong tradition in Bologna. The city's main club, [[Bologna FC 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 addition, they have won three [[Coppa Italia]] titles, the latest of which came in the [[2024–25 Coppa Italia|2024–2025 season]]. In their 1930s heyday Bologna FC was known as "''Lo squadrone che tremare il mondo fa''" ('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 was one of the first rugby union clubs established in Italy and was the first club affiliated to the [[Italian Rugby Federation|Italian rugby union federation]].[{{cite web |url= http://www.air.it/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=18003 |title = Rugby Bologna 1928: quale futuro? |last = Zanasi |first = Gianni |date = 6 March 2009 |website = air.it |publisher = Associazione Italiana Rugbysti |language = it |trans-title = What Future for Rugby Bologna 1928? |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141105161150/http://www.air.it/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=18003 |archive-date = 5 November 2014 |access-date = 5 November 2014}}] As of 2026 it 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 finishing as runners-up several times; they returned to the [[Serie A Elite (rugby union)|top division]] in the late 1990s and faced serious financial problems which led to their relegation and near disappearance.{{citation needed|date=May 2016}}
[[Gianni Falchi Stadium]] is a [[baseball stadium]] located in Bologna.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.fortitudobaseball.com/falchi.htm|title=Fortitudo Baseball Bologna – Stadio Gianni Falchi|website=www.fortitudobaseball.com}}][[https://www.espn.com/mlb/worldclassic2006/news/story?id=2291227 "Welcome to Italy,"] ESPN.][{{Cite web|url=https://www.baseballprospectus.com/news/article/17678/punk-hits-baseball-in-the-old-country/|title=Punk Hits: Baseball in the Old Country|date=18 July 2012|website=Baseball Prospectus}}] It is home to the home games of [[Fortitudo Baseball Bologna]], in the [[Italian Baseball League]].[{{Cite web|url=https://www.fortitudobaseball.it/|title=Fortitudo Baseball|website=Fortitudo Baseball}}]
==People==
{{Main category|People from Bologna}}
[[File:Giovanni Artusi.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Giovanni Artusi]]]]
[[File:Benoit XIV.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Pope Benedict XIV]], born in Bologna in 1675]]
[[File:Annibale Carracci, Autoritratto .jpg|thumb|140px|[[Annibale Carracci]], {{circa|1580}}]]
[[File:Chiara Caselli 2002.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Chiara Caselli]], 2002]]
[[File:Pier Ferdinando Casini 2016.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Pier Ferdinando Casini]], 2016]]
[[File:Luigi Galvani, oil-painting.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Luigi Galvani]]]]
[[File:Ritratto di Gregorio XIII - Passarotti.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Pope Gregory XIII]], 1586]]
[[File:Gregorius XV, by Guercino, 1622.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Pope Gregory XV]], 1622]]
[[File:Guglielmo Marconi.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Guglielmo Marconi]], 1908]]
[[File:Tagliacozzi Portrait.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Gaspare Tagliacozzi]]]]
;
* [[Stefano Accorsi]] (born 1971), actor
* [[Maria Gaetana Agnesi]] (1718–1799), mathematician and humanitarian
* [[Kimi Antonelli]] (born 2006), Formula 1 racer for Mercedes
* [[Francesco Albani]] (1578–1660), Baroque painter[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Albani, Francesco |volume = 1 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 481 |short=1}}]
* [[Giovanni Aldini]] (1762–1834), physician and physicist[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Aldini, Giovanni |volume = 1 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 536 |short=1}}]
* [[Ulisse Aldrovandi]] (1522–1605), naturalist
* [[Antonio Alessandrini]] (1786–1861), anatomist and parasitologist
* [[Alessandro Algardi]] (1598–1654), a high-Baroque sculptor[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Algardi, Alessandro |volume = 1 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 598 |short=1}}]
* [[Victor Arimondi]] (1942–2001), photographer
* [[Giovanni Maria Artusi]] ({{circa|1540–1613}}), musical theorist, composer and writer[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Artusi, Giovanni Maria |volume = 2 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 705 |short=1}}]
* [[Amico Aspertini]] ({{circa|1474–1552}}), painter
* [[Pupi Avati]] (born 1938), director
* [[Azo of Bologna]] (fl. 1150–1230), jurist and [[glossator]][{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Azo |volume = 3 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 81 |short=1}}]
* [[Riccardo Bacchelli]] (1891–1985), writer
* [[Adriano Banchieri]] (1568–1634), composer
* [[Agostino Barelli]] (1627–1687), architect
* [[Massimiliano Bartoli]], chef and restaurateur
* [[Antonio Basoli]] (1774–1848), painter and scene designer
* [[Laura Bassi]] (1711–1788), scientist, first female appointed to university chair in Europe[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bassi, Laura Maria Caterina |volume = 3 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 494 |short=1}}]
* [[Ugo Bassi]] (1800–1849), Italian nationalist hero, executed for role in 1848 uprisings
* [[Pier Francesco Battistelli]] (17th century), painter of [[Illusionistic ceiling painting|quadratura]]
* [[Stefano Benni]] (1947–2025), writer
* [[Pope Benedict XIV]] (1675–1758) (Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini), pope 1740–58.[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Benedict |volume = 3 |last= Rockwell |first= William Walker |author-link= |pages= 718-719; see page 719 penultimate para. |short=1}}]
* [[Giovanni II Bentivoglio]] (1443–1508), nobleman. He ruled Bologna as a tyrant from 1463 until 1506.
* [[Amedeo Biavati]] (1915–1979), footballer, credited with the invention of the [[step over]], World Champion 1938. He played only for [[Bologna FC 1909|Bologna FC]]
* [[Simone Bolelli]] (born 1985), professional tennis player
* [[Giacomo Bolognini]] (1664–1734), painter
* [[Rafael Bombelli]] (1526–1572), mathematician
* [[Rossano Brazzi]] (1916–1994), actor
* [[Bulgarus]] (died 1166), a twelfth-century jurist of Bulgarian origin[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Bulgarus |volume = 4 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 786 |short=1}}]
* [[Floriano Buroni]] (17th century), engraver
* [[Leopoldo Marco Antonio Caldani]] (1725–1813), anatomist and physiologist[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Caldani, Leopoldo Marco Antonio |volume = 4 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 983 |short=1}}]
* [[Arcangelo Canetoli]] (1460–1513), Roman Catholic priest, canon regular
* [[Alessandro Carloni]] (born 1978), director, animator and artist who worked on films such as ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' and ''[[The Croods]]''
* [[Luca Carboni]] (born 1962), singer-songwriter
* [[Raffaella Carrà]] (1943–2021), singer
* [[Annibale Carracci]] (1560–1609), painter[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Caracci, Lodovico, Agostino, and Annibale |volume = 5 |last= Rossetti |first= William Michael |author-link= William Michael Rossetti |pages= 298-299 |short=1}}]
* [[Lodovico Carracci]] (1555–1619), painter[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Colonna, Giovanni Paolo |volume = 6 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 715 |short=1}}]
* [[Alessandro Cortini]] (born 1976), musician
* [[Cesare Cremonini (musician)|Cesare Cremonini]] (born 1980), singer-songwriter
* [[Giuseppe Maria Crespi]] (1665–1747), painter[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Crespi, Giuseppe Maria |volume = 7 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 412 |short=1}}]
* [[Donato Creti]] (1671–1749), painter
* [[Giulio Cesare Croce]] (1550–1609), ''[[Cantastoria|cantastorie]]'' and writer
* [[Lucio Dalla]] (1943–2012), singer-songwriter
* [[Cristina D'Avena]] (born 1964), actress and singer
* [[Domenichino]] (1581–1641) (Domenico Zampieri), painter[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Domenichino Zampieri |volume = 8 |last= Rossetti |first= William Michael |author-link= William Michael Rossetti|pages= 397-398 |short=1}}]
* [[Elena Duglioli]] (1472–1520), [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]] aristocrat
* [[Sara Errani]] (born 1987), tennis player
* [[Luigi Ferri]] (1826–1895), philosopher[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Ferri, Luigi |volume = 10 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 287 |short=1}}]
* [[Scipione del Ferro]] (1465–1526), mathematician. He solved the [[cubic equation]].
* [[Gianfranco Fini]] (born 1952), politician
* [[Aristotile Fioravanti]] ({{circa|1415}} – {{circa|1486}}), architect
* [[Prospero Fontana]] (1512–1597), painter of late Renaissance and Mannerist art[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Fontana, Prospero |volume = 10 |last= |first= |author-link= |pages= 607-608 |short=1}}]
* [[Carlo Fornasini]] (1854–1931), [[micropalaeontologist]] who studied [[Foraminifera]]
* [[Francesco Francia]] ({{circa|1450–1517}}) (Francesco Raibolini), painter
* [[Luigi Galvani]] (1737–1798), scientist, discoverer of [[bioelectricity]][{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Galvani, Luigi |volume = 11 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 428 |short=1}}]
* [[Alessandro Gamberini]] (born 1981), footballer
* [[Alessandro Gavazzi]] (1809–1889), preacher, patriot and monk[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Gavazzi, Alessandro |volume = 11 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 538 |short=1}}]
* [[Serena Grandi]] (born 1958), actress
* [[Pope Gregory XIII]] (1502–1585) (Ugo Boncompagni), pope 1572–85. He instituted the [[Gregorian calendar]].[{{cite EB9 |wstitle = Gregory XIII. |volume= XI | pages= 178 |short= 1}}]
* [[Pope Gregory XV]] (1554–1623) (Alessandro Ludovisi), pope 1621–3[{{cite EB9 |wstitle = Gregory XV. |volume= XI | pages= 178-179 |short= 1}}]
* [[Guercino|Il Guercino]] (1591–1666) (Giovanni Barbieri), painter
* [[Irnerius]] ({{circa|1050}} – after 1125), jurist
* [[Imelda Lambertini|Blessed Imelda Lambertini]] ({{circa|1322–1333}}), Dominican novice, Eucharistic mystic and child saint
* [[Claudio Lolli]] (1950–2018), singer-songwriter
* [[Pope Lucius II]] (died 1145) (Gherardo Caccianemici dell'Orso), pope 1144–5
* [[Marcello Malpighi]] (1628–1694), physiologist, anatomist and histologist
* [[Guglielmo Marconi]] (1874–1937), engineer, pioneer of [[wireless telegraphy]], Nobel prize for Physics
* [[Luigi Ferdinando Marsili]] (1658–1730), scholar and eminent natural scientist[{{cite EB9 |wstitle = Marsigli, Luigi Ferdinand |volume= XV | page= 575 |short= 1}}]
* [[Giuseppe Marsigli (tenor)|Giuseppe Marsigli]] ({{flourished|1677|1727}}), operatic tenor[{{Cite encyclopedia |author=Paola Besutti|title=Marsigli [Marsiglio, Marsili], Giuseppe |date=2002|entry=Marsigli [Marsiglio, Marsili], Giuseppe|encyclopedia=Grove Music Online|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.O008481}}]
* [[Giovanni Battista Martini]] (1706–1784), musical theorist[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Martini, Giovanni Battista |volume = 17 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 800 |short=1}}]
* [[Giuseppe Caspar Mezzofanti|Giuseppe Mezzofanti]] (1774–1839), cardinal, linguist and hyperpolyglot
* [[Marco Minghetti]] (1818–1886), economist and statesman[{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle= Minghetti, Marco |volume = 18 |last= |first= |author-link= |page= 523 |short=1}}]
* [[Giorgio Morandi]] (1890–1964), painter
* [[Gianni Morandi]] (born 1944), singer
* [[Ludovico Morbioli]] (1433–1485), Catholic layman, declared Blessed
* [[Edgardo Mortara]] (1851–1940), Catholic priest that was the subject of the ''Mortara Case'' during the ''[[Unification of Italy|Risorgimento]]''
* [[Nella Nobili]] (1926–1985), poet and writer
* [[Gianluca Pagliuca]] (born 1966), footballer
* [[Pier Paolo Pasolini]] (1922–1975), writer, poet and director
* [[James Primadicci]] (died–1460), Papal diplomat
* [[Agostino delle Prospettive]] (1525), painter
* [[Umberto Puppini]] (1884–1946), mathematician
* [[Roberto Regazzi]] (born 1956), luthier
* [[Guido Reni]] (1575–1642), painter
* [[Ottorino Respighi]] (1879–1936), composer
* [[Francesco Ricci Bitti]] (born 1942), Italian sports administrator
* [[Augusto Righi]] (1850–1920), physicist, authority on [[electromagnetism]]
* [[Carlo Ruini]] (1530–1598), equine anatomist
* [[Angelo Schiavio]] (1905–1990), footballer. He scored the winning goal in extra time in 1934 for Bologna FC.
* [[Senhit (singer)|Senhit]] (born 1979), singer
* [[Elisabetta Sirani]] (1638–1665), painter
* [[Ruben Maria Soriquez]] (born 1971), film actor, director, producer
* [[Gaspare Tagliacozzi]] (1545–1599), surgeon, pioneer of plastic and reconstructive surgery[{{cite EB9 |wstitle = Gasparo Tagliacozzi |volume= XIII | page= 21 |short= 1}}]
* [[Alberto Tomba]] (born 1966), skier
* [[Ondina Valla]] (1916–2006), first Italian woman Olympic gold medalist
* [[Mariele Ventre]] (1939–1995), teacher and educator, founder of Piccolo Coro dell' Antoniano choir
* [[Christian Vieri]] (born 1973), footballer
* [[Vitale da Bologna]] (fl. 1330, d. 1361), painter
* [[Assassination attempts on Benito Mussolini|Anteo Zamboni]] (1911–1926), anarchist who at the age of 15 attempted to assassinate Benito Mussolini
* [[Alex Zanardi]] (born 1966), racing driver
* [[Marco Aurelio Zani de Ferranti]] (1801–1878), writer, musician and composer
* [[Matilda De Angelis]] (born 1995), actress and singer
; The following made Bologna their home:
[[File:Ubaldo Gandolfi - Saint Petronius of Bologna.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Petronius of Bologna]]]]
[[File:Olha Kharlan - 2016-10-05 - 4.jpg|thumb|140px|[[Olha Kharlan]], 4-time women's world sabre world champion]]
* [[Giosuè Carducci]] (1835–1907), poet and academic, Nobel Prize for Literature, born near Lucca, Tuscany
* [[Carlo Felice Cillario]] (1915–2007), Italian conductor of international renown, founder of the Bologna Chamber Orchestra in 1946
* [[Niccolò dell'Arca]] ({{circa|1435/1440}}–1494), sculptor, born in Bari, Apulia
* [[Thomas Dempster]] (1579–1625), Scottish scholar and historian; born in Aberdeenshire, died in Bologna[{{cite EB9 |wstitle = Thomas Dempster |volume= VII | pages= 74-75 |short= 1}}]
* [[Umberto Eco]] (1932–2016), writer and academic, born in Alessandria, Piedmont
* [[Enzo of Sardinia|Enzio of Sardinia]] (born {{circa|1218}}), King of [[Kingdom of Sardinia|Sardinia]] and illegitimate son of Emperor Frederick II. He was imprisoned in [[Palazzo Re Enzo]] from 1249 until his death in 1272.
* [[Vasco Errani]] (born 1955), politician
* [[Farinelli]] (Carlo Broschi, 1705–1782), castrato opera singer
* [[William Girometti]] (1924–1998), painter, born in Milan, Lombardy
* [[Olha Kharlan]], Ukrainian 4-time women's world sabre world champion
* [[Alfonso Lombardi]] ({{circa|1497}}–1537), sculptor, born in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna
* [[Wu Ming]] (formed in 2000), a collective of writers
* [[Juan Ignacio Molina]] (1740–1829), naturalist, born in Chile
* [[Odofredus]] (died 1265), jurist, born in Ostia and moved to Bologna in 1228
* [[Giovanni Pascoli]] (1855–1912), poet and academic, born in San Mauro Pascoli, Emilia-Romagna
* [[Petronius of Bologna|St. Petronius]] (San Petronio, birthplace unknown, died {{circa|450 AD}}), bishop of [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Bologna|Bologna]] and patron saint of the city
* [[Romano Prodi]] (born 1939), economist and politician, born in Scandiano, Reggio Emilia
* [[Republic of Rose Island|Giorgio Rosa]] (1925–2017), engineer, president of short-lived [[micronation]] [[Republic of Rose Island]]
* [[Gioachino Rossini]] (1792–1868), opera composer, born in Pesaro, Marche
* [[Luigi Samele (fencer)|Luigi Samele]] (born 1987), Olympic sabre fencer
* [[Giuseppe Torelli]] (1658–1709), composer, born in Verona, Veneto
==International relations==
{{See also|List of twin towns and sister cities in Italy}}
Bologna is [[Twin towns and sister cities|twinned]] with:[{{cite web |title=Gemellaggi del Comune di Bologna|url=https://www.comune.bologna.it/relazioniinternazionali/servizio_singolo/159:14328/|website=comune.bologna.it|publisher=Bologna|language=it|access-date=13 December 2019}}]
{{div col|colwidth=20em}}
*[[Coventry]], England, since 1984
*[[Kharkiv]], Ukraine, since 1966
*[[Leipzig]], Germany, since 1962
*[[La Plata]], Argentina, since 1988
*[[Portland, Oregon]], United States, since 2003
*[[Prijepolje]], Serbia, since 1966
*[[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
{{div col end}}
==See also==
{{Portal|Italy|European Union|Cities}}
* [[Bologna declaration]]
* [[Bologna metropolitan area]]
* [[Bologna Process]]
* [[Bolognese bell ringing]]
* [[List of tallest buildings in Bologna]]
* [[Opera Pia Dei Poveri Mendicanti]]
* [[San Girolamo dell'Arcoveggio]]
* [[Santa Maria Annunziata di Fossolo, Bologna|Santa Maria Annunziata di Fossolo]]
==References==
{{reflist|group=lower-alpha}}
{{Reflist}}
==Further reading==
{{See also|Timeline of Bologna#Bibliography|l1=Bibliography of the history of Bologna}}
* Mancini, Giorgia, and Nicholas Penny, eds. ''The Sixteenth Century Italian Paintings: Volume III: Ferrara and Bologna'' (National Gallery Catalogues) (2016).
* Rashdall, Hastings. ''The Universities of Europe in the Middle Ages: Volume 1, Salerno, Bologna, Paris'' (2010).
* Robertson, Anne Walters. ''Tyranny under the Mantle of St Peter: Pope Paul II and Bologna'' (2002)
===Guide books===
* Grieco, Romy. ''Bologna: a city to discover'' (1976)
* Insight Guides. ''Pocket Bologna'' (2016).
* Noyes, Mary Tolaro. ''Bologna Reflections'' (2009).
* Uras, Martina. "Bologna Photo Guide"
===Older guides===
* {{Citation|publisher=Karl Baedeker|location=Coblenz|title=Italy|edition=2nd|date=1870|chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/italyhandbookfor04karl#page/n329/mode/2up|chapter=Bologna|ol=24140254M}}** {{Citation |publisher = John Murray |location = London |title = Hand-book for Travellers in Northern Italy |edition = 16th |date = 1897 |oclc = 2231483 |chapter-url =https://archive.org/stream/hand00bookfortravejohnrich#page/366/mode/2up |chapter= Bologna|ol = 6936521M }}
* {{Citation |publisher = Laurie |location = London |title = The Cathedrals and Churches of Northern Italy |date = 1900 |author=T. Francis Bumpus |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/cathedralschurch00bumpuoft#page/n263/mode/2up |chapter=Ferrara and Bologna|ol = 7201313M|ref=none }}
* {{Citation |publisher = Karl Baedeker |location = Leipzig |edition=14th |title = Northern Italy |date = 1913 |chapter-url= https://archive.org/stream/northernitalyi00karl#page/468/mode/2up |chapter= Bologna|ol = 16015532M }}
==External links==
{{Sister project links|voy=Bologna|Bologna}}
* {{Official website|https://www.comune.bologna.it/home}}
* [https://www.bolognameteo.it/ Weather Bologna]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20140903111342/http://www.bolognamagazine.com/content/palazzo-pepoli-museum-history-bologna-arte-fiera-2012 Museum of the History of Bologna]
* [http://www.museibologna.it/musicaen International museum and library of music of Bologna]
* [http://insecam.org/en/bycity/Bologna/ Bologna online cameras]
{{Navboxes
|list =
{{Province of Bologna}}
{{Regional capitals of Italy}}
{{European Capital of Culture}}
{{Cities in Italy}}
}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:Bologna| ]]
[[Category:530s BC]]
[[Category:Boii]]
[[Category:Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna]]
[[Category:Roman sites in Emilia-Romagna]]
[[Category:6th-century BC establishments in Italy]]
[[Category:Papal States]]