Bologna tourist information

Bologna was founded by the Etruscans with the name Felsina (ca. 534 BCE) in an area previously inhabited by the villanovians, a people of farmers and shepherds. The Etruscan city grew around a sanctuary built on a hill, and was surrounded by a necropolis.

In the 4th century BCE the city was conquered by the Gauls Boii, whence the ancient name Bononia of the Roman colony (c. 189 BCE) was created after the conquest in 191 BCE. The settlers included 3,000 Latin families led by the consuls Lucius Valerius Flaccus, Marcus Atilius Seranus and Lucius Valerius Tappo. The building of the Via Aemilia in 187 BCE made Bologna a road hub, connected to Arezzo through the Via Flaminia minor and to Aquileia through the Via Aemilia Altinate.

In 88 BCE the city became a municipium: it had a rectilinear street plan with six cardi and eight decumani (intersecting streets) which are still active today. During the Roman Empire it had at least 12,000 inhabitants, perhaps 30,000 inhabitants at the climax of Empire (it was the 2nd city of Italy, and one of the most important of all the Empire) with various temples and baths, a theatre, and one arena. Pomponius Mela included Bononia among the five opulentissimae ("richest") cities of Italy. The city was rebuilt by Nero after a fire.

After a long decline, Bologna was reborn in the 5th century CE under the bishop Petronius, who traditionally built the church of S. Stefano. After the fall of Rome, Bologna was a frontier stronghold of the Exarchate of Ravenna in the Pianura Padana, and was defended by a line of walls which however did not enclose most of the ancient ruined Roman city. In 728 the city was conquered by the Lombard king Liutprand, becoming part of the Lombard Kingdom. The German newcomers formed a district called "addizione longobarda" near the complex of S. Stefano, where Charlemagne stayed in 786.

In the 11th century Bologna began to grow again as a free Commune, joining the Lombard League against Frederick Barbarossa in 1164. In 1088 the Studio was founded, now the oldest university of Europe, which could boast notable scholars of the Middle Ages like Irnerius, and, amongst its students, Dante, Boccaccio and Petrarca. In the 12th century the expanding city needed a new line of walls, and another was completed in the 14th century.

In 1256 Bologna promulgated the Legge del Paradiso ("Paradise's Law"), which abolished feudal serfdom and freed the slaves using public money. At that time the city centre was full of towers (perhaps 180) built by the leading families, of notable public edifices, churches and abbeys. In 1294 Bologna was perhaps the 5th or the 6th city in Europe, after Cordoba, Paris, Venice, Florence, and, probably, Milan, with 60,000 - 70,000 inhabitants.

Like most Italian communes of that age, Bologna was torn by internal struggles, which lead to the expulsion of the Ghibelline family of Lambertazzi in 1274. After being crushed in the Battle of Zappolino by the Modenese in 1325, Bologna began to decay and asked the protection of the Pope at the beginning of the 14th century. In 1348, during the terrible European pestilence, about 30,000 inhabitants died.

After the happy years of the rule of Taddeo Pepoli (1337-1347), Bologna fell to the Visconti of Milan, but returned to the Papal orbit with Cardinal Gil de Albornoz in 1360. The following years saw an alternation of Republican governments (like that of 1377, which built the Basilica di San Petronio and the Loggia dei Mercanti) and Papal or Visconti restorations, while the city's families engaged in continual internecine fighting. In the middle of the 15th century the Bentivoglio family gained the rule of Bologna, reigning with Sante (1445-1462) and Giovanni II (1462-1506). This period was a flourishing one for the city, with the presence of notable architects and painters who made Bologna a true Italian Rinascimento city.

Giovanni's reign ended in 1506 when the Papal troops of Julius II besieged Bologna and sacked the artistic treasures of his palace. From that point on, until the XVIII century, Bologna was part of the Papal States, ruled by a cardinal legato and by a Senate which every two months elected a gonfaloniere (judge), assisted by eight elder consuls. The city's prosperity continued, although a plague at the end of the 16th century reduced the population from 72,000 to 59,000, and another in 1630 to 47,000. The population later recovered to a stable 60,000-65,000. In 1564 the Piazza del Nettuno and the Palazzo dei Banchi were built, along with the Archiginnasio, the seat of the University. The period of Papal rule saw the construction of many churches and other religious establishments, and the renovation of older ones. The 96 convents of Bologna are a record for Italy. Artists working in this age in Bologna established the Bolognese School that includes Annibale Carracci, Domenichino, Guercino and others of European fame.

With the rise of Napoleon Bologna became the capital of the Repubblica Cispadana and, later, the second most important centre after Milan of the Repubblica Cisalpina and the Italian Kingdom. After the fall of Napoleon, Bologna suffered the Papal restoration, rebelling in 1831 and again 1849, when it temporarily expelled the Austrian garrisons which commanded the city until 1860. After a visit by Pope Pius IX in 1857, the city voted for annexation to the Kingdom of Sardinia on June 12, 1859, becoming part of the united Italy.

In the new political situation Bologna gained importance for its cultural role and became an important commercial, industrial and communications hub; its population began to grow again and at the beginning of the 20th century the old walls were destroyed (except few parts) in order to build new houses for the population.

Though damaged during the closing battles of World War II, Bologna soon recovered and is now one of the richest, most civil and well-planned cities of Italy.