In the city of Bologna, historic capital of the Emilia-Romagna region, in northern Italy

 "Bologna is celebrated for producing popes, painters, and sausage."

-- Lord Byron
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(in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy) The city of Bologna, capital of the Emilia- Romagna region in northern Italy, is north of Florence, between the Reno and Savena rivers. It lies at the northern foot of the Apennines, on the ancient Via Aemilia. Originally the Etruscan Felsina, it was occupied by the Gallic Boii in the 4th century BCE and became a Roman colony and municipium (Bononia) around 190 BCE. It was subject to the Greek exarchate of Ravenna (in the 6th century) and then passed to the papacy. It was occupied by the Visigoths, Huns, Goths, and Lombards after the barbarian invasions. Following a feudal period, Bologna became a free commune when the emperor recognized its rights in the early 12th century. The conflict between the Guelfs and the Ghibellines (two parties in medieval Italian politics) led to the city’s domination by a series of signori (lords) -- the Pepoli, Visconti, Bentivoglio -- before it was incorporated into the Papal States by Pope Julius II in 1506. Thereafter it enjoyed more than three centuries of peace and prosperity. (Papal rule was interrupted only by a brief period of French control before Bologna was united to the Kingdom of Italy in 1860.)

+ Fusing haughty elegance with down-to-earth grit in one colonnaded medieval grid, Bologna is now a city of two intriguing halves. One side is a hard-working, high-tech city located in the super-rich Po valley where suave opera-goers waltz out of regal theaters and into some of the nation's finest restaurants. The other is a bolshie, politically edgy city that hosts the world's oldest university and is famous for its graffiti-embellished piazzas filled with mildly inebriated students swapping Gothic fashion tips.

+ The driving sectors of the regional economy are: agriculture (vegetables, cereals -- the famous DOP potato from Budrio), breeding (pigs and cattle) and small and medium industry in the food, mechanical, ceramic and electronics.
Bologna is also of paramount importance as a road and rail center through which must pass most traffic between central and southern Italy and the north. Until World War I the city was chiefly dependent upon agriculture based on the surrounding fertile plain. Although still an important agricultural market and food-processing center -- the city is cited as the source of the popular tomato-based meat sauce for pasta known as Bolognese.

+ Bologna is quite famous for having the oldest university in the Western world. Aside from being known to have a vibrant student population, it is also famed for its exquisite food, traditional brick terracotta-roofed architecture, and porticos, theater, and nightlife. Santuario di Madonna di San Luca, Torri degli Asinelli e Garisenda, Piazza Maggiore, and Quadrilatero are also notable.(If you are not fluent in Italian, do not worry because English is widely spoken especially by the local student population.)