Bologna

placed in the category: Cities

Bologna, founded by the Etruscans in 534 BC, is the capital of Emilia-Romagna, an administrative region of the Northern Italy. It has a total population of 374,561 as of 2008. Because of its physical location, being at the crossing point of the most important highways and railways in Italy, it has become one of the most developed cities in Italy. Bologna's demographics consists mostly of Italians, and a bit of immigrants from other European countries like Romanians and Albanians, from east Asia like Filipinos, and from the South Asia like the Bengali people.

Despite being considerably damaged due to its bombing in 1944, Bologna still remains as one of the best-preserved cities in Europe. Next to Venice, it has Europe's second largest historic center. You'll still see a lot of important Medieval, Renaissance, and Baroque artistic monuments up to this day. This city is famous for its elegant and extensive arcades, also called porticos. It is also home to a lot of important churches like the basilica of San Petronio, the San Pietro Cathedral, The Santo Stefano basilica and sanctuary, the San Domenico basilica and sanctuary, and the San Francesco basilica.

Bologna has the most important highways and railways in Italy. Its economy is based mostly on these. Its exhibition area, also called the Fiera district, holds the most important international automobile expos every year. It is also home to the tenth busiest Italian airport, the Guglielmo Marconi International Airport. You will also see Italy's most important and largest train hub in Bologna, the Bologna Central Station. The very tragic Strage di Bologna, or Bologna Massacre, happened here though. 85 victims were killed in August 1980 when it was bombed by terrorists.

Through the years, Bologna was given a lot of names. Like "la dotta" or "the learned one", in reference to the famous University of Bologna, "la grassa" or "the fat one" in reference to its culinary tradition, and "la rossa" or "the red one", in reference to the roofs in the historic center. In may 29, 2006, UNESCO appointed the city of Bologna as a City of Music. Bologna offers a wide range of genres like classical, electronic, jazz, folk, and opera music.

The next time you visit Italy, make sure to stop by the beautiful city of Bologna. You'll never know what it has to offer you.