lway centre, just as the ancient Bononia was
a meeting-point of important roads. Here the main line from Milan
divides, one portion going on parallel to the line of the ancient Via
Aemilia (which it has followed from Piacenza downwards) to Rimini,
Ancona and Brindisi, and the other through the Apennines to Florence and
thence to Rome. Another line runs to Ferrara and Padua, another
(eventually to be prolonged to Verona) to S. Felice sul Panaro, and a
third to Budrio and Portomaggiore (a station on the line from Ferrara to
Ravenna). Steam tramways run to Vignola, Pieve di Cento and Malalbergo.

Bologna was only for a short while subject to the Lombards, remaining
generally under the rule of the exarchate of Ravenna, until this in 756
was given by Pippin to the papacy. It was sacked by the Hungarians in
902, but otherwise its history is little known, and it is uncertain when
it acquired its freedom and its motto _Libertas_. But the first
"constitution" of the commune of Bologna dates from about 1123, and at
that time we find it a free and independent city. From the 12th to the
14th century it was very frequently at war, and strongly supported the
Guelph cause against Frederick II. and against the neighbouring cities
of Romagna and Emilia; indeed, in 1249 the Bolognese took Enzio, the
emperor's son, prisoner, and kept him in confinement for the rest of his
life. But the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines in Bologna
itself soon followed, and the commune was so weakened that in 1337
Taddeo de' Pepoli made himself master of the town, and in 1350 his son
sold it to Giovanni Visconti of Milan. Ten years later it was given to
the papacy, but soon revolted and recovered its liberty. In 1401
Giovanni Bentivoglio made himself lord of Bologna, but was killed in a
rebellion of 1402. It then returned to the Visconti, and after various
struggles with the papacy was again secured in 1438 by the Bentivoglio,
who held it till 1506, when Pope Julius II. drove them out, and brought
Bologna once more under the papacy, under the sway of which it remained
(except in the Napoleonic period between 1796 and 1815 and during the
revolutions of 1821 and 1831) until in 1860 it became part of the
kingdom of Italy.

Among the most illustrious natives of Bologna may be noted Luigi Galvani
(1737-1798), the discoverer of galvanism, and Prospero Lambertini (Pope
Benedict XIV.).

See C. Ricci, _Guida di Bologna_ (3rd ed., Bologna, 1900). (T.