Bologna is an Italian city with over 380,000 inhabitants, capital of the province and the region Emilia-Romagna. It is the seventh largest Italian city by population. An ancient university city, it is home to many students who enliven its cultural and social life. Famous for its towers and its long arcades, the city has a well conserved historical centre (one of the largest in Italy). Bologna is the city of the arcades with over 38km just in the historical centre. They can be found almost in every street of the city centre and their origin is partly attributed to the strong expansion that the city had in the late Middle Ages, when the city flourished and the university became an attractive pole for scholars and writers from all over Europe. In Piazza Maggiore there is the massive Gothic Basilica of San Petronio built for want of the Municipality. In the left aisle, on the floor, you can see the world's largest sundial, designed by the mathematician Giovanni Domenico Cassini and built in 1655. The Piazza Maggiore is home to the Neptune Fountain, the City palace and the Palazzo dei Banchi.

The main museums of the city are the Collezioni Comunali d'Arte, the Archeological Museum, the Medieval Museum, the National Art Gallery of Bologna, Morandi Museum, Museo Civico d'Arte Industriale Davia Bargellini, the MAMbo (Modern Art Museum of Bologna) and the Palazzo Poggi Museum.

Bologna has a long and rooted tradition in comics. Important comic artists of with international reputations were born here. The city often hosts important events, festivals and exhibitions such as Alma Jazz Festival, Angelica, ArteLibro, Art White Night, Biografilm Festival, Bologna Buskers Festival Pirata, Bologna Jazz Festival, Brasil Festival, Danza Urbana, Estragon Summerfestival, Far Game, Festa di San Petronio, Festival Internazionale di Santo Stefano, Festival of Festivals, Future Film Festival, Green Social Festival, Iceberg, Il Cinema Ritrovato, Il Salotto del Jazz, I-Day Festival, Le Parole dello Schermo, Netmage, Parata, Pilastrada, RoBOt Festival, Rocker Festival, Smell - Festival Internazionale dell'Olfatto, Sotto le Stelle del Cinema, Tortellino Day and Visioni Italiane.

Accommodation in Bologna's university residences

The Alma Mater Studiorum, University of Bologna, is considered the most ancient university of the western world. The date of its foundation has been conventionally established at the year 1088. The life of the city and of the University were intimately linked since the Middle Ages, which gave to the city the label of Bologna the erudite. Some of the university residences offer temporary accomodation to the visitors of the city during the holidays. This is designed especially for students and so guests should not expect a high luxury service. However, the residences reach an appropriate level of comfort for most guests and we are always open to receive feedback whenever is not that the case.

Getting to Bologna

Flow onto the node of Bologna: the A1, Milano-Firenze-Roma-Napoli; the A14, Bologna-Ancona-Taranto; the A13 Bologna-Padova. The density of traffic is one of the highest in Italy. Large rail node, with the belt line and with the main station, Bologna Centrale, one of the biggest station for passengers traffic.

The most important rail lines of the RFI are Bologna-Milano, Bologna-Ancona-Bari, Bologna-Firenze-Roma, Bologna-Verona-Brennero, Bologna-Venezia, Bologna-Porretta Terme-Pistoia and Bologna Portomaggiore. There is a bus and tram service, with urban, suburban and rural lines. There are night lines that operate in the city on regular basis during the night and other lines, called Night Bus, which operate in the week-ends.

The Bologna area was uninabited until the ninth century BC, as is shown from the excavations made from mid 1800s in nearby Villanova, a suburb of Castenaso. With the descent of Gauls to the penisula, the Etruscans were progressively outvoted. The Gauls domain on the area lasted until the 196 BC, the year when the Gauls were driven out by the Romans. In the 189 BC the latter founded a latin law colony on site to which gave the name of Bononia. After the fall of the Empire it was subjected to Odoacer, Theodoric the Great, Byzantium and finally, in the 727 BC, to the Lombards, for which constituted mainly a military centre. In 774 the city capitulated in front of Charlemagne, who gave it to Pope Adriano I. The complex water supply system of the city, through a developed network of channels which was one of the most advanced in Europe, supplied water from the Savena and Aposa streams and from the river Reno. This hydraulic energy was needed to power many mills for the flourishing silk textile industry and for the transport of goods. 1088AD is conventionally dated the foundation of what is recognized as the first university in the western world (Stadium). In the thirteenth century Bologna was involved in the struggles between Guelphs and Ghibellines, with mixed success.

In 1256 Bologna became the first Italian town and maybe the first city in the world to abolish slavery and free the slaves, paying the former owners using public money.

In the 1507 Bologna passed to the Papal State, where it remained untill the 1796, when Napoleon arrived with French troops to Bologna. However, after the Congress of Vienna in the 1815, the city went back to the Papal State. The Austrians settled there but, with the plebiscite of 1860, the city was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia, which became the Kingdom of Italy just 12 months after.

The city of Bologna was exposed to several bombing raids during World War II. The attack had devastating effects on the city, including disruption of the appearance of neighborhoods of the historical centre of Bologna and extensive damage to the main railway station.