Metropolitan City of Bologna in the context of "Castenaso"

Bologna (/bəˈloʊnjə/ bə-LOHN-yə, UK also /bəˈlɒnjə/ bə-LON-yə, Italian: [boˈloɲɲa] ; Emilian: Bulåggna [buˈlʌɲɲɐ]; Latin: Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, with 390,734 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its metropolitan province is home to more than 1 million people as of 2025. Bologna is most famous for being the home to the oldest university in continuous operation, the University of Bologna, established in AD 1088.

The city has been an important urban center for centuries, first under the Etruscans (who called it Felsina), then under the Celts as Bona, later under the Romans (Bonōnia), then again in the Middle Ages, as a free municipality and later signoria, when it was among the largest European cities by population. Famous for its towers, churches and lengthy porticoes, Bologna has a well-preserved historical centre, thanks to a careful restoration and conservation policy which began at the end of the 1970s. In 2000, it was declared European capital of culture and in 2006, a UNESCO "City of Music" and became part of the Creative Cities Network. In 2021, UNESCO recognized the lengthy porticoes of the city as a World Heritage Site.

The Villanovan culture (c. 900–700 BCE), regarded as the earliest phase of the Etruscan civilization, was the earliest Iron Age culture of Italy. It directly followed the Bronze Age Proto-Villanovan culture which branched off from the Urnfield culture of Central Europe. The name derives from the locality of Villanova, a fraction of the municipality of Castenaso in the Metropolitan City of Bologna where, between 1853 and 1855, Giovanni Gozzadini found the remains of a necropolis, bringing to light 193 tombs, of which there were 179 cremations and 14 inhumations.

The Villanovans introduced iron-working to the Italian Peninsula. They practiced cremation and buried the ashes of their dead in pottery urns of distinctive double-cone shape.

Sant'Agata Bolognese (Western Bolognese: Sant'Èghete; City Bolognese: Sant'Ègata) is a small comune in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, in the north of Italy. It is notable for being the headquarters of the luxury automobile manufacturer Automobili Lamborghini.

It is named after Saint Agatha of Sicily.

The province of Bologna (Italian: provincia di Bologna) was a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital was the city of Bologna. The province of Bologna covered an area of 3,702.32 square kilometres (1,429.47 sq mi) and had a total population of 1,004,323 inhabitants as of 31 December 2014, giving it a population density of 271.27 inhabitants per square kilometre. It was replaced by the Metropolitan City of Bologna starting from January 2015.

Imola (Italian: [ˈiːmola]; Romagnol: Jômla or Jemula) is a city and comune in the Metropolitan City of Bologna, located on the river Santerno, in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. The city is traditionally considered the western entrance to the historical region Romagna.

The city is best-known as the home of the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari which hosts the Formula One Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and formerly hosted the San Marino Grand Prix, named after the independent nation of San Marino around 100 km to the south.