BOLOGNA, ARCHDIOCESE OF. - Capital of the homonymous province and principal city of one of the most fertile and historically rich regions, Emilia, Bologna currently has a population of 270,000 inhabitants. The diocese as a whole numbers 691,479, almost all of them Catholic. The city is densely packed with churches (over one hundred and thirty) and retains a medieval appearance; the diocese is also rich in convents and churches. The clergy is numerous: 568 diocesan priests and 190 regulars, with 425 parishes (1948). Patron saint: St. Petronius.
I. History
On the site of the Etruscan *Felsina*, as attested by the remains of its necropolis dating back to the 6th century B.C., the Romans established a colony, *Bononia*, in 189 B.C. (Livy, XXXVII, 57). Already of considerable economic importance under the Etruscans, it assumed the aspect of a fortified camp due to its strategic position as an outpost against the Gauls. It became a municipium a century after its foundation, during the Social War, and was enrolled in the Lemonia tribe. In 53 A.D. it was destroyed by fire; Claudius rebuilt it at the intercession of the young Nero. By the 4th century it was in full decline (St. Ambrose, *Epistolae*, II, 8), yet it resisted the onslaught of the Visigoths under Alaric in 410. After being sacked and half-destroyed, it rose again from its ruins through the efforts of its bishop, Petronius (q.v.).The martyrs of Bologna are recorded at the end of the 4th century by Victricius of Rouen (*De laude sanctorum*: PL 20, 448, 453); they are the same ones later mentioned by Paulinus of Nola: *Vitalem, Agricolam, Proculumque Bononia condit. Carm. 37, 432* (ed. G. de Hartel, in CSEL, 30, II, p. 281). The relics of Vitalis and Agricola were found in Bologna in the *Iudaeorum* quarter only in the time of St. Ambrose (*Exhort. Virg.*, I: PL 16, 336). In the 6th century they were venerated in a basilica to the east of the city, later the church of SS. Peter and Paul, from which they were removed in 1019. There were found Christian sepulchral inscriptions from the end of the 4th century and the beginning of the 5th (CIL XI, 1, 802-802, 814-815). As for Proculus, only written acts from the 12th century survive (BHL, 6954, 6956), while there is mention of a Porta S. Proculi and of a basilica erected over his tomb outside the city by Bishop Gaudentius between the 7th and 8th centuries. The list of ancient bishops of Bologna is found in an 11th-century manuscript once belonging to the library of S. Salvatore di Reno (hence called the "Rhenish list"), which names Zama as the first and Eusebius as the fifth; Eusebius attended the Synod of Aquileia in 381 and to whom St. Ambrose wrote two letters (A. Testi Rasponi, *Note marginali al Liber Pontificalis di Agnello*, in *Atti e Memorie della r. Dep. "di storia patria per le prov. di Romagna*, 4th ser., I [1911, IV-VI], pp. 397-464). The seventh is Felix, mentioned by St. Ambrose and Paulinus of Nola, between the end of the 4th century and the first three decades of the 5th.
The eighth in the series, in the catalogue discovered by Lanzoni, is St. Petronius, who even by his contemporaries was deemed worthy of comparison with the greatest bishops of Christendom; his episcopate lasted from 430 to 450. He lost no time in restoring Bologna from the ruins to which it had been reduced by the excesses of Magnentius and Maximus. Obtaining funds from the treasury, he distributed them to the Bolognese, rebuilt their houses, repaired the walls, and erected new churches. Among these was the extramural basilica of S. Stefano, to which a monastery was attached where he himself lived (F. Lanzoni, *S. Petronio vescovo di B. nella leggenda e nella storia*, Bologna 1907).
The early Middle Ages represent the period of greatest obscurity in the history of Bologna: in the Gothic age it continued its political, and perhaps also religious, orientation toward Ravenna. From the proximity of the capital it drew its first revival, which became oppressive when, under Byzantine rule, Ravenna monopolized all initiative between the 6th and 7th centuries. With the return of the Lombards beyond the Panaro line, through the efforts of Liutprand, who conquered the Exarchate, Bologna was sacked in 727 or 728. The descent of the Franks and the protection of the Church assumed by the Carolingians wrested the city from the Lombards and granted it, with the Exarchate, to the Church; the subjection was uncertain at first, for one might rather speak of a dual subjection, to Ravenna and to Rome, and under Carolingian control. Bologna then became the seat of the counts. But the scarcity of sources reveals only a shifting of relations among the powers and a contraction of the city within its walls (the square boundary of the so-called "four crosses"); there is reason, however, to see in pre-communal Bologna an independent development of life. It remained, nevertheless, always under spiritual and political dependence on Ravenna, from which it freed itself at the same time, first with the Council of Guastalla in 1106, and secondly through the fierce struggle against the empire of Henry V, culminating in the demolition of the fortress in 1114. Religious and civil autonomy, won together, laid the foundations for the formation of the commune. Yet the Church of Bologna had already shown signs of its own orientation at the time of the schism of Cadalus, remaining faithful to Alexander II. There is moreover an oscillation of fortunes that followed the fortunes of war and politics: if the Council of Guastalla in 1106 detached Bologna—and with it Modena, Parma, Reggio, and Piacenza—from the metropolitan jurisdiction of Ravenna, Paschal II, at the very end of his pontificate, re-subjected it, with a bull of 7 August 1118, to the ancient primate. The war that was to divide the two cities ten years later also left its mark on ecclesiastical relations. At that time, while the free commune was subjecting lands and castles of the countryside, Bologna felt the renewed imperialist role of its illustrious neighbor: in 1132 it resisted Lothar, who was descending to aid his protégé Innocent II on his way to Rome, and was obliged to camp at Medicina; but under Frederick Barbarossa, the schism fomented by Cardinal Ottaviano imposed an intruder on the Bolognese see, the canon Samuel, deposed at the synod of Lodi, while the legitimate bishop Gerard was expelled. The Bolognese schism was short-lived; it ended immediately after the Peace of Venice in 1177.
The commune was by now considerably strengthened. One of the first to develop (apparently from the very dawn of the year 1000), despite struggles and dissensions, it obtained imperial recognition. Governed in consular form, with a general assembly or Parliament and a major council, it then passed, like other Emilian-Lombard communes, to the podestà system. Perhaps already the seat of a law school in Roman times, through the personal work of a master, Irnerius, the rediscoverer of Roman law, Bologna had become by the early 12th century a center of legal studies, until the time of Honorius III, who established there a school of theology; thus developed the University of Bologna, one of the most famous of the Middle Ages. It was already so flourishing in 1225 that Frederick II, in order to favor the new university he had founded in Naples, attempted to lure away en masse its lecturers and students by means of an interdict, but without success.
In those years, Bologna gave shelter to St. Dominic and St. Francis: the former, drawn by the fame of the Studium, founded there a community of his order of Preachers (and the Commune granted him the church of S. Nicola alle Vigne), the latter, by the vastness and moral needs of the student masses, as well as by the population, spent a period of fervent preaching there. At Bologna, during the Chapter of his order, St. Dominic died on 6 August 1221; and both then and the following year, on account of the canonization decreed by Gregory IX, the commune arranged solemn celebrations.
Soon after the earthquake of 1223, the vaults of the new cathedral of St Peter collapsed; it had been consecrated by Lucius III and already rebuilt on the ruins left by the fire of 1130. At this time other communities were taking shape in Bologna: the Carmelites, the Armenian Basilians, and the Servites. Especially noteworthy was the congregation of the “Friars of the Joyful Life,” a mixed body of friars and laymen, whose purpose was to protect widows and orphans and to prevent civil strife. Yet these very conflicts were raging in Bologna between Guelphs and Ghibellines. By the close of the thirteenth century the commune of Bologna was in decline, showing signs—albeit muted—of a seigneurial form of government.
Bologna – Apse of the church of St Francis (1263).
**BOLOGNA - Apse of the church of S. Francesco (1263).**
---
**Vot. Alinari)**
---
**57. - ENCYCLOPEDIA CATHOLICA. - II.**
The 13th century was the greatest in the history of Bologna. With the emergence of a sum of cultural experiences—expressed in the reforms of the commune and the vigorous, energetic conduct of government, especially when a learned jurist, Rolandino Passeggeri, infused political action with vitality—the commune assumed a dominant position in Emilia and Romagna, sealed by the defeat at Fossalta, which hastened, with the imprisonment of King Enzo, the decline of imperial power in Italy (1249). Meanwhile, Bologna adorned itself with palaces and towers, the Piazza Maggiore was enlarged, the new and magnificent Palazzo del Podestà was erected, the church of S. Francesco was built, and Niccolò Pisano was entrusted with the tomb of St. Dominic. The city’s perimeter was expanded with a second set of walls. The steadfast loyalty to the Guelph cause placed the city in a position of strength.
In 1337, Taddeo Pepoli, after a failed attempt by his father Romeo, had himself proclaimed signore. The Pope countered the move, obliging him to recognize himself not as signore but as vicar, thereby restoring to the Church the power he had assumed. Even Pepoli’s successors, against the spirit of Bolognese autonomy, were forced to follow this example. When Taddeo died in 1347, his sons sold the city a few years later to the Milanese archbishop, Giovanni Visconti. After Visconti’s death in 1354, the signoria was effectively exercised by one of his loyalists, Giovanni di Oleggio, a cruel and avaricious man. With the restoration of the goods and authority of the Holy See pursued by Cardinal Albornoz, and with the imminent return of the Popes from Avignon to Rome, Bologna too fell in 1360 and papal government was reinstated.
Peace, however, lasted only a few years: in 1376 the city rose as an independent republic. Attempts were made to curtail its freedom, but by leveraging the still unquenched spirit of autonomy, between the late 1300s and early 1400s, Giovanni Bentivoglio and Carlo Zambeccari posed challenges. The dominion, achieved by conquest, of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Count of Virtù, aimed at a state larger than those of his ancestors, vanished with his death. The city returned to the Church.
It was precisely in those years that civic pride and Bologna’s desire not to be second even to Rome inspired the grand construction of S. Petronio. Bishop Bartolomeo Raimondi laid its first stone on 30 June 1390; but the work did not proceed with the original vigor due to ongoing disputes and severe economic difficulties.
Rebellions and uprisings continued: through daring acts and abuses, but also losses and massacres, the signoria of the Bentivoglio family asserted itself for nearly a century: from 1446 to 1462, Sante governed with skill, bringing Bologna to the agreements of 1447 with Nicholas V, which granted the city a quasi-independence, allowing Bolognese Renaissance to reach its peak in splendor and cultural achievements. Then, from 1462 to 1507, under the rule of Giovanni II Bentivoglio, that splendor continued and was completed. But the life and political action of the Bolognese signore ended in sorrow, bloodshed, and flight before the armies of Julius II, and in negotiations with the French. During this period, Bolognese spirits flared even against the high authority of the Church, ALBERTI (v.).
Toward the end of the century, in 1483, the Cardinal of La Rovere, the future Julius II, served as papal legate in Bologna and long held the see in commendam. New clashes arose with central authority in the early 1500s, when the Bentivoglio made their last two attempts, between 1507 and 1511, to regain control of the city, ending with the destruction of their palace and the statue of Julius II sculpted by Michelangelo.
Unusual fervor followed the coronation of Emperor Charles V in S. Petronio by Clement VII. This was the atmosphere of the two sessions of the Council of Trent, transferred to Bologna in 1547. At that time, Bishop Alessandro Campeggi invited the Jesuits to the city.
On 10 December 1528, Gregory XIII, a Bolognese, elevated Bologna—now the second city of the Papal State—to the status of an archdiocese. Thus ended its formal dependence on Ravenna, which had caused so much suffering for Bolognese people in the Middle Ages. The new metropolitan’s suffragan dioceses included Imola, Cervia, Modena, Reggio, Parma, Piacenza, and Crema.
Throughout the 17th century, the see of S. Petronio was held by some of the most distinguished members of the Roman aristocracy: Borghese, Ludovisi, Colonna, Boncompagni. Giacomo Boncompagni built the great sanctuary of the Madonna della Guardia, which his successor, Cardinal Prospero Lambertini, completed. Lambertini, a Bolognese and cardinal from 1726, later bishop of Ancona and then transferred to Bologna in 1731, is the most prominent figure in the city’s clergy. The impulse he gave to studies, his revival of convents and churches, and his juridical wisdom and spirit have not been forgotten. As Pope from 1740 to 1758, Benedict XIV remained for another fourteen years titular archbishop of Bologna, pouring the benefits of his office abundantly upon the beloved city, particularly upon the University and the Academy of Sciences, highly active cultural centers of the *docta mater studiorum*.
The 18th century was rich in art and science for Bologna. Alongside notable pictorial activity, that of the century’s greatest musicologist, P. G. B. Martini, and the many scholars who illuminated the University and the Academy, there arose, even before Lambertini’s work, through the diligent and intelligent efforts of Luigi Ferdinando Marsili, numerous scientists who brought distinction to the city: from the eminent naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi to the great physician Marcello Malpighi, and to Luigi Galvani, the founder of electrical studies.
Under Archbishop Andrea Giovannetti, the armies and spirit of the invading French Revolution reached Romagna: the diocese then suffered the suppression of convents, the loss of ecclesiastical goods, and the reduction in the number of parishes. After 1800, convents and churches were restored, until the suppression of religious congregations following Italian unification.
When Clement VIII restored Cervia to Ravenna and erected Modena, Parma, and Piacenza as archbishoprics and seats of autonomous governments, the metropolitan authority of the Bolognese Church no longer extended beyond Faenza and Imola, and for a time, the newly created diocese of Borgo S. Donnino. The winds of revolution stirred Bologna. After the initial shock and indignation at the bloodshed came patriotic fervor, political awakening, and admiration for Napoleon, whom Bologna welcomed with extraordinary enthusiasm. It was glad to take part in the formation of the democratic states that paved the way for the Kingdom of Italy. Signs of autonomy were not lacking in the city, even when it seemed destined to head a State of the Legations, a plan thwarted by the consummate skill of Cardinal Consalvi, who restored, for another forty years, the old structure of the ecclesiastical state.
In the Risorgimento, BOLOGNA, a center since the Restoration of liberal plots and conspiracies throughout the Romagna, played an important part in the 1831 revolution of Central Italy. The revolt broke out in Modena through the efforts of Ciro Menotti; on 4 February BOLOGNA rose in arms, spreading the movement to the Romagna, the Marches, and Umbria. It was the ephemeral government of the United Provinces, with BOLOGNA as its capital, until Austrian intervention once again dashed the liberals’ hopes. Yet against the Austrians and for freedom and unity, BOLOGNA maintained its bold spirit, as was shown on the battlefields of 1848 and especially in the fight at La Montagnola against the strong forces of Welden.
BIBL.:
Sources: Corpus Chronicorum Bononiensium, ed. A. Sorbelli, 4 vols., Città di Castello-Bologna 1903-28; Statuti di Bologna dall’anno 1245 all’anno 1267, ed. L. Frati, 3 vols., 1868-77; Rotuli dei lettori, legisti e artisti dello Studio bolognese dal 1384 al 1799, ed. U. Dallari, 4 vols., 1888-1923; A. Sorbelli, Le cronache bolognesi del sec. XIV, 1900.
Bibliographical collections: L. Manzoni, Saggi di una bibliografia storica bolognese, Bologna 1888; L. Frati, Opere della bibliografia bolognese che si conservano nella bibli. Municipale di B., 2 vols., 1888-89.
Historiography: L. degli Alberti, Hist. di B., Bologna 1541-1591; C. Ghirardacci, Della Historia di B., I, 1596; II, 1617; III, ed. A. Sorbelli, 1912; S. Muzzi, Annali della città di B. dalla sua origine al 1796, 9 vols., 1810-49; N. Rodolico, Dal Comune alla Signoria: Saggio sul governo di Taddeo Pepoli, 1818; A. Gaudenzi, L’origine dello studio di B., 1801; Studi e Mem. per la storia dell’Univer. di B., 1807; S. A. Hessel, Gesch. d. Stadt B. von 1216 bis 1286, Berlin 1910; Lanzoni, pp. 778-90; A. Gaudenzi, Il monastero di Nonantola, il ducato di Persiceto e la chiesa di B., Rome 1916; A. Vincinelli, Il passaggio di B. dal dominio pontificio ai re d’Italia, Bologna 1921-22; G. Zaccagnini, La vita dei maestri e degli scolari nello studio di B. durante il Rinascimento, Geneva 1926; P. Sella, La diocesi di B. nel 1300, in Atti e mem. dep. st. patr. Romagne, 18 (1929), pp. 97-155; G. Zaccagnini, Storia dello studio di B. durante il Rinascimento, Geneva 1930; P. Ducati, Storia di B., I; L’età antica, Bologna 1937; A. Sorbelli, Storia di B., II; Dalle origini del cristianesimo agli albori del Comune, 1938; F. Filippini, S. Petronio vescovo di Bologna, 1914-18 (with list of holders of the see of B.).
III. ART
I. Architecture
The oldest churches still standing in BOLOGNA are all evidence of the wide infiltration of Lombard Romanesque style: nothing remains, in fact, of the buildings that tradition claims were erected by Bishop Zama (4th century) and his immediate successors; the earliest architectural complex is therefore the Stefanian group, whose original nucleus is thought to date from the time of St PETRONIUS. These buildings underwent remodelling in the Lombard period, until they received their definitive arrangement in the Romanesque age: the churches of SS. PETER AND PAUL, of the Crucifix, of ST STEPHEN, the oratory of the Cross, Pilate’s Courtyard and the adjoining cloister display clear Lombard Romanesque elements, to which is added a fresh quest for elegance in decoration. To the same period belong the churches of SS. VITALE AND AGRICENTO, the Corte di Monte and the cathedral of ST PETER, of which the tower and the lion gates remain. Romanesque architecture thus left in BOLOGNA a notable complex of religious buildings, characterized by the common use of brick in structure and decoration, the absence of ribs in the vaulting, and the presence of bell towers placed beside the churches, on the model of those at Ravenna.
In the 13th century the new Gothic forms triumphed, giving the city a distinctive appearance in some of the most eminent Italian monuments of the time: such are the churches of ST DOMINIC (begun in 1221, modernized inside in the 18th century); of ST FRANCIS (completed in 1263, directly inspired by French cathedrals); of ST MARY OF THE SERVANTS, of ST MARTIN, of ST JAMES, which in the 14th century accentuated the vertical thrust. In churches as in civic buildings the traditional brick decoration in relief persisted, of which an elegant example is the bell tower of ST FRANCIS (early 15th century) by M. ANTONIO DI VINCENZO: he was the architect of ST PETRONIUS and supplied its design, tempering Gothic verticalism by the use of barrel vaulting and strong clustered piers; the three-aisled construction was continued in the 15th and 16th centuries. Gothic style also persisted well into the 15th century (apse of the Annunciation, 1475; Guidotti Chapel, 1460), delaying the rise of Renaissance architecture, which entered with Tuscan forms introduced by Pagno di Lapo (Bentivoglio Chapel in ST JAMES, 1445-86; Marescotti Chapel in ST MARTIN, early 16th century; chapel for ST CECILIA in ST JOHN ON THE MOUNTAIN), alongside solutions of 15th-century northern architecture (trilobate façade of ST JOHN ON THE MOUNTAIN, 1474) and the local use of lavish brick ornamentation (typical are the façades of the church of the Holy, c. 1478: the portal is attributed to Sperandio; of the oratory of the Holy Spirit, 1481-97; of the Madonna di Galliera, c. 1491). Among the rare examples of pure Renaissance taste are the great cloister of ST FRANCIS (after 1472) and those of the former convent of ST AGNES, with Lombard-Bramantesque motifs.
Of far greater importance for the architectural physiognomy of the city were the great classical flourishings and the large-scale works brought from Rome after BOLOGNA passed definitively under papal rule; Bramante inspired the cloister of the “Chapel” in the Charterhouse, Peruzzi the façade of ST MICHAEL ON THE WOODS and the Ghisilardi Chapel. For the building of ST PETRONIUS in BOLOGNA, Serlio, Alessi, Vignola, and Palladio all worked, and they largely helped to determine the local architectural direction of the late 16th century; thus did D. and P. Tibaldi exert influence with the construction of the greater chapel in ST PETER, the façade of ST MARY OF THE LAUDS, and the Poggi Chapel in ST JAMES THE GREATER. The teachings of Vignola, together with those of Palladio, were summed up at the close of the century by a group of architects (F. Ambrosini, P. Fiorini) who sometimes achieved no more than a cold and empty imitation; T. Martelli, however, left masterpieces of classical grandeur. Familiarity with the severity of 16th-century forms greatly limited the introduction of the Baroque manner, which would assert itself only at the end of the century inside churches, with a decorative pomp that yet always took account of classical elements, seeking to blend with them (interiors of ST MARY OF LIFE by G. B. Bergonzoni; of the Madonna di Galliera by A. A. Torri; of the Holy by G. G. Monti). The same traits recur in the 18th century with C. Dotti and A. Torregiani; while after the mid-century, BOLOGNESE architecture, untouched by Rococo, turned with new enthusiasm to 16th-century forms with G. F. Tadolini and R. Compagnini. The Neoclassical style remained foreign to the local environment, and 16th-century styles continued to dominate in the 19th century together with a Romantic interest in medieval monuments (restorations by Rubbiani in ST FRANCIS and ST DOMINIC). A typical example of re-elaboration of Eastern Romanesque motifs is the church of the Sacred Heart (1912) by E. Collamarini.
2. Sculpture
The scarcity of marble in the BOLOGNESE region must have contributed to the lack of interest among local craftsmen in the art of sculpture; thus one can speak of a local plastic tradition only with regard to the typical brick ornamentation. The principal works of sculpture, in fact, have at all times been the work of non-Bolognese artists.
After the rare examples of sculpture from the Bolognese period, mostly ornamental in character (the basin of Pilate; the arch of the tomb of Folcherari, in S. Domenico; the cross of S. Giovanni in Monte, 8th century), plastic production became more abundant with the penetration of the Lombard-Romanesque style (the sarcophagus of the SS. Vitale and Agricola, in S. Pietro; the roadside cross of “Petrus Alberici cum patre,” in S. Petronio; the stuccoes with the symbols of the Evangelists and the Resurrection, in S. Stefano, 13th century; the wooden Crucifixion in the crypt of S. Pietro), but it generally did not reach a high quality. Of particular importance in the 13th century is the ark of S. Domenico, a work by Fra Guglielmo.
In the 14th century, a wide flourishing of funerary monuments, based on the scheme of the sarcophagus decorated with reliefs on the front and sides, documents the influx of Gothic styles (the tomb of T. Pepoli, in S. Domenico; the monument of G. da Legnano and the presumed L. Pini, in the Civic Museum), later interpreted with rare elegance by the Venetians Jacobello and Pierpaolo dalle Masegne in the marble polyptych in S. Francesco (1388): the reliquaries of S. Domenico (1383) and S. Petronio (1380) reflect its preciosity. The Venetian Gothic also asserted itself toward the end of the century through the numerous sculptors of the socle of the façade or the lateral panels of S. Petronio; and it merged, together with Tuscan elements, into the mediocre sculpture of Andrea da Fiesole. Jacopo della Quercia decorated the main portal of S. Petronio from 1425 to 1438 and vigorously imposed the new plastic ideals; numerous Tuscan sculptors followed, such as Niccolò di Pietro Lamberti, Pagno di Lapo, D. Rosselli, and A. di Duccio, who held sway in Bologna in the second half of the 15th century, determining the definitive affirmation of the Tuscan Renaissance manner. Francesco di Simone, in the Tartagni monument in S. Domenico (1477), replaced the traditional motif of the sarcophagus with the scheme of a tabernacle funerary monument, inspired by the tomb of Marsuppini by Desiderio. After the mid-century, Niccolò dell’Arca arrived in Bologna, whose sculpture exerted a very broad influence on the developments of Bolognese plastic art, since it summarized, in an original synthesis, Gothic-Burgundian elements and the complex figurative culture of Ferrara and Emilia (cf. the *Pietà*, in S. Maria della Vita, 1485). Epigones of the tradition of Emilian sculptors of the 15th century are in Bologna, in the 16th century, Vincenzo Onofri (*Pietà*, in S. Petronio) and Alfonso Lombardi (*Pietà*, in S. Pietro), who attempted to achieve new monumental values by approaching the models of Raphael and Michelangelo. All the art of the first half of the 16th century was, moreover, dominated by Michelangelesque ideals, to which the expressive nobility of Andrea Sansovino was sought to be united: the presence of Tribolo, who worked in S. Petronio (1525), helped to confirm this trend; and the host of mediocre artisans (such as Saccadenari, P. de’ Rossi, A. Aspertini, G. da Treviso, L. Casario, Zaccaria da Volterra), to whom we owe the panels of the minor doors of the church, repeated and deformed with extreme monotony the models of the great art of the time. To the same premises also refers Montorsoli in the high altar of the church of the Servi (1558). A certain originality, instead, is shown by the woodcarvers of the da Formigine family, of which Andrea is the greatest representative: they summarize the tradition of woodcarving, which had produced outstanding works in the choir stalls of S. Francesco (1407), S. Petronio (1468–77), and S. Domenico (1528–40).
The 17th century is represented only by the *Decollation of S. Paolo* (1641) in the church of the same name, by the Bolognese Algardi, who, more than affirming Baroque achievements here, demonstrates the links of his sculpture with the painting of his fellow-countrymen the Carracci; Camillo Mazza, an Algerian, is in the reliefs of S. Pietro and the church of the Cappuccini. In the 18th century, G. Mazza and A. Piè demonstrate, in the interiors of S. Maria di Galliera, S. Maria della Vita, and the Annunziata, their participation in the rich and elegant taste of the time; but they then revert to the Emilian naturalistic tradition in the human grace of their Madonnas or the liveliness of their Nativity figurines. Nor did Giacomo de Maria, a pupil of Canova, disdain the art of the figurine-maker, with which Neoclassicism briefly penetrated Bologna: it was succeeded by that veristic trend that left broad testimony in numerous tombs of the monumental cemetery.
3. Painting
Painting in Bologna was, through the centuries, essentially “sacred,” not so much in subject matter as in the spirit of religiosity that permeates, more or less purely, the artists.Alongside the scarce and mediocre remains of 13th-century painting (frescoes now in the museum of S. Stefano and in S. Vittore), the documents of miniature art are exceedingly rich, since Bologna was the most distinguished center of miniature painting in the 13th century; in the decoration of manuscripts, the traditional Byzantine manner was soon replaced by frequent naturalistic touches and a lively illustrative vein, making the introduction of the new Tuscan and Giottesque language easy, while Gothic models remained of little importance. To this day, the figures of Oderisi lack any historical concreteness.
From Gubbio and Franco Bolognese, in whom various trends of miniature art in the second half of the 13th century were sought to be identified, these trends are instead summarized at the beginning of the 14th century in Niccolò di Giacomo, who forces narrative fluidity and expressive efficacy almost to the point of caricature. The miniature tradition, combined with sensitive elements from S. Martini, flowed into the painting of Vitale da Bologna, the greatest artistic personality of the first half of the 14th century; while the Giottesque-Rimini style is clearly evident in Jacopo Avanzi, identified by some with the “Cousin of the Romagnoli.” Various artists are linked to the style of these painters: Andrea da Bologna, Simone dei Crocifissi, the painters of the stories of Pomposa, Lippo di Dalmasio, who carried the grace of Vitale into the early 15th century. In the first half of the 15th century, Bolognese painting followed the premises of the previous century with Pietro Lianori and Orazio di Jacopo; Michele di Matteo di Calcina and Michele di Matteo da Modena, instead, represent the international taste of Gentile da Fabriano. By the mid-century, Bolognese painting came into contact, through the altarpiece of A. and B. Vivarini and through Marco Zoppo, with the achievements of Mantegna’s Paduan art and the constructive breadth of Piero della Francesca: these elements, combined with the precious color and dramatic violence of Ferrara, were reconfirmed by F. del Cossa (active in Bologna from 1472 to 1478), whose school remained productive until the end of the 15th century, and by the sojourn of Ercole de’ Roberti (1482–86). With L. Costa, Ferrarese motifs were modified in contact with the personality of Francesco Raibolini, called il Francia: he was the most representative painter of late 15th-century Bologna, and his art, imbued with a religious lyricism and an ecstatic grace, helped to determine a particular type of woman in painting for about two centuries; Amico Aspertini repeated its graceful forms in the 16th century.
from Gubbio
For such aspects of Bolognese art, the success of the altarpiece of St Cecilia (1516) in S. Giovanni in Monte by Raphael was enormous: Raphael’s influence triumphed unchallenged for the first thirty years of the century, and then remained fundamental in the eclectic direction of the rest of the 1500s; even painters from outside the region conformed to it, such as G. da Treviso, G. da Carpi, the Garofalo, l’Ortonato, while with Bagnacavallo, with Biagio dalle Lame, G. da Cotignola, I. da Imola it lapsed into the feeblest mannerism, of which Prospero Fontana was an epigone. Alongside Raphael’s ideals were those of Michelangelo, represented by the frescoes of P. Tibaldi, and the host of mediocre eclectics working at the end of the century (such as Sabatini, Samacchini, Aratusi, Cesi) also tried to avail themselves of Venetian pictorial values and Correggesque modes: the latter dominate in the workshop opened (1572) by the Fleming.
G. da Cotignola, I. da Imola it lapses into the feeblest mannerism, of which Prospero Fontana was an epigone. Alongside Raphael’s ideals are those of Michelangelo, represented by the frescoes of P. Tibaldi, and the host of mediocre eclectics working at the end of the century (such as Sabatini, Samacchini, Aratusi, Cesi) also tried to avail themselves of Venetian pictorial values and Correggesque modes: the latter dominate in the workshop opened (1572) by the Fleming.
G. da Cotignola, I. da Imola sink into the feeblest mannerism, of which Prospero Fontana was an epigone. Beside Raphaelesque ideals stand those of Michelangelo, as represented in the frescoes of P. Tibaldi, and the host of mediocre eclectics working at the end of the century (such as Sabatini, Samacchini, Aratusi, Cesi) also sought to avail themselves of Venetian pictorial values and Correggesque modes: the latter prevail in the workshop opened in 1572 by the Fleming.
G. da Cotignola, I. da Imola descends into the feeblest mannerism, of which Prospero Fontana was an epigone. Beside Raphael’s ideals stand those of Michelangelo, represented in the frescoes of P. Tibaldi, and the host of mediocre eclectics who worked at the end of the century (such as Sabatini, Samacchini, Aratusi, Cesi) also tried to avail themselves of Venetian pictorial values and Correggesque modes: the latter dominate in the workshop opened in 1572 by the Fleming.
G. da Cotignola, I. da Imola descends into the feeblest mannerism, of which Prospero Fontana was an epigone. Beside Raphael’s ideals stand those of Michelangelo, represented in the frescoes of P. Tibaldi, and the host of mediocre eclectics who worked at the end of the century (such as Sabatini, Samacchini, Aratusi, Cesi) also tried to avail themselves of Venetian pictorial values and Correggesque modes: the latter dominate in the workshop opened in 1572 by the Fleming.
The altarpieces of the Madonna of Galliera and of St Paul likewise belong to this current. Gaetano Gandolfi was an epigone of this trend, reviving his own colouring in that of the Venetian Tiepolo. A wholly different position is offered by Giuseppe M. Crespi, called Lo Spagnolo, who sums up the Neovenetian experiences of the 17th century to innovate with profound pictorial sincerity.
In the first half of the 19th century the perspectival tradition lived on in Basoli, Cocchi, Ferri, Solmi and Fancelli, while painters such as Muzzi and Busi reworked the distant premises of the Carracci. The veristic trend, by contrast, was represented by Luigi Serra; towards the close of the century, Samoggia, Casanova and Sezanne attempted to renew medieval and 15th-century motifs romantically in the decoration of the chapels of St Francis.
The complex of buildings, which still bears the name of S. Stefano, is among the most interesting and characteristic. It consists of four main churches, oratories, and cloisters, erected from the 5th to the 17th century. Important restorations were carried out in 1880 and 1924. They still preserve some of the oldest memories of the Bolognese Church, and since some of the buildings were constructed to recall the places of the Savior’s Passion, it was also called Jerusalem.
The cult of the Madonna increased especially through the care of the cardinal and bishop of Bologna, B. NICCOLÒ ALBERGATI. During his tenure the sacred image was, on the occasion of a public calamity, transported for the first time in a solemn procession to the city below (5 July 1433). The image was crowned in 1603 by the archbishop of Bologna, ALFONSO PALEOTTI, and a second time in 1857 by Pius IX.
The ancient church, repeatedly restored, was replaced by the present one, designed by CARLO FRANCESCO DOTTI (1723–1763), in the typical elliptical form with transverse arms in the shape of a cross and an elliptical dome. In recent years the painter GIUSEPPE CASSIOLI has decorated the dome.
The sanctuary is connected to Bologna by a monumental portico three and a half kilometres long, with 666 arches and 15 chapels (1673–1734). In 1931, for greater convenience of access, a cable car was built up to the sanctuary.
The church was rebuilt in the 16th century and remodeled in 1535.
The abbey of SS. Nabore and Felice, where Gratian lived in the 12th century, was for some time united with that of S. Procolo. In 1432 it already belonged to the Congregation of S. Giustina. Eugenius IV separated it from S. Procolo in 1436.
VI. UNIVERSITIES
It shares with Paris the primacy among the medieval university cities. It earned the title of Alma mater studiorum and, on the city’s seals and coins, the motto *Bononia docet*.I. THE ANCIENT STUDY
The first traces of the Studium are to be sought in the second half of the 11th century with the private teaching of Pepone: its founding date is fixed around 1088, and thus in 1888 the eighth centenary of the origins of the Studium was celebrated. Irnerius (v.), *lucerna iuris*, was the brilliant man who immediately gave solid consistency to the teaching entrusted to him, bringing about the decline of Ravenna, even in this respect. With his disciples Bulgarus, Martinus, Jacobus, and Hugo, he founded that glorious school of Glossators which was to give new life to Roman law. Meanwhile, Gratian (v.) compiled the *Decretum* in 1151.According to Odofredus himself, in the 13th century the General Studium of Bologna counted no fewer than 10,000 students, drawn from every part of the world. Unlike that of Paris, which was a corporation of professors (*Universitas Magistrorum*), the Studium of Bologna was constituted by the corporation of students (*Universitas scholarium*). And there were two *Universitates*: that of the Italians or *citramontani*, and that of the foreigners or *ultramontani*, subdivided into *nationes*. A document of 1265 lists, for the *ultramontani*, 13 nations: French, Spanish, Provençal, English, Picard, Burgundian, Poitevin, Gascon, Touronian, Cenomanian, Catalan, Hungarian, Polish, and German; but later their number was doubled.
Thus, the government of the Studium was entrusted to two rectors, elected by the students themselves. The rectors had civil jurisdiction, and in some cases even criminal jurisdiction over the members of the corporation. Frederick Barbarossa, who invited the *doctores* of the Bolognese Studium to the Diet of Roncaglia (1158) to establish the rights of the Empire, promulgated there the *Authentica Habita* in favor of law students, especially foreigners, from which medieval academic legislation drew its inspiration. Thus, with the corporate constitution of the students recognized, the Studium constituted an autonomous organization, with offices and magistrates independent of the communal authority, almost a commune within another commune.
To the original chairs or faculties of the legists (civil and canon law) were gradually added those of medicine and the arts (which seem to have existed already as faculties in 1268), while the faculty of Theology was established by Pope Innocent VI with the bull *Quasi lignum vitae*, from Avignon on June 21, 1360 (Bull. Rom., IV, Turin 1859, pp. 517-519); but, for political reasons, it was inaugurated only on June 2, 1364. Modeled on that of Paris, this faculty was directly dependent on the bishop; it constituted a university of masters rather than of students, and these latter became part of the university of the artists (Savigny).
In the second half of the 13th century, colleges of doctors also appeared, and these included doctors not belonging to the Studium. Such colleges, with their own statutes and the privilege of conferring degrees, lasted until the Napoleonic age.
The first statutes of the two universities of jurists, now lost, were drawn up by the rectors and students in 1252, who bound themselves by oath to observe them, as is evident from the brief of approval by Innocent IV (January 12, 1253). Those of 1317 and 1432 are preserved, as well as the statutes of the university of medicine and the arts of 1405, with the reforms of 1424, and the statutes of the faculty of Theology (published by Cardinal Ehrle), the most interesting and complete of all those drawn up by other theological faculties derived from Paris. Also preserved are the statutes of the college of doctors of civil law (1397, with additions from 1438 to 1499), of the college of canon law (1460 and 1466), and of the college of medicine and the arts (1378, 1395, 1410). All these statutes were repeatedly approved by the Popes, for example, by Pius IV in 1563.
The right of inspection and supervision was reserved by Honorius III in 1219 to the archdeacon, who, as in Paris, took the title of chancellor; for theology, however, supervision belonged to the bishop. A title of glory for the Studium, the various collections of the Decretals (v.) were promulgated with bulls addressed directly “to the masters and students of the Studium of Bologna.”
At first, the professors were chosen and paid by the students, but in the 14th century they began to be stipended by the Commune, and in the 16th century their chairs were gathered into a single building, for which, according to the design of Antonio Terribilia, the Palazzo dell’Archiginnasio was erected in 1562-63. Gregory XV granted them jubilee after 40 years of teaching (bull of August 11, 1621), and Benedict XIV reduced the period to 30 years (brief of September 18, 1748).
The corporate constitution persisted for a long time; but then the government of the Studium passed from the corporation to the Commune, and from the Commune to the Papal States, which from the beginning of the 17th century (after 1604) exercised their power through the cardinal legates *pro tempore*, who thus became perpetual rectors of the university.
About twenty colleges for poor lay students (the ecclesiastics resided in religious houses) had the status of pious works, for example, the Collegio Gregoriano, established by Pope Gregory XI with the bull *Res sanctissima* (Avignon, December 18, 1372) with an ample regulation (Bull. Rom., IV, Turin 1859, pp. 542-60), and the Collegio Montalto, founded by Sixtus V in 1586 for fifty young men from the Marca.
4. THE MODERN UNIVERSITY
With the growing demands of culture from the 15th century onward, the old chairs were subdivided and new ones were established. In 1711 Luigi Ferdinando Marsili founded the Istituto delle Scienze, which later merged with the Accademia dei Pittori, Scultori ed Artisti, and at the beginning of the 19th century was incorporated into the University.With the French invasion, the Studium underwent a series of transformations until it became the present national university.
5. ITS IMPORTANCE FOR EUROPEAN CULTURE
For its Studium, Bologna earned the title of doctorate, seat, and mother of the laws; hence it had coins struck with the proud words: *Petrus reliquiae pater — le gum Bononia mater*. “We jurists must never be so ungrateful as to forget that the learned jurisprudence of our day is the daughter of the Studium of Bologna” (Savigny, p. 547).Its organization served as a model for almost all other medieval universities, French, Spanish, German, Polish, Hungarian, Swedish; the rise of these did not diminish its great importance. Popes and emperors vied in granting privileges, exemptions, and immunities. Its masters acquired world renown, and among its students were counted not a few saints.
Its history is narrated by Albano Sorbelli and Luigi Simeoni (*Storia dell’Università di Bologna*, 2 vols., Bologna 1940-47), and its contribution to the history of culture and universal civilization by Carlo Calcaterra (*Alma Mater Studiorum*, Bologna 1948). — See Plates CVI-CVII.