Bologna

A city in the Po valley of northern Italy, originally the Etruscan Felsina, which was occupied by Gauls in the 4th century BC and became a Roman colony and municipium (Bononia) c 190 BC. Traces of street plans survive, as do cemeteries with trench-type inhumation and cremation. Finds include sandstone grave stelae and many grave goods. Prior to the Etruscan inhabitation, there were villages of the Apennine culture, which were succeeded by Villanovans. During that time it was a bronzeworking and trade center. It was then subject to the Greeks, then the papacy, then occupied by the Visigoths, Huns, Goths, and Lombards after the barbarian invasions. After a feudal period, Bologna became free in the early 12th century.

[Bononia]. The general area at the eastern end of the Po Valley now covered by the sprawl of modern Bologna, is naturally favourable to agriculture, and straddles obvious lines of communication between plain, mountain and seaboard. Evidence for settlement is often virtually obliterated by successive re-use. In the earliest phases, we have transient Bronze Age groups, followed by many traces of Iron Age huts and tombs (Villanovan). From the 6th century bc urbanization arrived with the Etruscans, for whom the city became the capital of the Po Valley, under the name of Felsina, with important trade links with Spina on the Adriatic coast. Traces of street plans survive, as do cemeteries with trench-type inhumation and cremation. Finds include sandstone grave stelae and many grave goods. Subsequently occupied by the Boii, a Celtic tribe who invaded the area and established themselves in the Po Valley, the city became the regional capital for the invaders and, presumably from them, gained its new name, Bononia. Taken by the Romans in 196 bc and declared a Colonia, the city enjoyed considerable importance and success.