Bologna
2 of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Bologna. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
one of the oldest, largest, and richest cities of Italy, capital of the province of same name, in a fertile plain at the foot of the Apennines, between the rivers Reno and Savena. It is the see of an archbishop, and has extensive manufactures of silk goods, velvet, artificial flowers, etc. Among the principal buildings are the Palazzo Comunale, which contains some magnificent halls adorned with statues and paintings; the Palazzo del Podestà; and the Church or Basilica of St. Petronio. Among the hundred other churches, St. Pietro, St. Salvatore, St. Domenico, St. Giovanni in Monte, St. Giacomo, Maggiore, all possess rich treasures of art. The leaning towers, Degli Asinelli and Garisenda, dating from the 12th century, are among the most remarkable ob- 7-Vol. II-Cyc jects in the city; and the market is adorned with the colossal bronze Neptune of Giovanni di Bologna. An arcade of 640 arches leads to the Church of Madonna di St. Lucca, situated at the foot of the Apennines, near Bologna, and the resort of pilgrims from all parts of Italy. Bologna has long been renowned for its university, claiming to have been founded in 1088, and having ga library which numbers over 200,0 200,000 volumes and 9,000 MSS. The Biblioteca municipale has a library which numbers about 160,000 volumes, with 6,000 MSS. The Church of St. Domenico has a library of 120,000 volumes. The Academy of Fine Arts has a rich collection of paintings by native artists, such as Francia, and the later Bolognese school, of which the Caraccis, Guido Reni, Domenichino, and Albano were the founders. Bologna was founded by the Etruscans under the name of Felsina; became, in 189 B. C., the Roman colony Bononia; was taken by the Longobards about 728 A. D.; passed into the hands of the Franks, and was made a free city by Charlemagne. In the 12th and 13th centuries it was one of the most flourishing of the Italian republics; but the feuds between the different parties of the nobles led to its submission to the papal see in 1513. Several attempts were made to throw off the Papal yoke, one of which, in 1831, was for a time successful. In 1849 the Austrians obtained possession of it. In 1860 it was annexed to the dominions of King Victor Emmanuel. Pop. about 190,000.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
bo-lon'ya, an Italian city, the capital of the province of the name. It is situated in the valley of the Po at a point where important routes of traffic of the Apennines converge. It is still surrounded by a high brick wall pierced by twelve gates, admitting as many routes of travel. The streets are narrow, crooked, and clean. The upper stories of the houses project, and are supported by columns forming arcades for foot passengers. In the Middle Ages Bologna was a city of importance. Its merchants were men of influence. Its university was the earliest in Europe and was for a time the most renowned institution of learning in Italy. Galvani, for whom the galvanic battery is named, was a professor here, 1789. The medical department was the first in the world to teach anatomy by means of dissecting. It seems ridiculous that a city noted for learning, a city on which sculptors and painters have conferred renown, a city with 130 churches, a library of 200,000 volumes and 800 manuscripts, art galleries and museums, a city hall, and with a present population of 152,000 and large commercial and manufacturing interests, should be known in the western world chiefly as the home of the bologna sausage. See Italy
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote in 1921 it counted "about 190,000" people; the city now holds roughly 390,000, with about a million in its wider metropolitan area, and the walls and twelve gates Aiton's described in 1910 survive only in fragments, the ring having largely given way to a boulevard. The two things both entries single out have had opposite fortunes: the arcades, some 24 miles of them, were inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2021, while the leaning Torre Garisenda was fenced off and braced in 2023 over fears of collapse. The university "claiming to have been founded in 1088" is now routinely described as the oldest in continuous operation in the world, and still dominates the city with tens of thousands of students. Bologna also carries a modern scar the accounts could not foresee: the bombing of its railway station on 2 August 1980, which killed 85 people.
Written for this edition, 2026.