Seat of the most ancient university in the western world, Bologna, in Emilia Romagna, is a city with an intense cultural life and intriguing historical legacy.   First an important urban center under the Etruscans, then the Gauls and Romans, Bologna was also a well-known Medieval city within Europe. A European Capital of Culture in 2000, it was declared by UNESCO to be a "creative and musical city" in 2006.

Among Bologna's most important symbols are its famous porticoes, those covered sidewalks lined by colonnades that unite street, tower and palaces.

The territory of Bologna Province is beautiful and varied. 
A topography that spreads over the plain of Po River Valley, along the Reno and the Panaro Rivers, in the hills and in the mountains, along the backbones of the Santerno and Senio Rivers to the east, and glides past the Dardagna in the west.
Numerous are the plains, hills and highlands that surround and compose the Bolognese Apennines and its highest peak, the Corno delle Scale, reaching an altitude of 6,562 feet.