Mod'ena

Mod'ena (anc. Mutina), capital of the former duchy of Modena, stands on a broad plain in Northern Italy, 23 miles by rail NW. of Bologna. Pop. (1881) 31,053; of commune (1893) 64,900. It had extensive ramparts, long since converted into promenades, and has fine streets, many of them arched both sides. The ancient Via Emilia divides it into the old and new city. The cathedral of St Geminianus, a Romanesque building, was begun, at the instance of the famous Countess Matilda, in 1099, and has a fine façade; its campanile is one of the great towers of Italy. The ducal (now royal) palace, a picturesque structure of the 17th century, has an infinity of galleries, courts, and marble arches, and contains the Este library of 90,000 volumes and 3000 MSS., the Este archives, collections of coins, and the gallery of pictures, including works by Guido, the Carracci, Guercino, Correggio, and other great Italian masters. Modena possesses besides a university (1678), with 35 teachers and 287 students, an academy of sciences and arts, an observatory, a botanic garden, and military schools. The chief manufactured products are silk, leather, vinegar, and cast metals. There is a very lively trade in agricultural products. Originally an Etruscan town, Modena was conquered successively by the Gauls and the Romans, and destroyed by Constantine the Great, the Goths, and the Longobards. Charlemagne made it the capital of a line of counts. The family of Este (q.v.) became its masters in 1288; and in 1452 the reigning marquis was created duke by the Emperor Frederick III. During the first half of the 19th century its dukes pursued a tyrannous reactive policy against liberalism, and were on more than one occasion expelled their dominions, finally and definitively in 1860. The duchy was then incorporated in the kingdom of Italy, and afterwards divided into the provinces of Modena, Reggio, and Massa-Carrara. Area of province, 994 sq. m.; pop. (1881) 279,254; (1896) 290,446.