What is emilia romagna?

Answer 1

* Emilia-Romagna is an administrative region of Northen Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of 20,124 km² and about 4.3 million inhabitants. * The name Emilia-Romagna has roots in the ancient Rome legacy in these lands. Emilia refers to via Æmilia, an important Roman way connecting Rome to the northern part of Italy. Romagna is a corruption of Romània; when Ravenna was the capital of the Italian portion of the Byzantine Empire, the Lombards extended the official name of the Empire to the lands around Ravenna. Emilia-Romagna was part of the Etruscan world and in following was passed on to the Gauls and then the Romans, who built it the Aemilian Way, for which the region was named. The coastal area of Emilia, which was ruled under the Byzantines from 540 to 751, became known as the separate region of Romagna. During the Middle Ages trading activities, culture and religion flourished thanks to the region's monasteries and the University of Bologna - the oldest university in Europe - its bustling towns, and its politics - embodied in the historic figure of Matilda of Canossa. In the Renaissance it became the seat for refined seigniories such as the House of Este of Ferrara and the Malatesta of Rimini. In the centuries that followed the region was divided between the rule of the Papal State, the Farnese Duchy of Parma and Piacenza and the Duchy of Modena and Reggio. In the 16th century, most of these were included into the Papal States, but the territory of Parma, Piacenza, and Modena remained independent until Emilia-Romagna was included into the Italian kingdom in 1859-1861.