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Bologna.science
Bologna, the place

Bologna: a city built around a university

Nine centuries of university life, sixty-two kilometres of porticoes and, in a former tobacco factory, some of Europe's largest computers.

Sources checked26 October 2026
Reading time3 min
Polish versionMiasto i region →

In a nutshell

Bologna is the capital of Emilia-Romagna, a region of about 4.5 million people in northern Italy; its metropolitan area has just over a million. For visitors it is a city of towers, red-brick streets and covered walkways. For anyone interested in science and education it is something more: the home of a university founded in the 11th century, the city that gave its name to the Bologna Process, and today one of Europe's centres for supercomputing and climate data.

This page covers the university, the Two Towers, the porticoes, the region and the DAMA technopole, and shows where Bologna sits on the TheScience.fm Atlas.

Sources: [5] [1] [6]

In short
1088The year conventionally taken as the founding of the Studium of Bologna.
62 kmof porticoes, on the UNESCO World Heritage List since 2021.
2025The Technopole became DAMA – Data Manifattura Emilia-Romagna.

Higher education in Bologna: the university

The University of Bologna describes itself as the oldest university in the Western world. The year 1088 is conventionally taken as the founding of the Studium of Bologna, and the university speaks of nine centuries of the Alma Mater Studiorum.

The Bologna Process takes its name from this city, where ministers signed the Bologna Declaration in June 1999 – see The Process.

Sources: [1]

The Two Towers

Bologna’s terracotta rooftops seen from above, with the Asinelli and Garisenda towers and church domes.

The Two Towers are the usual symbol of Bologna. They stand in the centre, where the ancient Via Emilia entered the city, and were built at the same time in the early 12th century. The Asinelli Tower is 97 metres tall, with 498 steps inside. The Garisenda is 47 metres tall and leans sharply because the ground and foundations have sunk; it was lowered in the 14th century for fear that it would collapse, and Dante mentions it in the Inferno. Access to the towers depends on conservation work – check the official page before you plan a climb.

Sources: [2]

The porticoes

A long arcaded portico in Bologna, its vaulted bays receding into the distance.

Bologna's covered walkways form a network about 62 kilometres long, built from the 12th century to the present day. The Porticoes of Bologna, a selection of twelve component parts, were inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List on 28 July 2021.

Sources: [3] [4]

Emilia-Romagna

Bologna is the capital of Emilia-Romagna, which had 4,482,977 residents at the start of 2025; the Metropolitan City of Bologna had 1,025,534. The region has invested in data and computing infrastructure, the subject of the next section.

Sources: [5]

Supercomputing in Bologna: the DAMA technopole

In a former tobacco factory designed by Pier Luigi Nervi, the Emilia-Romagna region has built a technopole for science and technology. In March 2025 it was renamed DAMA – Tecnopolo Data Manifattura Emilia-Romagna.

It hosts the data centre of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), formally opened in September 2021, and Leonardo, a EuroHPC pre-exascale supercomputer run by CINECA and inaugurated on 24 November 2022. INFN's computing centre CNAF opened its new data centre there on 10 May 2024. More in Institutes & Facilities.

Sources: [6] [7] [8] [9]

On the Atlas

Bologna lies on the Concept Cities route of the TheScience.fm Atlas. On this route a city name often stands for an idea as well as a place: Bologna for a process, Frascati for a family of measurement manuals, Sèvres for the International System of Units.

Atlas of TheScience.fm hubs in EuropeMap of European TheScience.fm hubs with the four Atlas routes.← Pasadena.scienceBologna.scienceBonn.scienceFrascati.scienceGeneva.scienceGrenoble.scienceLausanne.scienceLyon.scienceNoordwijk.scienceVilligen.scienceZuerich.scienceSevres.scienceNatural Earth · conic conformal projection
TheScience.fm hubs in Europe and the four Atlas routes. One of them passes through Bologna. Map data: Natural Earth.

All hubs

All TheScience.fm hubs worldwidePasadena.sciencescience.Taipei11 European hubs
All thirteen hubs of the TheScience.fm Platform. Map data: Natural Earth.
HubAnchor institutionsRoutes
Bologna.scienceBologna Process · ECMWF data centreConcept Cities
Bonn.scienceDFG · DAAD · Humboldt Foundation · German Space Agency at DLRSpace, Concept Cities
Frascati.scienceINFN-LNF · ESA ESRIN · ENEABig Machines, Space, Concept Cities
Geneva.scienceCERNBig Machines, Swiss Model
Grenoble.scienceESRF · ILLBig Machines
Lausanne.scienceEPFL Swiss Plasma CenterBig Machines, Swiss Model
Lyon.scienceIARC, the WHO cancer research agencyConcept Cities
Noordwijk.scienceESA ESTECSpace
Pasadena.scienceCaltech · NASA JPLSpace
Sevres.scienceBIPM · SI and metrologyConcept Cities
Villigen.sciencePaul Scherrer InstituteBig Machines, Swiss Model
Zuerich.scienceETH ZurichSwiss Model
science.TaipeiAcademia Sinicapartner station

On the map

Palazzo d’Accursio, Bologna’s city hall on Piazza Maggiore, with its clock tower and crenellated brick walls.

Sources

  1. University of Bologna – Our history
  2. Bologna Welcome – The Two Towers: Garisenda and degli Asinelli
  3. UNESCO World Heritage Centre – The Porticoes of Bologna
  4. Comune di Bologna – Porticoes: nomination timeline
  5. Regione Emilia-Romagna, Ufficio di Statistica (2025), Popolazione residente in Emilia-Romagna. Dati al primo gennaio 2025
  6. Regione Emilia-Romagna – Data Valley: the Technopole becomes DAMA (2025)
  7. ECMWF – The new data centre in Bologna
  8. EuroHPC JU – LEONARDO is inaugurated (24 November 2022)
  9. INFN – The new CNAF data center at the Bologna Technopole

Sources checked on 26 October 2026. Official documents are linked, not republished.