Modena

Modena (mô`dānä), city (1991 pop. 176,990), capital of Modena prov., Emilia-Romagna, N central Italy, on the Panaro River. It is an agricultural, commercial, and major industrial center. Manufactures include motor vehicles, cast-iron, machine tools, and leather. An Etruscan settlement, the city was the site of a Roman colony called Mutina, founded in the early 2d cent. B.C. and located on the Aemilian Way. Modena became a free commune in the 12th cent. and in 1288 permanently passed to the Este family of Ferrara. The duchy of Modena, established in 1452, became the seat of the Este family after it lost (1598) Ferrara. From the fall of Napoleon I in 1814 until 1859 the house of Austria-Este ruled harshly. Among the city's notable structures are the cathedral (12th cent.), which has a massive white marble campanile (289 ft/88 m high) called the Ghirlandina; the Palazzo dei Musei (1753–67), which contains several art collections and the Este library; and the ducal palace (17th cent.). The nearby Nonantola abbey (founded 752) was a center of learning in the Middle Ages. Modena has a university.

---

Modena

City (pop., 2001 prelim.: 175,442), Emilia-Romagna region, northern Italy. It lies between the Secchia and Panaro rivers, northwest of Bologna. An ancient Etruscan city, it was made a Roman colony in 183 BC. It was attacked and pillaged by the Huns under Attila and later by the Lombards. It passed to the house of Este in 1288. It was taken by France in 1796 and made part of Napoleon's kingdom of Italy in 1805. It reverted to Este rule in 1815 before joining unified Italy in 1860. The automobile industry is important to its economy; it is also an agricultural market centre. Sites of interest include the 11th-century cathedral and the university (founded 1175).

---

Modena

1. a city in N Italy, in Emilia-Romagna: ruled by the Este family (18th--19th century); university (1678). Pop.: 175 502 (2001

2. a popular variety of domestic fancy pigeon originating in Modena