Duchy of Modena and Reggio
The University of Bologna—arguably the oldest university in Europe, having been established in AD 1088—and its bustling towns kept trade and intellectual life alive. Its unstable political history is exemplified in such figures as Matilda of Canossa and contending seigniories such as the Este of Ferrara, the Malatesta of Rimini, the Popes of Rome, the Farnese of Parma and Piacenza, and the Duchy of Modena and Reggio.