page_title: University of Bologna
section_title: Notable people
hierarchical_section_title: University of Bologna / Notable people
caption_attribution_description: Portrait of Francesco Petrarca
context_page_description: The University of Bologna is a research university in Bologna, Italy.
  Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students, it is the oldest university in the world, as well as one of the leading academic institutions in Italy and Europe. It is one of the most prestigious Italian universities, commonly ranking in the first places of national, European and international rankings both as a whole and for individual subjects.
  It was the first place of study to use the term universitas for the corporations of students and masters, which came to define the institution located in Bologna.
  The university's emblem carries the motto Alma mater studiorum and the date A.D. 1088, and it has about 86,500 students in its 11 schools.
  It has campuses in Cesena, Forlì, Ravenna and Rimini and a branch center abroad in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It also has a school of excellence named Collegio Superiore di Bologna. An associate publisher of the University of Bologna is the Bononia University Press.
caption: Petrarch
exif: {}