Scopri Bologna

ASSESSORATO AL TURISMO
COMUNE DI BOLOGNA

Discovering the Wisdom of Bologna

I must confess I have never really liked hearing Bologna described as 'a seat of learning'. True, the first university in the world was founded here, and even the word 'university' itself, in its modern sense, has its origins in this city, where since the year 1100 every discipline of the academic world has been studied with dedication and brought to fruition. Nevertheless, I am unable to bring myself to agree with this definition of Bologna as 'a seat of learning'. It makes me think of a city full of self-important academics, with an aristocratic university quite out of touch with the outside world, a dry, dusty place obsessed by its ancient rites and conventions. It makes me think - and I'm sure it does a lot of other people too - that a visit to the halls and museums of our University must be a terribly boring experience, reserved for the chosen few. An experience exclusively for 'the learned'. But Bologna isn't like this at all. So I find myself suggesting a different name, perhaps 'Bologna, the seat of wisdom'.

This definition is much more appropriate, suggesting a city that sought to achieve its cultural pre-eminence in the past not only for reasons of philosophical speculation, but above all because it was profoundly convinced of the virtue of this choice. Not just out of an aristocratic sense of scholarship, but rather from an innate, pragmatic and even secular thirst for knowledge. This seems to be a much better description of the relationship between Bologna and its University, a free and enlightened relationship for practical more than theoretical purposes, developed over the centuries by an everyday exchange of wisdom between the purest sciences and the purest practicalities. The origins of the University illustrate this point nicely. Unlike the Sorbonne in Paris, which grew out of the School of Notre-Dame as a universitas magistrorum, namely a school for or of the professors, the University of Bologna was not based on an institution boasting great traditions, but was a universitas scholarium, a free association between teachers and students, equalitarian, simple and very clear. For example, professors would address their students as 'dear friends', and it was the students themselves who chose their teachers and paid them, along with all the other expenses for their studies, so that it was really the students who were in charge of the University. And whilst the Sorbonne was founded out of philosophical and theological interests, the University of Bologna had a much more practical aim, that of the study of the legal system, so that some kind of order could be brought to bear on the confusing mass of laws which abounded at that time, providing a firm foundation for the economic and political development of the city in the future years.

It has been said that an activity of study can be regarded as 'universitarian' when the society in which it operates is able to make use of its knowledge and research for predominantly practical purposes. In this sense, it would be legitimate to consider Bologna as being the first authentic University, free and quite independent of the ecclesiastical schools. The city of Bologna has constantly respected the freedom and pragmatic spirit with which the University was founded. It welcomed within its walls students from all over Europe, performing its role of mater nobilium studiorum, the 'mother of noble studies', with absolute regard for their liberty and a truly European sense of generosity. In 1155, the students of Bologna University described the ideal conditions that they enjoyed in the city to Emperor Frederick Barbarossa: 'We love this city above all others, it is rich in products and suited for teaching.
From every part of Europe, a host of scholars come, eager to learn. Here we bring things, clothes, money.
We find suitable lodgings in the centre of the city.

We buy the things we need at a fair price, apart from water, which can be used by everyone. In truth, the citizens honour us. Only in one thing do they trouble us at times, and that is when they demand the repayment of a debt left by one of our neighbours or fellow townsmen.' This slight flaw in the cordiality of the Bolognese was at once rectified by the Emperor in his Edict of Roncaglia, where amongst the new privileges that he granted to the students was that of not being held personally responsible for the acts or debts of their companions: '...and let no-one be so bold as to cause harm to the Scholars.' The Emperor also undertook to protect the students from every kind of pressure or interference from political authorities.
Strengthened by this imperial recognition, the University grew in importance and prestige, and another great step forward was made when penal and civil jurisdiction over the students passed virtually entirely into the hands of the Rector. The city of Bologna gave a fitting example of its wisdom and respect for the liberty and pragmatism upon which its University was founded when it developed a more explicit ambition to become a truly universal centre of culture. In addition to the traditional study of jurisprudence, schools for other disciplines were instituted, responding more accurately to the changing practical necessities of the city. Schools for medicine, philosophy, arithmetic, logic, rhetoric and grammar were opened, and Bologna thus became meeting point for some of the most brilliant minds of Europe, such as Dante, Petrarch and Thomas Becket, the famous archbishop of Canterbury, followed later by Copernicus, Erasmus of Rotterdam, Paracelsus and Torquato Tasso, to name but a few. And at this point we might be gripped by the temptation to investigate all those places in Bologna linked with this free and civic spirit of the origins of the University, and to identify the traces of the social prestige with which it was regarded. However, our visit would be incomplete, and would leave out some of the most interesting aspects of the history of the University. A more pleasurable alternative would be to discover those less 'learned' corners of the city, which can nevertheless entertain us with their considerable 'wisdom'. This, and only this, is the purpose of this pamphlet.