Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna (pronounced [eˈmiːlja roˈmaɲɲa], Emilian: Emélia-Rumâgna, Romagnol: Emélia-Rumâgna) is an administrative Region of Northern Italy, comprising the historical regions of Emilia and Romagna. Its capital is Bologna. It has an area of 22,446 km² (8,666 sq mi), and about 4.4 million inhabitants.

Emilia-Romagna is one of the wealthiest and most developed regions in Europe, with the third highest GDP per capita in Italy.Bologna, its capital, has one of Italy's highest quality of life indices and advanced social services. Emilia-Romagna is also a cultural and tourist centre, being the home of the University of Bologna, the oldest university in the world, containing Romanesque and Renaissance cities (such as Modena, Parma and Ferrara), being a centre for food and automobile production (home of automotive companies such as Ferrari, Lamborghini, Maserati, Pagani, De Tomaso and Ducati) and having popular coastal resorts such as Cervia, Cesenatico, Rimini and Riccione.

Etymology

Romagna

Romagna (Romagnol: Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to the east, and the rivers Reno and Sillaro to the north and west. The region's major cities include Cesena, Faenza, Forlì, Imola, Ravenna, Rimini and City of San Marino (San Marino is a landlocked state inside the Romagna historical region). The region has been recently formally expanded with the transfer of seven comuni (Casteldelci, Maiolo, Novafeltria, Pennabilli, San Leo, Sant'Agata Feltria, Talamello) from the Marche region, which are a small number of comuni where Romagnolo dialect is spoken.

Etymology

The name Romagna comes from the Latin name Romània, which originally was the generic name for "land inhabited by Romans", and first appeared on Latin documents in the 5th century. It later took on the more detailed meaning of "territory subjected to Eastern Roman rule", whose citizens called themselves Romans (Romàioi in Greek). Thus the term Romània came to be used to refer to the territory administered by the Exarchate of Ravenna in contrast to other parts of Northern Italy under Lombard rule, named Langobardia or Lombardy. Romània later became Romandìola in Vulgar Latin, meaning "little Romània", which became Romagna in modern times.