Ferrara

Ferrara (/fəˈrɑːrə/, .mw-parser-output .IPA-label-small{font-size:85%}.mw-parser-output .references .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .infobox .IPA-label-small,.mw-parser-output .navbox .IPA-label-small{font-size:100%}Italian: [ferˈraːra] ⓘ; Emilian: Fràra [ˈfraːra]) is a city and comune (municipality) in Emilia-Romagna, Northern Italy, capital of the province of Ferrara. As of 2016,[update] it had 132,009 inhabitants.[3] It is situated 44 kilometres (27 miles) northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream of the Po River, located 5 km (3 miles) north. The town has broad streets and numerous palaces dating from the Renaissance, when it hosted the court of the House of Este.[4] For its beauty and cultural importance, it has been designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The first documented settlements in the area of the present-day Province of Ferrara date from the 6th century BC.[5] The ruins of the Etruscan town of Spina, established along the lagoons at the ancient mouth of Po river, were lost until modern times, when drainage schemes in the Valli di Comacchio marshes in 1922 first officially revealed a necropolis with over 4,000 tombs, evidence of a population centre that in Antiquity must have played a major role.[6] There is uncertainty among scholars about the proposed Roman origin of the settlement in its current location (Tacitus and Boccaccio refer to a "Forum Alieni"[7]), for little is known of this period,[8] but some archeologic evidence points to the hypothesis that Ferrara could have been originated from two small Byzantine settlements: a cluster of facilities around the Cathedral of St. George, on the right bank of the main branch of the Po, which then ran much closer to the city than today, and a castrum, a fortified complex built on the left bank of the river to defend against the Lombards.[9]