Modena : Italy
The province of Modena has 47 communes, including Campogalliano, Nonantola, Soliera, Bastiglia, Castelnuovo Rangone, Formigine, Castelfranco Emilia, San Cesario sul Panaro, Carpi, Castelfranco Emilia, Fiorano Modenese, Finale Emilia, Formigine, Maranello, Mirandola, Sassuolo, Vignola, and Pavullo nel Frignano.
History
Ancient times
The territory around Modena (Roman Mutina, Etruscan Muoina) was inhabited by the Villanovans in the Iron Age, and later by Ligurian tribes, Etruscans and the Gaulish Boii, the settlment itself being Etruscan. Although its foundation date is unknown, it is known that it was already in existence in the III century BC, for in 218 BC, during Hannibal’s invasion of Italy, the Boii revolted and laid siege to the city. Livy described it as a fortified citadel where Roman magistrates took shelter. The outcome of the siege is not sure, but the city was probably abandoned anyway, after Hannibal’s arrival. Mutina was refounded as a Roman colony in 183 BCE, to be used as a military base by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, causing the Ligurians to sack it in 177, nonetheless it was rebuilt and quickly became the most important centre in Cispadane Gaul, both because of its strategical importance and because it was on an important crossroads between Via Aemilia and the road going to Verona.
In the I century BCE Mutina was besieged twice: once by Pompey, defended by Marcus Junius Brutus (a populist leader, not one of Caesar’s assassins), in 78 BC: the city surrendered out of hunger and Brutus fled, but just to be slain at Rhegium Lepidi. Then once again it was besieged, by Mark Antony, defended by Decimus Junius Brutus, in 44 BC: Octavian came to the rescue of Brutus with the help of the Senate and drove Antony away.
Cicero defined it Mutina splendidissima (“most beautiful Mutina”) in his Philippics (44 BCE). Until the 3rd century AD it kept its position as the most important city in the newly formed Aemilia, but the fall of the Empire brought Mutina down with it, as it was used as a military base both against the barbarians and in the civil wars. It is said that Mutina was never sacked by Attila, for a dense fog hid it (a miracle provided by Saint Geminianus, bishop and patron of Modena), but it was eventually buried by a great flood in the 7th century and abandoned.
