Modena historical timeline

Modena was founded as the Roman colony of Mutina in 183 BC, the same year as Parma and on the same road. It was a significant place: the siege of Mutina in 43 BC was one of the decisive episodes of the civil wars after Caesar’s death.

The cathedral was begun in 1099, and it is unusual in that we know who made it. An inscription names Lanfranco as architect and Wiligelmo as sculptor, which is rare for the period and part of why the building matters to historians of art rather than only to visitors.

In 1598 the Estense dukes lost Ferrara to the Papal States and moved their capital here, bringing the court, the library and the collections with them — the Biblioteca Estense and the Galleria Estense both descend directly from that move. Modena was a duchy from then until Italian unification in 1859, and the ducal palace they built now houses the military academy.

The modern city was made by engineering. Enzo Ferrari was born here in 1898 and built his company at Maranello, eighteen kilometres away; Maserati, Lamborghini, Pagani and De Tomaso all grew up within the same short radius. The area markets itself as Motor Valley, and the description is accurate.