The 14 metropolitan cities of Italy are administrative divisions of Italy, operative since 2015, which are a special type of province. The metropolitan city, as defined by law, includes a large core city and the surrounding suburbs and countryside closely related to it by economic activities and essential public services, as well as to cultural relations and to territorial features.

Bologna is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its metropolitan area is home to more than 1,000,000 people. It is known as the Fat City for its rich cuisine, and the Red City for its red tiled rooftops and, more recently, its leftist politics. It is also called the Learned City because it is home to the oldest university in the world.