A fortified and walled Italian city, capital of the province of the name, situated on a low and marshy plain between the dividing branches of the Po, 30 m. from the Adriatic; it has many fine ecclesiastical buildings and a university founded in 1264, with a library of 100,000 vols., but now a mere handful of students; a fine old Gothic castle, the residence of the Estes ( q. v .), still stands; it was the birthplace of Savonarola, and the sometime dwelling-place of Tasso and Ariosto; once populous and prosperous, it has now fallen into decay.