MIRANDOLA  , a

town of Emilia, Italy, in the province of Modena, ,91 m . N. by E. of it by rail, 59 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (1901), 15,162 The Palazzo del Commune is a 15th-century edifice of Gothic style . The castle of the Pico family, who held the town from the ,4th century to 1710, when the last member was deprived of his dominions by Joseph I. of Austria, is almost entirely destroyed . The height of the fortunes of this family was from about 1450 to 1550, Giovanni (b . 1463, d . 1494) being its ablest and most learned member (see Pico) . The cathedral, dating from the end of the 16th century, has been restored S . Francesco is a fine Gothic church .