The Medals are worn as a distinguishing mark by the Benedictine and Official Academicians during formal ceremonies.
The Medal of this class of Academicians has on one side the engraving of the image of the two Popes Benedict XIV and Gregory XVI and on the other side that of Palazzo Poggi’s façade. The presence of the effigy of Pope Benedict XIV, called Papa Lambertini by the “Bolognesi” is due to the fact that he was a defender of the Academy having supported scientific studies and promoted the creation of the first chairs of obstetrics, surgery and chemistry at the University of Bologna. He was the only Pope in the history of the Church to love and nurture experimental sciences. In 1745 he selected 24 members of the Academy, out of the most famous and talented ones, and awarded them the title of Benedictine Academicians in his honour. The image of Gregory XVI recalls the decision made on November 23, 1838 by the Congregation of the Studies, during the papacy of Pope Gregory XVI, to decorate the Academicians with a medal made of "silver or gold-plated copper", having the diameter of one inch and a half with engraved the motto “Academia Scientiarum Instituti Bononiensis”. This distinctive mark is still today a source of great pride for the Official Academicians of the two classes, and it is put on with the purple red ribbon as it had been established by an ancient tradition. In June 1988, the Medal of the official Academicians was given to Pope John Paul II as a testimony of the papal history of the Academy, during the visit of the Holy Father at Bologna Institute.
The medal of the Class of Moral Sciences, which is no longer in use, was built in 1908 by Joseph Brini and has on one side the engraving of the ancient emblem of the "Inquieti" (Restless) and on the other side that of a branch of laurel. The medal was mistakenly associated with the Fascist period (it was worn by Goffredo Coppola) and it is now very rare.
