Northern Italy

The wealthier, somewhat more Germanic portion of Italy, comprising the Po valley, the Piedmont, and the northern Appenines.

Contains: Aquileia, Arimnus, Asti, Bergamo, Bozzolo, Brescia, Caisra, Carniola, (Friuli, Istria), Carpi, Chamars, Colorno, Corsica, Cospaia, Cremona, Curtun, Dezana, Elba, the Etruscans, Fidenza, Finale Borgo, Fosdinovo, Friuli, Genoa, Gorizia, Guastalla, Ivrea, Lodi, Lucca, Mantua, Massa-Carrara, Messerano, Milan (temporal), Milan (Archbishopric), Mirandola, Modena, Montferrat, Novara, Novellara, Ossola, Padua, Parma, Pavia, Perusna, Piacenza, Piedmont, Piombino, Pisa, Reggio nell'Emilia, Sabbioneta, Savona, Savoy, Siena, Treviso, Tarchna, Trieste, Turin, Tuscany, Udine, Venice, Veii, Verona, Vescovato, and Vicenza.

 

AQUILEIA A bishopric in northeastern Italy, adjacent to the angle of the Slovenian and Austrian borders, and extending south to the Adriatic Sea; the modern Italian province of Friuli closely covers the region. The bishopric was established in the 3rd century CE. A long-standing schism erupted here in 533, moving the bishop to renounce adherence to Roman authority, and style themselves Patriarchs, after the eastern fashion. For the next 160 years, Roman and Eastern parties contested each other for mastery; although Roman authority was ultimately upheld, the title of Patriarch was retained. The Patriarchs were invested with the COUNTY of FRIULI and the MARCH of CARNIOLA in 1077, and the MARCH of ISTRIA in 1209. Eventually, the secular territories were attached to Venice, and the Patriachate itself was suppressed in 1752.

ASTI In the Piedmont, south of Turin. It is perhaps best known today for it's fine wineries.


BERGAMOAn important town in the foothills of the Swiss Alps, northeast of Milan.


BOZZOLO A small town in northern Italy, created a lordship for the benefit of a cadet branch of the Gonzagas, Dukes of Mantua.  See also Sabbioneta for another Gonzaga lordship created at the same time.


BRESCIA An important city and episcopal see in northern Italy, at the foot of the Swiss Alps, and located between Verona to the east and Milan to the west.


CARPI A town in north-central Italy, 10 miles (16 km.) north of Modena and 27 miles (43 km.) east of Parma. Students of architecture will know Carpi as the site of the largest and grandest public piazza in the region.


COLORNO A town in north-central Italy, about 9 miles (14.5 km.) north of Parma, near the estuary of the Parma River into the Po. Owing to it's strategic location on the edge of Parmesan, Milanese, and Mantuan territories, it was occupied frequently by a succession of condottiere in the later Middle Ages. It was constituted a Marqessate in the late 16th century, before being absorbed by Parma.


CORREGIO A small town in north-central Italy, 10 miles (16 km.) northwest of Modena and 22 miles (35 km.) east of Parma. The territorial base for a long-standing dynastic clan with influence in a number of cities in this region, see Colorno, Cremona, and Parma for additional data on the ruling family.


CORSICA A large island between Sardinia and Genoa, the birthplace of Napoleon.


COSPAIA A hamlet in the hills of extreme northern Perugia province, some 17 miles (27 km.) east-northeast of Arezzo and about 34 miles (55 km.) north-northwest of Perugia city - it is now a frazioni (subdivision) within the commune of San Giustino Umbro . In the 15th century, the district was on the frontier between the Papal States and the Republic of Florence, probably on the Papal side of the line. In 1440, a treaty between Pope Eugenius IV and Cosimo d'Medici was signed, selling some lands in the area to Florence - however, the description of the parcels erroneously created a tiny no-mans-land between the two Powers, centred on this village. Inadvertently freed of all feudal obligations and taxation, the community happily established a republic, whose main source of income was smuggling.


CREMONA A town in northern Italy, on the Po River west of Mantua and southeast of Milan. It has been noted since early modern times as the locale of the Amati family of violin-makers, and their illustrious pupil, Stradivari.


DEZANAIn northwestern Italy, a county from 1510.


ELBA A small mountainous island lying between Livorno district on the mainland and northeastern Corsica. A mild climate has encouraged the development of a tourist presence, but the place has had active iron mines (almost played out now) since Etruscan times, and an important fisheries industry. It is best-known as the place of Napoleon's first exile, created a sovereign Principality for him.


The ETRUSCANS These were a non-Aryan folk who migrated into northern and central Italy before 800 BCE from the eastern steppes. They set up a series of autonomous city-states: Arretium (Arezzo), Caisra (Caere or modern Cerveteri), Clevsin, (Clusium or modern Chiusi), Curtun (modern Cortona), Perusna (Perugia), Fufluna or Pupluna (Populonia), Veii, Tarchna (Tarquinii or modern Tarquinia-Corneto), Vetluna (Vetulonia), Felathri (Volaterrae or modern Volterra), Velzna (Volsinii or modern day Bolsena), and Velch (Vulci or modern day Volci). The Romans were under Etruscan power in the infancy of their own culture, and after they became independent always regarded the Etruscans with the half sneering condescension, half horrified fascination that former subject peoples usually view their erstwhile masters (this is an important point, for it lies at the heart of the very ambivalent Roman attitude towards Monarchies vs. Republics). Knowledge about the Etruscans is fragmentary, and usually filtered through Roman eyes; the Etruscan language is essentially untranslated even today. It is known that they normally acknowledged one among their number as High King, and the following list attempts to note a few of those individuals. The leader of each city was called a Lauchum, elected for life, and he appears to have been more like a priest than a king (though he also functioned as a war-leader), while an oligarchy of nobles held political power. To defend against outsiders like the Celts and Greeks, the twelve city-states formed a league, which we sometimes call the Dodecapolis. It appears that Campania eventually became the location of a second Etruscan league, though little is known of it. These leagues were loosely organized, with each Lauchum only having power over his own city. Every year at Volsinii, they held a festival to honor the god Voltumna, and elected a Lauchum to serve as head of the league for the next year. This appears to have been largely a ceremonial post. By the early 300s most of the Etruscan states had become republics of a sort, with the lauchum elected for a one-year term from among the nobility. By the 5th century BCE they were under increasing pressure from turbulent Italics on the one hand, and feroce Celts on the other, and by the 3rd century they had fallen under the authority of Rome (the last Etruscan city to be subdued by Rome was Velzna, 265 BCE). In 90 BCE they were granted Roman citizenship, but they backed Marius a decade later, and as a result their language was suppressed and their distinct culture and folkways outlawed. A century later, the future Emperor Claudius could find enough elderly rustics remaining to compile an Etruscan dictionary (now lost, alas), but they vanished as a distinct ethnic group soon after. Nevertheless, a large number of old Roman families retained a memory of Etruscan roots, for example the Sempronii, Licinii, Minucii, and Larcii. Then too, a number of the older Roman divinities turn out to be based closely on Etruscan originals.


FIDENZA (Borgo San Donnino) An ancient town in Emilia-Romagna, 14 miles (22 km.) west-northwest of Parma abnd 18 miles (29 km.) south of Cremona. In ancient times called Fidentia, it became known as Borgo San Donnino from a shrine to the martyr Domninus located here (the reputed site of his execution). It was renamed to the Italian form of the ancient name in 1927.


FINALE BORGO A small locale on the Italian Riviera, close to the French frontier.


FOSDINOVO A minor Lordship in Liguria.


FRIULI Located in extreme northeastern Italy, above Venice and Trieste, and aside the Slovenian frontier. Known during Imperial times as Forum Julii, the district constituted a Lombard Duchy during the Dark Ages.


GENOA An important port in northwestern Italy, famous for its maritime and mercantile merchant-princes. The eternal rival of Venice for colonies and and overseas markets, the city always was hamperd by incessant political factionalism during the late Mediaeval and Renaissance eras. Famous as the hometown of Christopher Columbus, it is more darkly known as the port that saw the introduction of the plague into Europe, in 1346.


GUASTALLAA town in Reggio Emilia district of north-central Italy, 19 miles (30 km.) northeast of Parma at the confluence of the Crostolo River into the Po. Normally ecclesiastic territory until the 14th century, it became the seat of a county (1428), and eventually a duchy (1621).


IVREAA town in northwestern Italy, between Turin and the Swiss frontier.


LODI An ancient settlement in Lombardy, southeast of Milan. Best known as the site of a battle between France and Austria (10 May, 1796), in which Napoleon Bonaparte gained a reputation for invincibility.


LUCCA A small city on the Tyrhennian coast, near Livorno. A local Lordship was established here in the 14th century - that was briefly converted into a Duchy 1327-9 before reverting to the Baronial title. Eventually a stable republic was established, enduring until Napoleonic times. It once again became a Duchy until unification with Italy.