Correggio - from Castelvecchio to the Town of Princes, Emilia Romagna
Correggio whose name stems from a medieval latin word meaning "lifting up of the ground", has been for more than six hundred years, from the 11th century to 1630, was a kingdom, then under the rule of the count and finally the Principality of the family from Correggio.
Beginning from the 10th century onwards and for nearly two hundred years the castle has been the oldest centre of the town as a matter of fact the Castelvecchio (Old Castle) became the centre both for the defensive urban system and the civil and religious settlement.
The whole area seems to be developed in two different sides of the same road axis which would then become "Piazza Castello" (Castle Square: today's Corso Cavour).
Later, two new settling areas grew: Borgovecchio (Old village) (corresponding to the present road bearing the same name) and Borgonuovo (New village). Borgovecchio rose between the 12th and 13th century outside the ditch of the Castelvecchio.
Along side the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Misericordia (Church of St. Maria della Misericordia) with the annexed hospital, the village stretched in three large districts separated by today's via (street) del Correggio, via Santa Maria and via Borgovecchio.
A center of artisan and manufacturing activities for many ages, Borgovecchio had become, in fact, the economic and productive heart of the medieval town of Correggio.
During the 14th century new and wider fortifications were built including the Civil Tower (now bell tower of the Basilica of San Quirino) and the Rocchetta or "Rocca Nuova" (small or new Fortress) dated back to 1372 and mostly demolished in 1887).
In the early 15th century a new "addition" the Borgonuovo (New village) developed around the the fourteenth - century convent complex and the Church of San Francesco.
During this century the town was radically changed: the church and the convent of San Francesco were fully re-built (1470), the construction of squares and roads junction gave rise to the connection between three old urban centres, set up in different ages, which originally were isolated and devided by defensive ditches.
In 1459 new boundary walls were erected to surround these three districts letting the whole building distribution, that was rich in decorated palaces and frescoes, be more assembled.
Traces of water-colour paintings dated back to the fifteennth century may be seen in the front arcades of Palazzo Bellelli (Bellelli Palace) in Corso Mazzini (Mazzini Avenue).
The 16th century is considered the historical greatest period of splendour for the Countship and the town.
It was during that period that the impressive Palazzo dei Principi (Princes Palace), the Basilica dei Santi Quirino e Michele, the Church of San Sebastiano and the present Palazzo Cagarelli (Cagarelli Palace ) in Corso (Avenue) Cavour were built.
Once it was an old count's palace of the family from Correggio then, became the seat of the Corpus Christi Monastery.
In 1561 the Dominican Friars started the building of their new monastery creating the dwelling-place of today's Convitto Nazionale R. Corso (National Boarding School R.Corso) annexed to the Chiesa di San Giuseppe (the Church of San Giuseppe: former San Domenico, 17th C.).
The sixteenth century is also the time the great walled rampart surrounding the whole historic centre was built. This was then almost entirely demolished between the end of the 19th century and the early 20th.
A few intact remains are still present in the Bastion of San Domenico (or National Boarding School) and in the Bastion of Carlo V. On these foundations, the present-day Tower was built and was used as factory in 1909.
During the 17th and 18th centuries the building development is characterized by the rising of religious, civil and private buildings of great importance such as the Palazzo Comunale(Town Palace), the Chiesa di Santa Chiara (Church of Santa Chiara) and the planning of new streets and squares (Piazza Padella, Piazza Don Andreoli).
The most important moments of the town planning history during the 19th century are the coming of the railway in Correggio (Reggio Emilia - Correggio - Carpi line) which caused the partial demolition of the fourteenth-century Rocchetta (small Fortress), the opening of a wide trees-lined avenue from the new Station to the town centre (Cavour Avenue) and the building of the Teatro Comunale "B. Asioli" (Town Theatre "B.Asioli ") on the ruins of a former theatre (1850-52, re-built after a fire in 1890-98).
The destruction of the town walls in the first twenty years of the 20th century provoked a radical metamorphosis in the town of Correggio that commenced new settlements and productive plants outside the historic centre that, for ages, has traditionally represented the natural living seat.
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