Cortemaggiore

The town was founded in the 1479 by the Pallavicino family, over an old Roman habitation, which had been the capital of the ancient Stato Pallavicino.

Among the religious edifices in the town are the following:

Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie or Collegiata, was once the cathedral of the town, and is still the main church of Cortemaggiore, built in Gothic style. The interior conserves a valued polyptych, composed by twelve pieces, by Filippo Mazzola, the father of Parmigianino.
San Giovanni: church built in 1625-1630 and frescoed by Robert de Longe in 1705
Annunziata (Church of the Annuncation): Built in 1487, it houses two works by Il Pordenone, an Immaculate Conception and a Deposition from the Cross. Next to the church, there is a monastery with a cloister of 40 metres on all sides.
San Giuseppe built 1576-1593 by the brotherhood of San Giuseppe, and subsequently decorated by stuccoes by Bernardo Barca and Domenico Dossi in 1697-1701
Oratory of San Lorenzo: Built in 1666.
Oratory of San Giovanni: Started in 1625 by the confratenity of SS Sacramento.
Santa Maria delle Grazie fuori le mura or Madonnina: Built by the priest Anotonio Bovarini in 1661.

In 1949 the Italian entrepreneur Enrico Mattei, discovers in Cortemaggiore's subsoil an important oilfield; with this oil was product a gasoline (the only one refined from Italian oil), called Supercortemaggiore.

In 1997 to Cortemaggiore was conferred the title of "Città d'Arte" (City of Art), a particular prize assigned to the most artistical interesting city.

The municipality's motto is "Nihil sanctius quam recta fides cum sororibus associata" (Nothing is holier than a true faith combined with other virtues).

Territory

Cortemaggiore is located in the northern Italy about 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Milan and 120 kilometres (75 mi) from Bologna, in the zone of Italy called "Pianura Padana". The municipality borders with Fiorenzuola d'Arda, Villanova sull'Arda, Besenzone, San Pietro in Cerro, Caorso, Pontenure and Cadeo.

Born in Cortemaggiore

Ranuccio II Farnese (1630–94), Duke of Parma and Piacenza.
Lorenzo Respighi (1824–89), mathematician, philosopher.
Giuseppe Manfredi (1828–1918), Patriot and President of the Italian Senate from 1908 to 1918, during the years of World War I.
Franco Fabrizi (1926–95), actor.

Snapshots
The façade of the Church "dell'Annunziata".
"The Deposition", by Il Pordenone.
"The Blameless Conception", by Pordenone.
A view of the Pallavicino's private chapel in the church "dell'Annunziata".
The beautiful cloister of the church "dell'Annunziata".
The church "Santa Maria delle Grazie fuori la mura" or "Madonnina".
The oratory of "San Giovanni" (St. John).
The church of "San Giuseppe" (St. Joseph).
The Oratory of "San Lorenzo" (St. Lawrence).
A view of Cortemaggiore's downtown.

Emilia-Romagna · Comuni of the Province of Piacenza

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Wednesday, March 09, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.