Guastalla
Encyclopedia
Guastalla is a town and comune
Comune
In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the province of Reggio Emilia
Province of Reggio Emilia
The Province of Reggio Emilia is one of the eight provinces of the Italian Region of Emilia-Romagna. The capital city, which is the most densely populated comune in the Province, is Reggio Emilia....

 in Emilia-Romagna
Emilia-Romagna
Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

.

Geography

Guastalla is situated in the Po Valley
Po Valley
The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain is a major geographical feature of Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of 46,000 km² including its Venetic extension not actually related to the Po River basin; it runs from the Western Alps to the...

, and lies on the banks of the Po River. Guastalla is located at around 30 km from the cities of Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an affluent city in northern Italy, in the Emilia-Romagna region. It has about 170,000 inhabitants and is the main comune of the Province of Reggio Emilia....

, Parma
Parma
Parma is a city in the Italian region of Emilia-Romagna famous for its ham, its cheese, its architecture and the fine countryside around it. This is the home of the University of Parma, one of the oldest universities in the world....

, and Mantova.

History

The area of Guastalla was probably settled by Etruscan
Etruscan civilization
Etruscan civilization is the modern English name given to a civilization of ancient Italy in the area corresponding roughly to Tuscany. The ancient Romans called its creators the Tusci or Etrusci...

s as early as the 7th century BCE, but the name of the city is mentioned for the first time in 864 CE. Of Lombard
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...

 origin, the city was ruled by the Torelli
Torelli
Torelli may refer to:*Torelli Bicycles, 40-year-old custom bicycle and parts manufacturer*Giacomo Torelli, seventeenth century Italian set designer*Giuseppe Torelli, Baroque composer from Bologna...

 family from 1406 to 1539, when it became the capital of a duchy under the Gonzaga
House of Gonzaga
The Gonzaga family ruled Mantua in Northern Italy from 1328 to 1708.-History:In 1433, Gianfrancesco I assumed the title of Marquis of Mantua, and in 1530 Federico II received the title of Duke of Mantua. In 1531, the family acquired the Duchy of Monferrato through marriage...

 family and housed artists like Guercino and Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso
Torquato Tasso was an Italian poet of the 16th century, best known for his poem La Gerusalemme liberata , in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between Christians and Muslims at the end of the First Crusade, during the siege of Jerusalem...

.

In 1748, by the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle
Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle of 1748 ended the War of the Austrian Succession following a congress assembled at the Imperial Free City of Aachen—Aix-la-Chapelle in French—in the west of the Holy Roman Empire, on 24 April 1748...

, the city became part of the Duchy of Parma, Piacenza e Guastalla, to which it belonged until 1847, when it was inherited by the Duke of Modena. Since the unification of Italy in 1861 Guastalla has been a part of Italy.

Main sights

  • The Cathedral (16th century) by Francesco da Volterra
    Francesco da Volterra
    Francesco da Volterra was an Italian painter. He resided in Pisa from 1370–1372, where, from the records of the Campo Santo, he painted the History of Job on the south wall...

    .
  • The Ducal Palace (1567).
  • The Civic Theatre Ruggero Ruggeri (1671).
  • The Town Hall.
  • The octagonal Oratory of Madonna della Concezione.
  • The church of Santa Maria dei Servi, designed by Francesco da Volterra. Noteworthy in the interior is a Deposition, canvas by Giuseppe Maria Crespi.
  • The Civic Tower (18th century), in the location where once was the Spanish Castle


In the Guastalla communal territory is also home to:
  • The Romanesque Oratory of St. George (probably from the 9th century).
  • The Basilica of St. Peter at Pieve di Guastalla, which was seat of two Roman Catholic councils. It houses an ancient baptismal font (9th century) and painted terracotta portraying the Madonna with Child, attributed to Guido Mazzoni
    Guido Mazzoni (sculptor)
    Guido Mazzoni was an Italian sculptor and painter of the Renaissance period, working in Bologna, Naples and France.-Biography:...

    .

Famous Residents

  • Ingrid Alberini, known as In-Grid
    In-Grid
    Ingrid Alberini is an Italian dancer and singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 2003 international club smash "Tu es foutu", also known as "You Promised Me"...

    . Italian pop-dance artist, known for the 2003 global dance hit Tu es foutu
    Tu es foutu
    "Tu Es Foutu" was the debut single by Italian dance singer-songwriter In-Grid, released as the lead single from her debut album Rendez-Vous in 2003....

    or "You Promised Me", born in Guastalla in 1978 and grew up in this town.

External links




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