Monterenzio ( Medial Mountain Bolognese: ) is a town and ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' in the

Metropolitan City of Bologna The Metropolitan City of Bologna ( it, Città Metropolitana di Bologna) is a metropolitan city in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy. Its capital is ''de facto'' the city of Bologna, though the body does not explicitly outline it. It was created b ...

(

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Geography

The territory of the municipality rises on the ridge between the valleys of the

Idice The Idice is a river in the Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna regions of Italy. The source of the river is in the province of Florence near Monghidoro in the Appennino Tosco-Emiliano mountains. The river flows north into the province of Bologna near M ...

and Sillaro streams. The eleven rural units that make up the territory date back to the Pre-Napoleonic era. The

Via Flaminia The Via Flaminia or Flaminian Way was an ancient Roman road leading from Rome over the Apennine Mountains to ''Ariminum'' ( Rimini) on the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and due to the ruggedness of the mountains was the major option the Romans ha ...

Minore road runs upon the crest and marks the watershed and the historic and cultural border between Emilia and

Romagna Romagna ( rgn, Rumâgna) is an Italian historical region that approximately corresponds to the south-eastern portion of present-day Emilia-Romagna, North Italy. Traditionally, it is limited by the Apennines to the south-west, the Adriatic to th ...

. The main town is located at about from

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different na ...

, on the right side of the Idice and downstream of the community of Monterenzio that gave the name to the comune. In the past the town hall was located in ''Villa di Cassano'' and ''Ca' di Lavacchio'', afterwards in ''Fiumetto'', in 1880 and then from 1934 onwards in today's collocation.

History

Monterenzio might be identified in ''Monte Russi'', mentioned for the first time in a decree from

Emperor Otto III Otto III (June/July 980 – 23 January 1002) was Holy Roman Emperor from 996 until his death in 1002. A member of the Ottonian dynasty, Otto III was the only son of the Emperor Otto II and his wife Theophanu. Otto III was crowned as King of G ...

of 998 CE; a ''castrum'' (castle) or of ''Monte Renzoli'' was mentioned in a transaction of 1034. The first settlements date back to the Villanovian era, as some findings near Pizzano witness. An Etruscan-

Celt The Celts (, see pronunciation for different usages) or Celtic peoples () are. "CELTS location: Greater Europe time period: Second millennium B.C.E. to present ancestry: Celtic a collection of Indo-European peoples. "The Celts, an ancient ...

ic settlement was discovered in the hamlet of Pianella di Monte Savino, nowadays still an object of excavations, dating back to the 4th century BCE that brought to light the presence of a tank for the gathering of water, certainly of public domain. The settlement reached its peak in the 3rd century BCE, whereas it should be followed by a swift period of decline due to the presence of

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

on the territory. A large

necropolis A necropolis (plural necropolises, necropoles, necropoleis, necropoli) is a large, designed cemetery with elaborate tomb monuments. The name stems from the Ancient Greek ''nekropolis'', literally meaning "city of the dead". The term usually im ...

has been found on top of Monte Tamburrino.

Main sights

The ''Rocca Malaspina'' ("Malaspina Castle"), resembling to a house-tower. The façade has three staggered portails and concave windows bordered by a cylindric cordon. The hamlet of Scaruglio is home to the Church of ''Sant'Andrea di Scoveto'', mentioned many times in the tithe reports of 1300, near which the market of Monterenzio was said to have taken place, as prescribed in the Statutes of Bologna in 1288. Of historical interest are also Villa di Cassano, and, on the Mount of Castellaccio, a castle mentioned in 1297, when it was fortified by Bologna. The hamlet has also some interesting buildings of the 14th or 15th century.

Twin towns

Bibracte Bibracte, a Gallic ''oppidum'' or fortified settlement, was the capital of the Aedui and one of the most important hillforts in Gaul. It was situated near modern Autun in Burgundy, France. The material culture of the Aedui corresponded to the ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

References

External links

Official website
Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna Castles in Italy Villanovan culture {{EmiliaRomagna-geo-stub