Cortemaggiore ( Piacentino: ) is an Italian ''

comune A (; : , ) is an administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions () and provinces (). The can also have the City status in Italy, titl ...

'' (municipality) located in the

Province of Piacenza The province of Piacenza () is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Piacenza. As of 2016, it has a total population of 286,572 inhabitants over an area of , giving it a population density of 111.38 ...

. Cortemaggiore is located in northern

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

about from

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and from

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, in the

Po Valley The Po Valley, Po Plain, Plain of the Po, or Padan Plain (, , or ) is a major geographical feature of northern Italy. It extends approximately in an east-west direction, with an area of including its Venetian Plain, Venetic extension not actu ...

. The municipality borders

Fiorenzuola d'Arda Fiorenzuola d'Arda (; , or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Italy in the province of Piacenza, part of the Emilia-Romagna region. Its name derives from ''Florentia'' ("prosperous" in Latin). The "d'Arda" portion refers to the River Arda which flows ...

Villanova sull'Arda Villanova sull'Arda (, or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about east of Piacenza. The commune borders on the municipalities of Besenzone, ...

Besenzone Besenzone ( ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italy, Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about southeast of Piacenza. Besenzone borders the following municipalities: Alseno, Bus ...

San Pietro in Cerro San Pietro in Cerro ( Piacentino: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about east of Piacenza. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 962 ...

Caorso Caorso ( Piacentino: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about east of Piacenza. Caorso borders the following municipalities: Caselle Landi, ...

Pontenure Pontenure ( ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about southeast of Piacenza. Pontenure borders the following municipalities: Cadeo, Caorso, C ...

and

Cadeo Cadeo (Emilian dialects, Piacentino: or ) is a town and ''comune'' (municipality) in the province of Piacenza, in the Italy, Italian region of Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about southeast of Piacenza. It has about 5,6 ...

. The town was founded in 1479 by the

Pallavicini family The Pallavicini (plural, often used in the singular Pallavicino for individual members) are an Italian nobility, Italian noble family whose name dates back to the 11th century. The first known representative of this name was Oberto il Pelavicino ...

, over an old Roman habitation, which had been the capital of the ancient Stato Pallavicino. In 1949 the Italian entrepreneur

Enrico Mattei Enrico Mattei (; 29 April 1906 – 27 October 1962) was an Italian public administrator. After World War II, he was given the task of dismantling the Italian petroleum agency Agip, a state enterprise established by Fascist Italy. Instead, Ma ...

discovered in Cortemaggiore's subsoil an important oilfield; with this oil a gasoline called Supercortemaggiore was produced, the only one refined from Italian oil. The municipality's motto is ''Nihil sanctius quam recta fides cum sororibus associata'' - "Nothing is holier than a true faith combined with other virtues."

Architecture

Among the religious edifices in the town are the following: * '' Basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie'' or ''Collegiata'':

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

style church in town center. The interior conserves a polyptych, composed of twelve pieces by

Filippo Mazzola Filippo Mazzola (1460 - 1505) was an Italian painter of the Renaissance period. He was born in Parma, his father was Bartholomew, and he became a pupil of Francesco Tacconi. He worked mainly in the area between Parma and Piacenza. There is docum ...

, the father of

Parmigianino Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola (11 January 150324 August 1540), also known as Francesco Mazzola or, more commonly, as Parmigianino (, , ; "the little one from Parma"), was an Italian Mannerist painter and printmaker active in Florence, Rome, ...

. *''San Giovanni'': church built in 1625-1630 and frescoed by Robert de Longe in 1705 *'' Annunziata'': church and adjacent Franciscan monastery, built in 1487, it houses two works by

Il Pordenone Pordenone, Il Pordenone in Italian, is the byname of Giovanni Antonio de’ Sacchis ( – 14 January 1539), an Italian Mannerist painter, loosely of the Venetian school. Vasari, his main biographer, wrongly identifies him as Giovanni Anton ...

, an ''Immaculate Conception'' and a ''Deposition from the Cross''. *''San Giuseppe'': built 1576-1593 by the brotherhood of San Giuseppe, and subsequently decorated with 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 confraternity of ''SS Sacramento''. *''Santa Maria delle Grazie fuori le mura'' or ''Madonnina'': built by the priest Anotonio Bovarini in 1661.

Notable people born in Cortemaggiore

Ranuccio II Farnese Ranuccio II Farnese (17 September 1630 – 11 December 1694) was the sixth Duke of Parma and Piacenza from 1646 until his death nearly 50 years later. He was also the Duke of Castro from 1646 until 1649. Biography Birth and Succession Ranuccio ...

(1630–94), Duke of

Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...

and

Piacenza Piacenza (; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy, and the capital of the province of Piacenza, eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with more ...

Lorenzo Respighi Lorenzo Respighi (7 October 1824 – 10 December 1889) was an Italian mathematician and natural philosopher. He was a pioneer in solar spectroscopy. Biography Lorenzo Respighi was born at Cortemaggiore, Piacenza, to Luigi Respighi and Giusepp ...

(1824–89), mathematician, philosopher *

Giuseppe Manfredi Giuseppe Manfredi (17 March 1828 – 6 November 1918) was an Italian professor, jurist, and politician. He was president of the Italian Senate in the early 20th century. Among his honors, he was made Supreme Knight of the Order of the Holy Annu ...

(1828–1918), patriot and President of the

Italian Senate The Senate of the Republic (), or simply the Senate ( ), is the upper house of the bicameral Italian Parliament, the lower house being the Chamber of Deputies. The two houses together form a perfect bicameral system, meaning they perform iden ...

from 1908 to 1918, during the years of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Franco Fabrizi Franco Fabrizi (; 15 February 1916 – 18 October 1995) was an Italian actor. Life and career Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, Franco Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in fotoromanzi. Fabrizi also starred on several re ...

(1926–95), actor

Image gallery

Image:Frati.JPG, The façade of the Church "dell'Annunziata". File:Deposizione di Cristo, Il Pordenone.jpg, "The Deposition", by

. File:Pordenone, Disputa sull'immacolata concezione.jpg, "The Blameless Conception", by Pordenone. Image:Particolare_pallavicino.JPG, A view of the Pallavicino's private chapel in the church "dell'Annunziata". File:Chiostro annesso alla chiesa dei frati, Cortemaggiore.jpg, The beautiful cloister of the church "dell'Annunziata". Image:Madonnina_corte.JPG, The church "Santa Maria delle Grazie fuori la mura" or "Madonnina". File:San Giovanni, Cortemaggiore.jpg, The oratory of "San Giovanni" (St. John). File:San Giuseppe, Cortemaggiore (1).jpg, The church of "San Giuseppe" (St. Joseph). File:Chiesa di San Lorenzo a Cortemaggiore.JPG, The Oratory of "San Lorenzo" (St. Lawrence). Image:Vista_corte.JPG, A view of Cortemaggiore's centre. 1479 establishments in Europe 15th-century establishments in Italy {{EmiliaRomagna-geo-stub