Marone (

Brescian Eastern Lombard is a group of closely related variants of Lombard, a Gallo-Italic language spoken in Lombardy, mainly in the provinces of Bergamo, Brescia and Mantua, in the area around Cremona and in parts of Trentino. Its main variants are ...

: ) is a town and ''

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 ...

'' in the

province of Brescia The province of Brescia (; Brescian: ) is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lombardy region of Italy. It has a population of some 1,265,964 (as of January 2019) and its capital is the city of Brescia.With an area of 4,785 km2, it is the ...

, in

Lombardy The Lombardy Region (; ) is an administrative regions of Italy, region of Italy that covers ; it is located in northern Italy and has a population of about 10 million people, constituting more than one-sixth of Italy's population. Lombardy is ...

, Italy.

Physical geography

Territory

Marone is located on the eastern shore of

Lake Iseo Lake Iseo or Iseo lake ( ; ; ), also known as Sebino (; ), is the fourth largest lake in Lombardy, Italy, fed by the Oglio River. It is in the north of the country in the Val Camonica area, near the cities of Brescia and Bergamo. The lake ...

at about 200 m a.s.l. The territory is mainly mountainous. It borders to the north with Toline, a fraction of the municipality of

Pisogne Pisogne (Camunian dialect, Camunian: ) is a ''comune'' of 8156 inhabitants in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy, Italy. It is located about 30 kilometers (19 mi) northwest of Brescia, 51 kilometers (32 miles) northeast of Bergamo, and 97 ...

; to the east with the town of

Zone Zone, Zones or The Zone may refer to: Places Military zones * Zone, any of the divisions of France during the World War II German occupation * Zone, any of the divisions of Germany during the post-World War II Allied occupation * Korean Demilit ...

and to the south with

Sale Marasino Sale Marasino (Brescian: ) is a ''comune'' in the province of Brescia, Lombardy, northern Italy. It is situated on the east shore of Lake Iseo Lake Iseo or Iseo lake ( ; ; ), also known as Sebino (; ), is the fourth largest lake in Lombardy, ...

. There are two main water streams: the ''Bagnadore'' and the ''Opol''. The latter descends from Passo Croce di Marone, receiving the Sestola stream, which has an underground channel that has been very important for the industrial development of the town.

History

Roman times In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman civilisation from the founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingd ...

, Marone was crossed by an important consular road, the Via Valeriana, which connected

Brescia Brescia (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

( lat. ''Brixia'') with the Camonica Valley (lat. ''Vallis Camunnorum'') coasting

(lat. ''Sebinus lacus''). Some archaeological findings found in the remains of a

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house in the territory of the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Nevertheless, the term "Roman villa" generally covers buildings with the common ...

in a locality called "Cò de Ela" could demonstrate the fact that the first settlements occurred in Roman times. In the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

, the inhabitants settled in more defensible locations, far from the lake and streams, such as Pregasso, where in the

10th century The 10th century was the period from 901 (represented by the Roman numerals CMI) through 1000 (M) in accordance with the Julian calendar, and the last century of the 1st millennium. In China, the Song dynasty was established, with most of C ...

there was a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

, which was later destroyed by a fire. Marone became the administrative centre from the second half of the

16th century The 16th century began with the Julian calendar, Julian year 1501 (represented by the Roman numerals MDI) and ended with either the Julian or the Gregorian calendar, Gregorian year 1600 (MDC), depending on the reckoning used (the Gregorian calend ...

, when its development as an industrial center began.

Economy

Since the

, Marone has been considered one of the most important industrial centres of Lake Iseo. Currently the main activities are the processing of

wool Wool is the textile fiber obtained from sheep and other mammals, especially goats, rabbits, and camelids. The term may also refer to inorganic materials, such as mineral wool and glass wool, that have some properties similar to animal w ...

, the production of felts and the extraction of dolomite. Panoramic view of Marone

In recent times, starting from the 10s of 2000, olive-growing has spread, from which the typical Lombard

olive oil Olive oil is a vegetable oil obtained by pressing whole olives (the fruit of ''Olea europaea'', a traditional Tree fruit, tree crop of the Mediterranean Basin) and extracting the oil. It is commonly used in cooking for frying foods, as a cond ...

is produced. The municipality is also part of the national association "Città dell'Olio" since 2001.

References

Cities and towns in Lombardy {{Brescia-geo-stub