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This region of hills in
northern
Italy
has been populated from early in history.
Etruscan peoples lived here, and they were
already familiar with the cultivation of vines
and the production of wine. According to Titus
Livius, the Celts, attracted by the beauty of
the location, invaded in about 400 B.C., driving
out the Etruscans. Pliny the Elder wrote that
the Ancient Romans settled permanently from 223
B.C., calling the area Cisalpine Gaul. After the Roman conquest, it
seems to have taken the Latin name of
Emerentiana, possibly derived from this Roman
first name.Later, the area underwent
the transformations that caused upheavals all
over Europe from the 5th century A.D. on. The hills
saw successive waves of invaders, the Ostrogoths,
Longobards and Franks, causing destruction and
devastation until the 8th century. In
the early 10th century, the area
suffered raids by Saracens, until 951 A.D., when the important
feudal family, the Aleramici, initiated the
powerful Marquisate of Monferrato.During
the Middle Ages, the Latin name of the location
can be found in number of documents, changing
over the centuries as the language gradually
evolved into its vernacular form:
- Marencanus (found in documents dated 1188)
- Maranzana (1199)
- Marenzanan (1257)
- Maransana (1353).
The definitive name of Maranzana was established
no later than the 16th century, and
no further variants appeared in later years.
In 1536, the Marquisate became part of the
possessions of the Gonzaga family in
Mantua, and in 1713 it changed hands once again,
becoming a property of the
Savoy
king Vittorio Emanuele.
From then on, Maranzana was closely associated
with the Savoy family and its history, taking part in
the battles for Italian Independence, and the
World Wars.
