Monchio delle Corti

Monchio delle Corti lies in a basin of the Cedra valley, and the Corti of its name are thirteen: before the year one thousand the village was already the head of thirteen communities depending directly on the bishop of Parma, roughly the hamlets of today. Those thirteen communities ended up on the municipal arms as thirteen merlons, drawn along the bridge of Lugagnano: merlons the real bridge has never had. The bishops' lordship began in 879 and lasted until 1805.

The territory was crossed by the Road of the Hundred Miles, the Roman way linking Parma to Lucca by way of Luni: exactly one hundred Roman miles, as the Itinerarium Antonini records. The second posting station stood here, just before the Lagastrello pass, and it was the perfect midpoint: fifty miles from Parma and fifty from Lucca. The bridge over the Cedra that appears on the arms was built in 1602 at the wish of bishop Ferdinando Farnese; two centuries later, when it threatened to collapse, another bishop had it restored, the Capuchin Adeodato Turchi, and on the parapet the arms of both are still there.