Rudiano has been a comune since 1144, when Brescia granted it administrative autonomy, but the name is much older: it comes from Rutilius, the Roman nobleman who owned the area. The coat of arms, however, tells a different story. At its centre there is a wheel, röda in dialect, which sounds like the name of the village: canting arms built on an assonance and not on the true etymology. Holding it up, until 1991, were two winged wolves alluding to the Lupatini, the family from which some of the people of the castle of Castrezzato also came.
The tower that appears beside the wheel is not an ornament. Rudiano was part of the line of fortifications with which Brescia held the bank of the Oglio, together with Palazzolo, Pontoglio, Chiari, Roccafranca and Orzinuovi. Under those walls, in 1191, a battle was fought so hard that it earned the name of Malamorte, the bad death, and the Brescians won it; on 4 June 1528, on the other hand, the village was sacked by the German troops of the Duke of Brunswick.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
Near Rudiano
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Places to see within 25 km
Outside Rudiano, but an easy day trip away.