Torricella del Pizzo

Part of the territory of this comune was a gift from the river. Centuries ago the Po shifted its course, and a piece of land belonging to the other bank — the Parma side, the territory of Sissa — was left stranded to the north of the water. It was then Napoleon who enlarged the comune of Torricella at Sissa's expense, taking in precisely that strip; and the land register went on calling it by a name that says exactly what had happened: Torricella del Pizzo ex Parmigiano. A river changed a border, an emperor ratified it, and the register of properties kept the memory of both. The comune, which in the local dialect is called Turzéla and in Cremonese Turezéla, still borders the Parma bank today.

Between 1888 and 1954 Torricella had a stop of its own on the tramway that linked Cremona to Casalmaggiore. It was a single-track line, a little over forty kilometres long, and for most of its route it ran along the ordinary road, among the carts and later the cars. In the twenties and thirties several stretches were straightened, and at Gussola, at Martignana and here at Torricella the work was done while the roads themselves were being rebuilt. During the Second World War some of its services were machine-gunned by Allied aircraft, and both terminal stations were damaged by bombing. After the war the province rebuilt it and twice extended the concession, because it wanted to keep it alive; but there was no money to turn it into a proper railway, and in March 1954 the tram was replaced by a bus service run by the same company.