Coreglia means land of passage, a place one goes through, and comes from the Latin Corrilia; the Antelminelli was added in 1862, when the new Italian state needed to tell this comune from what is now Coreglia Ligure, and it is the name of a well-known noble family of the Lucchesia. The arms make a rebus of the first half of the name: in the white field there is a heart, for Core-glia, with two golden eight-pointed stars at its sides standing for the two parts of the territory, the Piano down in the valley and the borgo up here; in the red field there are three mountains, for the monte delle Tre Potenze, and at the top a crown, for Francesco Antelminelli Castracani, whom Charles IV made count of the place. The first document is of 1048 and gives the village to the Rolandinghi, Lombard lords of the pieve of Loppia; when the Antelminelli came, the fortress was replaced by the church of San Michele and the tower beside it became the bell tower, while a new stronghold was built and underground galleries were dug, so that men could move quickly and unseen if the place were attacked.
In 1272 the Vicaria of Coreglia was created; Castruccio Castracani besieged and took the village back in 1316; in 1333 Charles IV, pressed by the Lucchese, gave it to Francesco Castracani, and in 1438 Lucca handed the Vicaria over for a three-year truce, trying to keep its own independence from Pisa and Florence. But the thing about Coreglia that is worth telling happened in the last war. The village lies near the Gothic Line and was occupied by German troops; the prefectural commissioner in those months was Giovanni Gelati, an anti-fascist lawyer from Livorno who had moved here with his family to escape the bombing. With him, his wife Lydia and their little daughter, there were two other children whom they passed off as their own: they were the children of Jewish friends. Gelati used his position, with balance and skill, in favour of the local people until the Liberation; and in 2012 he and his wife were declared Righteous among the Nations.
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📅 Every year, on 8 May; the first Saturday of August brings the Medieval Feast
Coreglia Antelminelli celebrates the Archangel Michael on 8 May. The first Saturday of August brings the Medieval Feast, recreating the atmosphere of the ancient Vicaria with crossbowmen and flag-wavers.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Coreglia Antelminelli, but an easy day trip away.
