Megliadino San Vitale

The name probably comes from millet, the cereal once sown in these fields, and the ear has stayed on the coat of arms. In the sixth century the border between Byzantines and Lombards ran through here, and the two oldest churches, San Vitale and the Anconese, are Byzantine marks; then the village entered the Scodosia, the Lombard district of Montagnana.

Under Venice, Megliadino produced hemp of excellent quality for the arsenals. But the relationship with Montagnana was a see-saw: annexed in 1490, autonomous again after nine years, annexed again in 1587 and again fighting to break free. It was not only about duties: by draining the marshes, Montagnana was taking away the wetland where the people of Megliadino grazed their animals. In the nineteenth century pellagra pushed out two streams: whole families to America, men alone to Austria, France and Prussia.