Camignone

The name of the village where oor winery estate is located derives from a local place name, Casa minor (ca' mignon), which shows clear medieval origins as well as its development from an even older Roman rural district.

To carry out their cultivation of the rural fields, the Cluniac monks used serf labour; the serfs were lodged in farmhouses built along the main roads, structures which often provided shelter for travellers and pilgrims as well.

Franciacorta lies in the midst of gentle morainic hills between Monte Orfano and Lago d'Iseo, in the province of Brescia. Here, ancient monasteries, noble villas, castles, abbeys, rural churches, remains dating back to the Romans, and frescoes testify to the presence of man and to the pleasure our ancestors derived from living and working in this corner of the land with a climate so favourable to grapegrowing. Many prominent spots in Franciacorta reveal Lombard, Roman, or Celtic origins.

There are various versions of the etymology of the name Franciacorta, and local historians have mulled the question for centuries without finding a definitive answer. According to some--Malvezzi, for example--, the origin goes back to Charlemagne, who after conquering Brescia in 774 camped at nearby Rodengo right on the feastday of San Dionigi, which he usually celebrated in Paris. Out of nostalgia, he decided to re-baptise the area as "piccola Francia," or Little France, which later became Francia corta.

Another hypothesis starts with the popular insurrection of 1265 against the occupation by the troops led by Charles d'Anjou, and their motto "Out with the French; France here will be brief (corta)." The most credible and widespread version, however, brings us back rather to the Medieval period and to the presence in this area of a number of monastic "courts," or modest agricultural settlements, most of them Cluniac. Besides the construction of magnificent abbeys such as at Rodengo, they set themselves to working the soil and making it fertile, thus favouring the development of viticulture. The independent monastic settlements were exempt from taxes, and this status as "Francae Curtes" soon led to the entire area being known as "Franzacurta," as witnessed in a 1277 municipal statute of Brescia, and later as Franciacorta.

Further historical information

Franciacorta has been inhabited since very early in history: remains of Neolithic cultures have been found in the areas near the Torbiere del Sebino-lake dwellings and various objects fashioned from flint, terracotta, bronze, and copper. Following ages saw the Cenomani Gauls, and then the Romans, when the local populations were inscribed in the Fabia gens.

The Tetellus, the Roman road that crossed the territory, was a major arterial that attracted the construction of the first settlements along its route. During the barbarian invasion, the area was a scene of armed incursions, plunder, and destruction, from which the locals attempted to protect themselves by building fortresses and castles.

Then Lombards and feudalism were next for the area, and the Roman municipium and pagus (town and rural area) yielded to the feudal courts and the giudicaria (district); the medieval castrum, or fortified settlement, became the settlement pattern in numerous areas. The Franks were next. Cluniac monasteries arose: Rodengo (the most important), San Pietro in Lamosa, Cazzago, and agriculture took a decisive turn at this moment.

Still later, the Guelph-Ghibelline struggle showed itself here too, with battlefields in the area and King Enzio Hohenstaufen a contender. Charles d'Anjou's army, led by Robert de Béthun, came to the aid of Filippo della Tore and defeated beneath the walls of Capriolo the Ghibelline Oberto Pallavicino, whereupon the inhabitants of the Franciacorta towns banded together and expelled the French. Henry VII of Luxembourg besieged and took Rovato in 1312. In 1447, Franciacorta, along with Brescia, became part of the Republic of Venice (which lasted until 1797). Louis XII of France, as signatory of the League of Cambrai and coming to the aid of Venice, met with a joyful reception in Rovato too in 1498, then took over local castles. The 17th century witnessed the destructive passage, in 1630, of the Landsknecht army, and this land, where St. Charles Borromeo loved to stay during his pastoral visits, was a war theatre again during the war of the Spanish Succession, with the French troops led by Eugene of Savoy.

Closer to our own time, the Risorgimento made itself felt in Franciacorta. The strong desire for independence inspired many local patriots. Andrea Tonelli of Caccaglio and Gabriele di Iseo were condemned to prison in the Spielberg fortress, along with Slivio Pellico, while Don Domenico Zamboni and the brothers Enrico and Emilio Dandolo fell in battle. Nor should Ernesto della Torre, and Giuseppe Barboglio, the hero of Calatafimi, be forgotten. Among those who most recently have selected Franciacorta as a pleasant retreat we should mention the legendary pianist Arturio Benedetti Michelangeli, who stayed at Calino, the feudal estate of Conte Maggi, the founder of the Mille Miglia.