Monghidoro

The territory of Monghidoro borders the following municipalities: Firenzuola, Loiano, Monterenzio, Monzuno, San Benedetto Val di Sambro.

The town sits on a ridge of the Apennines, between two river valleys, Savena and Idice. The main road, joining Bologna to Florence, is the SP65. Traces of a Roman road, Flaminia minor, joining Florentia with Felsina can still be found at the top of Mount Oggioli, approximately 8 kilometres (5 mi) south of town.

The territory surrounding the comune is, for the largest part, mountainous with elevations ranging between a minimum of 400 metres (1,300 ft) above sea level to the north-east to a maximum of 1,290 metres (4,230 ft) on its southern flank.

Due to its geographical position Monghidoro, which the writer Giordano Berti has described as the "Crossroads of Europe", in the course of the centuries became a necessary passage between the Po Valley and Central Italy.

The name of Monghidoro is thought to be dating back to the times the Ostrogoths, Byzantines, Langobards, who were pillaging and looting at will up and down the Italian peninsula around the 8th, 9th century AD. It is believed that a Gothic settlement lasted long enough to give its name to the locality of Mons Gothorum (Goths' Mountain), but another theory links the name to "Mungi d'oro" (Golden Milking, in Italian), perhaps connected to the many green pastures that abound in the surrounding area.

The town, in its current form, originated in 1264 when the commune of Bologna created a vanguard here to counter the expansion of the Republic of Florence and in 1246, as a result of the complex politics of Italian city states of that period, the village was fortified to counter the continued border skirmishes and was given the nickname of “Scaricalasino” which literally translates as “unload the donkey”; this because the village sits at the top of a harsh ascent, which takes the traveller from 598 m to 841 m and it was indispensable to rest the beasts of burden following the climb.

In 1507 Monghidoro was annexed to the Papal States, following the fortunes of Bologna and its territories. The Olivetan Order of Benedictin monks (Olivetans) began building a monastery in the village centre in 1528. In 1796, with the arrival of Napoleon in Italy, the comune became part of the Cispadane Republic until 1815, when the Congress of Vienna decided to return the territory to Bologna and the Papal States. From about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, Monghidoro was a mandatory stop-over to rest horses and carriage drivers of the aristocratic and fashionably polite society of the European continent on the Grand Tour of Italy on their way to Florence and Rome. In 1860 Monghidoro was officially annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia becoming Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

Towards the end of World War II Monghidoro found itself at the centre of the strategic Gothic Line hosting the very important 4th Parachute Division (Germany) command centre, part of the 14th Army (Wehrmacht). Following some bitter fighting and extensive damage, allied troops of the 362nd and 363rd Infantry Regiments of the 91st Infantry Division under the command of Major General William G. Livesay and overall command by 5th Army American General Mark Wayne Clark finally liberated the town in the afternoon of October 2, 1944. At the end of the conflict, the local economy, like most of Italy, laid in ruins and many local inhabitants emigrated to Belgium (notably Rebecq), to Germany, (Stuttgart and Calw) and France (Lyon) although throughout the early 20th century, following a national trend, the town witnessed a slow decline, with large numbers of Monghidoro's citizens either moving to larger cities or emigrating abroad looking for work or a better way of life. This reached an all-time low in 1978, when only 2,450 people remained in the whole of the comune (against the 6,000 of the previous century). It has recently grown back to some 3,800, due, mainly, to people returning to spend their retirement in their native surroundings, elderly people wanting a quieter way of life away from the hustle and bustle of city life or foreign immigrants looking for a cheaper alternative to living in the city.

A number of mills used to provide an important source of income to the local area: an activity which lasted well into the 1950s was connected to the natural resources afforded by the proximity of the two rivers. Not many mills survive to this day; very few have been carefully restored to a workable condition, allowing a suggestive insight into a bygone way of life, but, as this is often the case, the vast majority were converted to residential homes and little was done to protect and preserve any resemblance or character of their former "life"; only one still exists in workable condition, Mulino di Mazzone and it is to be found near Piamaggio.

Today's local economy is largely based on commerce with tourism being common in the summer months; this is augmented by the very scenic SP65 thoroughfare, between Bologna and Florence, which attracts many foreign visitors on their tour through Italy. Once a year the historic Mille Miglia car-race re-enactment still runs through the town on its last day of the rally between Florence, Futa Pass and Raticosa pass, Bologna, Modena and all the way back to Brescia. There are some small industrial activities, mainly of an artisan nature (carpenters, builders, blacksmiths). Agriculture is present, although, due to the nature of the territory, this is a minor occupation; cattle, sheep grazing and raising of livestock are also present. A large proportion of the workforce commutes daily to areas where industry is prevalent.

Monghidoro's traditional delicatessen

Local produce ranges from salt-cured meat (prosciutto, salami, pancetta, capicola, lucanica sausage etc.) and cheeses, home-made pasta, such as tortellini, tortelloni, lasagne, tagliatelle, local truffles, wild mushrooms and sweet chestnuts, etc. The influence of Tuscany is also strongly felt, with game being prevalent in the autumn months as well as the Fiorentina steak, pappardelle, and other pasta dishes.

Local wine is almost always Tuscan table red or Albana from the Imola area.

Monghidoro's traditional biscuits and cakes.

Monghidoro is also renowned for its cakes; these are traditionally made with either wheat or chestnut flour then usually filled with fruits of the wood, jams and preserves, in the crostata style as well as apples, pears, figs, prunes, wholenuts, hazelnuts and pinenuts.

The frazioni of Monghidoro are Ca' dei Brescandoli, Ca' del Costa, Ca' di Fiore, Ca' di Francia, Ca' del Gappa, Ca' dei Marchi, Ca' di Pallerino, Campeggio, Ceragne, Frassineta, La Ca', La Costa, La Fossa, La Lastra, La Martina, La Piazza, Lamazze di Qua, Madonna dei Boschi, Malalbergo, Molino della Pergola, Pallerano, Pergoloso, Piamaggio, Pian dei Grilli, Sant'Andrea di Savena, Sumbilla, Vasellara Bassa, Vergiano, Villa di Mezzo

• Gianni Morandi

• Rebecq, Belgium, since 2002

• Official website
• Monghidoro : the Gateway to Europe
• Triton Park
• Lone Sentry - US 91st Division
• US World War II Propaganda Archived 2011-09-02 at the Wayback Machine