Rottofreno ( Piacentino: , , or ) is a ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) in the

Province of Piacenza The province of Piacenza ( it, provincia di Piacenza) is a province in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy. Its provincial capital is the city Piacenza. As of 2016, it has a total population of 286,572 inhabitants over an area of , giving it a popu ...

in the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

region

Emilia-Romagna egl, Emigliàn (man) egl, Emiglièna (woman) rgn, Rumagnòl (man) rgn, Rumagnòla (woman) it, Emiliano (man) it, Emiliana (woman) or it, Romagnolo (man) it, Romagnola (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title ...

, located about northwest of

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

and about west of

Piacenza Piacenza (; egl, label= Piacentino, Piaṡëinsa ; ) is a city and in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy, and the capital of the eponymous province. As of 2022, Piacenza is the ninth largest city in the region by population, with over ...

. Rottofreno borders the following municipalities:

Borgonovo Val Tidone Borgonovo Val Tidone ( egl, label= Piacentino, Burgnöv, or ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about west of Piacenza. Borgonovo Val Tidone ...

, Calendasco,

Chignolo Po Chignolo Po is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 45 km southeast of Milan and about 25 km east of Pavia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 3,502 and an area of ...

, Gragnano Trebbiense,

Monticelli Pavese Monticelli Pavese ( Lombard: ''Muntsé'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pavia in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 50 km southeast of Milan and about 30 km east of Pavia. As of 31 December 2004, it had a popu ...

, and

Sarmato Sarmato ( Piacentino: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Piacenza in the Italian region Emilia-Romagna, located about northwest of Bologna and about west of Piacenza. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 2,714 and an a ...

. The main settlement of the ''comune'' is San Nicolò, which has more inhabitants than Rottofreno proper.

Name and history

According to a legend, the name (meaning "broken

bit The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communications. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represente ...

") derives from an event during the

Carthaginian The term Carthaginian ( la, Carthaginiensis ) usually refers to a citizen of Ancient Carthage. It can also refer to: * Carthaginian (ship), a three-masted schooner built in 1921 * Insurgent privateers; nineteenth-century South American privateers, ...

invasion of Italy (218–201 BC), when

Hannibal Hannibal (; xpu, 𐤇𐤍𐤁𐤏𐤋, ''Ḥannibaʿl''; 247 – between 183 and 181 BC) was a Carthaginian general and statesman who commanded the forces of Carthage in their battle against the Roman Republic during the Second Puni ...

allegedly broke here the bit of his horse. The event is also remembered in the city's coat of arms. In reality the name is from the Lombard ''roth'' ("glory") and ''fridu'' ("friendship", "safeness"). The village was in fact called Rottofredo during the Middle Ages. On 12 August 1746 during the

War of Austrian Succession War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, a battle was fought here between a French-Spanish army and an Austrian force. This event is known as the Battle of Rottofredo (or Rottofreddo).

Main sights

*The great

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church of St. John the Baptist (1690) in the ''frazione'' of Santimento.

Demographic evolution

Colors= id:lightgrey value:gray(0.9) id:darkgrey value:gray(0.8) id:sfondo value:rgb(1,1,1) id:barra value:rgb(0.6,0.7,0.8) ImageSize = width:455 height:303 PlotArea = left:50 bottom:50 top:30 right:30 DateFormat = x.y Period = from:0 till:9000 TimeAxis = orientation:vertical AlignBars = justify ScaleMajor = gridcolor:darkgrey increment:500 start:0 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightgrey increment:100 start:0 BackgroundColors = canvas:sfondo BarData= bar:1861 text:1861 bar:1871 text:1871 bar:1881 text:1881 bar:1901 text:1901 bar:1911 text:1911 bar:1921 text:1921 bar:1931 text:1931 bar:1936 text:1936 bar:1951 text:1951 bar:1961 text:1961 bar:1971 text:1971 bar:1981 text:1981 bar:1991 text:1991 bar:2001 text:2001 PlotData= color:barra width:20 align:left bar:1861 from: 0 till:3073 bar:1871 from: 0 till:3388 bar:1881 from: 0 till:3395 bar:1901 from: 0 till:4121 bar:1911 from: 0 till:4582 bar:1921 from: 0 till:4968 bar:1931 from: 0 till:5243 bar:1936 from: 0 till:5346 bar:1951 from: 0 till:5638 bar:1961 from: 0 till:5786 bar:1971 from: 0 till:6074 bar:1981 from: 0 till:6969 bar:1991 from: 0 till:7835 bar:2001 from: 0 till:8844 PlotData= bar:1861 at:3073 fontsize:XS text: 3073 shift:(-8,5) bar:1871 at:3388 fontsize:XS text: 3388 shift:(-8,5) bar:1881 at:3395 fontsize:XS text: 3395 shift:(-8,5) bar:1901 at:4121 fontsize:XS text: 4121 shift:(-8,5) bar:1911 at:4582 fontsize:XS text: 4582 shift:(-8,5) bar:1921 at:4968 fontsize:XS text: 4968 shift:(-8,5) bar:1931 at:5243 fontsize:XS text: 5243 shift:(-8,5) bar:1936 at:5346 fontsize:XS text: 5346 shift:(-8,5) bar:1951 at:5638 fontsize:XS text: 5638 shift:(-8,5) bar:1961 at:5786 fontsize:XS text: 5786 shift:(-8,5) bar:1971 at:6074 fontsize:XS text: 6074 shift:(-8,5) bar:1981 at:6969 fontsize:XS text: 6969 shift:(-8,5) bar:1991 at:7835 fontsize:XS text: 7835 shift:(-8,5) bar:2001 at:8844 fontsize:XS text: 8844 shift:(-8,5) TextData= fontsize:S pos:(20,20) text:Data from ISTAT Cities and towns in Emilia-Romagna {{EmiliaRomagna-geo-stub