Cavazzoli or Villa Cavazzoli (I Cavasō in Reggiano dialect; De Cavazzolis in Latin) is a frazioneThe fractions of the city of Reggio Emilia, as in other Italian municipalities, are also called villas, which often serve as a prefix to the official toponym. During the 1900s, those closest to the historic center became city neighborhoods. This is the case for the portion of Cavazzoli's territory located south of the Milan–Bologna railway. of the municipality of Reggio Emilia with inhabitants, now a small northwestern extension of the urban area of Reggio.Since 1981, Istat has included the settlement of Cavazzoli within the larger urban area of Reggio nell'Emilia. In Italy, geographic fractions have not been used as statistical units since the .
The fraction is the birthplace of Cesare Campioli, the first mayor of Reggio Emilia after the Liberation, the silver medal of the Resistance Paolo Davoli, and the tenor Ferruccio Tagliavini.
Locally, according to tradition, the remains of Saint Julius the Martyr rest, contained in a transparent reliquary in the located in the Valle di San Giulio.
Geography The settlement is located in an area of medium plain 3 km from the city center, in the northwestern part of the municipal territory, between the Milan–Bologna railway, the Guazzatoio canal, and the Crostolo stream. It borders to the north with the fraction of ; to the east with Sesso and ; to the south with the commercial zone and to the west with and .
Origin of the name The toponym Cavazzoli is likely a hydronymToponym related to or associated with a watercourse dating back to the Late Middle Ages, derived from the Latin cavus 'hollow' with the suffix -aciu or -atiu functioning as a noun indicating a 'depression,' that is, 'the bed of a watercourse.' It is probable that the watercourse in question could be the paleochannel of the Crostolo stream that flowed west of its current path.It is likely that the paleochannel follows the path of the current Cavo Guazzatore (or Guazzatoio). In the municipal territory of Reggio Emilia, the same toponymic origin characterizes the fractions of and .
History The earliest human settlements identified in the Cavazzoli area date back to the recent Bronze Age (14th–12th century BC). This is evidenced by the terramara discovered by Gaetano Chierici in the early second half of the 19th century in the Crostolo riverbed near the bridge of the Milan–Bologna national railway line, with artifacts now housed in the Civic Museums of Reggio. Not far from there, in the locality of La Palazzina, a fragment of a Roman tombstone was found.
The locality is mentioned for the first time in a document from 1330, which also mentions an early oratory dedicated to Saint Gregory. The 1458 Estimo assigns 15 hearths (families) to the village, roughly 100 inhabitants. The territory of Cavazzoli was once also called Borghi di Santo Stefano or Borgo Santo Stefano, taking its name from the gate of the city of Reggio located on the Via Emilia toward Parma.
In Cavazzoli, toward the end of the 19th century, due to the strong spread of socialist ideas, one of the first consumer cooperatives in the Reggio area was established. The cooperative ideal, both socialist and Catholic, and the dense network of sharecroppers and small landowner farmers led in the 1920s to the creation of the social dairy and, in 1937, the social winery.
In this village, in 1921, following the split of the communist faction from the Italian Socialist Party, the FGCI (Italian Communist Youth Federation) was born. Natives of Cavazzoli included the martyr of the Resistance, partisan, and communist militant Paolo Davoli, and his friend Cesare Campioli, anti-fascist and partisan, who had to emigrate to the Paris banlieue to escape fascist persecution and, after the Liberation, became mayor of Reggio for 17 years. In the annex of the Villa Ottavi-Terrachini, then in Cavazzoli’s territory, the famous Reggio tenor Ferruccio Tagliavini was also born. Other natives of the village of Cavazzoli include: the landscape painter Paolo Ferretti (1822–1904); Dante Montanari (1890–1966, chief engineer of the Municipality of Reggio and president of the Province of Reggio Emilia from 1951 to 1964); Ferruccio Orlandini (1896–1983, sculptor). During the Liberation war, the village was the scene of a tragic event. On the morning of November 20, 1944, the occurred: a local resident found the bodies of four men in a ditch just outside the village, along the road to Roncocesi, evidently tortured before being killed or dying under torture. During the Second World War, between December 1943 and March 1944, Cavazzoli was the site of the provincial concentration camp of Reggio Emilia. To host it, the fascist administration seized the Nobili family’s manor, located in the current via Campioli. Several prisoners passed through it, including Reggio and foreign Jews, later deported to Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen.
With the urban growth of the city of Reggio, Villa Cavazzoli changed its fractional boundaries starting from the post-war periodThe first neighborhood built in the immediate post-war period was Regina Pacis, which incorporated the already existing IACP Le Delizie Village of Villa Cavazzoli in via Pietro Mascagni. to the 1960s.During that period, the parish of San Pio X was established, and the massive urbanization of the Carrozzone-Betonica area continued, completed in the 1990s., thus retaining less than half of its original territorial area. It should not be forgotten that until the mid-20th century, the territory of the village of Cavazzoli had a territorial area of 7.4 sq m. According to population estimates from the 1936 Diocesan Yearbook reported in Il Pescatore Reggiano of that year, the Cavazzoli parish, which then extended over a territory of over 7.4 km², had about inhabitants, stretching from north to south along the western outskirts of the city outside .
In this vast, predominantly agricultural area dotted with farmhouses, the country estates of the great Reggio bourgeois and aristocratic families Ottavi, Terrachini, Toschi, and Nobili were located, along with several charitable institutions that were previously convents and monasteries. Until the 1960s, the village’s territory also included a large urban area, now fully integrated into the city’s urban fabric, extending south of the Milan–Bologna railway. To the east, the boundary was Porta Santo Stefano, to the west the Guazzatore canal, and to the south the Enza canal. Today, the toponym CavazzoliOf the historic territory of the old Villa Cavazzoli, in addition to the current settlement of Cavazzoli, the neighborhoods of Carrozzone-Betonica (including the Commercial Zone), Spirito Santo-Orologio, and Regina Pacis are part. The territories of the ancient village located on the right bank of the Crostolo, outside Porta Santo Stefano, were annexed to the city parish of Santo Stefano in the 1930s. uniquely identifies the territory of the All Saints parish, sometimes referred to as Cavazzoli Nord.
In the early 1950s, with the contribution of local volunteers, the new cooperative building was constructed, including: a multipurpose hall with a cinema, headquarters for left-wing parties, and a bar-restaurant that opened as a social theater with a concert by the Cavazzoli soprano Elsa Camellini. In 1969, the building was renovated and transformed into the current Arci Rondò Club, still operational today.
In the 1990s, Cavazzoli lost its identity as a small local community: the sharp population decline of the 1970s and 1980s, the abandonment of the countryside, and increased mobility led to the closure of all commercial activities. In 1991, due to the low number of resident children, the elementary school closed its doors. However, from the mid-1990s, construction activity resumed, bringing the population to current levels, although this did not lead to the revival of commercial activities. Nevertheless, the significant population increase prompted the local parish and the city administration, then led by Graziano Delrio, to build a nursery-kindergarten, inaugurated in 2014 and a symbol of the fraction’s revival.
Monuments and places of interest
Religious architecture Currently, Cavazzoli’s religious buildings are limited to the parish church and the Oratory of Saint Julius. In the past, during the period of maximum territorial extension of the villa, other religious buildings and several votive shrines were present, all located in the current neighborhoods of , , and .
Oratory of San Giulio martire
Civil architecture Most of the civil buildings of historical or architectural value are linked to the rural architecture of the territory. Also noteworthy is an important example of modern architecture related to technological services (Rete 2).
Nobili Manor, via Cesare Campioli (18th century). Soncini Houses, via Cesare Campioli (18th century). Ancient octagonal cheese factory, via Guernica (18th century). Former Parisetti Charitable Institution/Farmstead ECA, via Guernica (17th century–18th century). Gatti Houses, via Giovanni Rinaldi (17th–18th century). Barchi Houses, via Errico Malatesta (18th century). Monument to the fallen for freedom (Cavazzoli massacre), via Giovanni Rinaldi (1946). Rete 2 district heating plant - Turbogas, via Hiroshima (1999).
Archaeological sites
Terramara of Cavazzoli, via Cesare Campioli (Bronze Age).
Natural areas Cavazzoli’s agricultural landscape is part of the historic reclamation and derived water systems and hydraulic works, managed by the Emilia Centrale Reclamation Consortium. To the east, it is bordered by the Crostolo river park, accessible on foot or by bicycle through the namesake naturalistic walkway.
Gardens
Private garden of the Nobili Manor ('Il Palazzone'), via Cesare Campioli
Parks
Tre Noci Park, via Carlo PergreffiPartisan from Roncocesi who died following an Allied bombing in 1944 Crostolo Walkway - Dante Montanari
Society The population of Cavazzoli experienced a sharp decline between the mid-1960s and the 1990s, dropping from inhabitants in 1963 to 637 in 1972, 613 in 1984, rising to 807 in 1997, and reaching in 2019.Data from the Statistics Office of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia.
The aging index is lower than the municipal average (105 versus 137), and the birth rate is similar to the overall city figure (8 versus 8). The average number of family members is higher than the general municipal figure (2.4 members versus 2.2).
Foreigners account for 11.6% (compared to 16.8% for the entire municipality) and mostly come from Nigeria, Ukraine, and Moldova.
Tradition and folklore
Good Friday Feast of Saint Julius Martyr, last Sunday of August Feast of the Most Holy Name of Mary, second Sunday of September Feast of All Saints, November 1
Institutions, organizations, and associations
Cooperative Rondò, via Giovanni Rinaldi ANPI Cavazzoli-Betonica Section San Giulio-Cavazzoli Nord Irrigation Consortium, via San Giulio
Culture The fraction hosts several educational and cultural institutions. There are no primary or lower secondary school facilities: those responsible for the territory are the Vasco Agosti primary school in San Prospero Strinati for the urban area and the Roncocesi state primary school for the western rural area, although the closest elementary school is Giacomo Leopardi (formerly Pieve 2) in via John Fitzgerald Kennedy. The lower secondary school responsible for Cavazzoli’s territory is the Enrico Fermi middle school in the Gardenia neighborhood, though the Antonio Fontanesi state middle school is closer. Other educational and recreational centers include the parish oratory and the Arci Rondò Club.
Early childhood
Kindergarten and spring nursery Maria Vergine Madre, via Giovanni Rinaldi
Extracurricular educational activities
Parish oratory and former bell-ringer’s house, via Giovanni Rinaldi
Other