Guastalla

Guastalla stands near the River Po, where it served in the Middle Ages as a toll point for goods travelling along the waterway. It was also the centre of a rich agricultural estate. Its name is recorded as early as 864. The Torelli family ruled the town from 1406 until 1539, when it passed to the Gonzaga.

Under the Gonzaga, Guastalla became the seat of a small state and a court that attracted artists and writers, among them Guercino and Torquato Tasso. It was a duchy from 1621 to 1748. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle brought Guastalla into the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza, adding the Po-side town to the territories of a larger neighbouring state. It remained with Parma through the Napoleonic period and the subsequent restoration.