Gazzo
Gazzo: a municipality in the province of Padua
Hello friends, today I will talk about Gazzo, a small municipality in the province of Padua located in the Po Valley. With its 4,250 inhabitants, Gazzo is a quiet place located just 25 km northwest of Padua and 17 km from Vicenza. This area is famous for its springs and borders with several cities such as San Pietro in Gu, Grantorto, Piazzola sul Brenta, Camisano Vicentino, Grumolo delle Abbadesse, Quinto Vicentino, and Torri di Quartesolo.
The history of the toponym
The word "Gazzo" comes from the Lombard term "gahagium", which indicates "fenced property". This German term would have transformed into "gahaio" or "gagium" and then corrupted in Latin into "gazium". These "gazzi" were fenced lands that were part of Lombard landed properties. They were the equivalent of Roman "curtes" in Germanic times. These were lands that included woods, lands, and waters forming an economic and legal set known as a "corte" or "villa". Still, in the coat of arms of the Municipality of Gazzo, there is a tree, in the past, a hunter was also drawn, as a reference to the abundant fauna present in the wooded territory.
The physical geography of Gazzo
The territory of Gazzo is characterized by well-irrigated meadows that favor bovine breeding, especially dairy cows. In this area, the "Centro" dairy of Gazzo is currently active. Gazzo is known for its flowing waters such as the Ceresone, which originates near Sandrigo (Vicenza). In the northeast of the town, there is a spring called "El fontanon del diavoelo", but unfortunately, this is drying up due to the lowering of the water table.
The history of the municipality of Gazzo
The first document that mentions Gazzo dates back to 1187 when the locality began to be deforested, and the Bishop of Vicenza Pistore invested Guido Alberti di Montorso with possessions that "lie in the wood of Gazo". In the Middle Ages, the territory was the scene of fighting between Sigismund of Hungary and the Carraresi of Venice. Then, the decentralized position of the town favored it, exempting it from being a passage for armies or a battlefield. The work of deforestation continued, so much so that in the nineteenth century, the landscape had completely changed, becoming almost marshy. When Veneto was united with Italy, Gazzo was famous for its rice fields, and many of these belonged to the noble Venetian family Diedo. The dwellings, for the most part, consisted of huts with thatched roofs. The conditions of the inhabitants were harsh and precarious: they lived in a flat land with canals and ditches (Ceresone, Riello, Moneghina, Puina, Armedola, Geda), where the scarce crops were represented by rice, fodder, corn, grapes, and a struggling fish farming.
In conclusion, Gazzo is a small municipality near Padua and Vicenza that is worth visiting to enjoy all its natural landscapes. Thank you for reading this summary, and I hope to have piqued your curiosity on the history and geography of this special place.
