Franciacorta is a region of gentle hills in the district of Brescia.
The area is limited eastward by rocky and drifty hills, westward by the river Oglio, northward by the banks of the lake ofIseo, the last parts of Alpi Feniche, southward by the alluvionalplain that ends on the state highway Brescia-Bergamo. WatchingFranciacorta from above, we can notice a double drifty amphitheatreformed during the last ice age, thanks to the action of alarge glacier that, falling from Val Canonica, dug the basin of the lake of Iseo and pushed its drifts to form the present hill bars.
Life has been present in these valleys since ancient time. This is proved by the findings of pre-historic era and the many evidences in classical authors: Plinio, Columella, Virgilio.
The name Franzacurta appeared for the first time in an order of the Eightth Book of Statutes of Brescia in 1277 and it was about an injuction made to the municipalities of Gussago and Rodendo for the fixing of the bridge on the river Mella in the whereabouts of Mandolossa: «Pro utilitate Sua propria et omnium amicorum Franzacurta».
The people receiving this order, then knew very well which was the area of Franzacurta that would have benefited from this work. This testifies of a more ancient use of the name, probably linked to the power of those monastic courts (Rodengo, Provaglio, Rovato) founded by Cluny monks and free from the payment of taxes to the bishop of Brescia, hence courts franche, free or, in current latin francae curtae. Recent studies would show that this freedom was referred to the goods that passed from Franciacorta towards the free municipality of Brescia.
They were duty free in exchange of the maintenance of the passage on the road going from Brescia to Iseo and along the lake, got to the supplying of Val Canonica. Whatever the origin of this «freedom», it is surely in the latin francae and in the role of the monastic curtae (courts) that the origin of the name has to be researched.