Corchia

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Corchia is a small village in northwest Italy, in Emilia-Romagna’s Parma province. It is a part of the comune of Berceto and sits among chestnut trees in Val Manubiola. The village keeps its medieval character with stone houses, narrow stone lanes, and arches dating from the 12th century.

The church is San Martino, but it isn’t used for worship anymore. Its unusual façade has a bell tower supported by an arch that crosses over the street. A new church on the village outskirts was funded by immigrants to America and France.

Corchia’s history is tied to mining. People once hoped to find gold in the valley, but it was pyrite. In the mid-1500s the Farnese family sparked renewed hopes, and copper mining began in 1865 and continued until 1942. Old mine shafts can still be seen on Mount Maggio.