The earliest document to carry the Dozza placename dates back to 1126. ‘Castrum Dutie’ derives from an early medieval Latin word for ‘shower’, indicating the presence of a conduit that carries water into a vat or cistern for use by the local populace.
Water was once scarce here, hence the emphasis on its presence in the toponyms of the church of Santa Maria Assunta in Piscina and the ancient parish church of San Lorenzo in Piscerano. The symbiosis between the imposing fortress and the ancient hamlet below it (still encompassed by the old village walls) shows a harmony between the natural and the man-made that is only found in places fiercely proud of their past.
The Malvezzi-Campeggi marquises, whose
fortunes waxed and waned during a fiefdom that spanned from the 16th
century to Napoleonic times (1798), enjoyed uninterrupted ownership of
the fortress and continued to live there until the death of the last direct
heir in 1960. Even though the family had long ceased to rule, the locals
retain affectionate memories of their ‘feudal lords’ whose fate had been
intertwined with that of the hamlet’s inhabitants for centuries.
