Correggio is a small town and comune

Comune

In Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...

in the Province of Reggio Emilia

Province of Reggio Emilia

The Province of Reggio Emilia is one of the eight provinces of the Italian Region of Emilia-Romagna. The capital city, which is the most densely populated comune in the Province, is Reggio Emilia....

, in the Emilia-Romagna

Emilia-Romagna

Emilia–Romagna is an administrative region of Northern Italy comprising the two historic regions of Emilia and Romagna. The capital is Bologna; it has an area of and about 4.4 million inhabitants....

 region of Italy, in the Po

Po River

The Po |Ligurian]]: Bodincus or Bodencus) is a river that flows either or – considering the length of the Maira, a right bank tributary – eastward across northern Italy, from a spring seeping from a stony hillside at Pian del Re, a flat place at the head of the Val Po under the northwest face...

 valley. As of 2007 Correggio had an estimated population of 23,108.

Its patron saint

Patron saint

A patron saint is a saint who is regarded as the intercessor and advocate in heaven of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or person...

 is Quirinus of Neuss, to whom the church of San Quirino is dedicated.

It was the seat of Veronica Gambara

Veronica Gambara

Veronica Gambara was an Italian poet, stateswoman and political leader.-Family:Born in Pralboino , in Lombardy, Italy, Gambara came from a distinguished family , one of the seven children of Count Gianfrancesco da Gambara and Alda Pio da Carpi...

 (1485–1550) a noted politician poet who ruled the principality after the death of her husband Giberto X, Count of Correggio, from 1518 to 1550.

It is the birth place of the Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

 painter Antonio Allegri, who was called "il Correggio" from the name of his town. The French poet Tugdual Menon

Tugdual Menon

Tugdual Menon , was a French composer. He was likely teacher of the organist Claudio Merulo.- Life :...

 resided in Correggio for much of his life.

It is also the birthplace of Venetian School composer Claudio Merulo

Claudio Merulo

Claudio Merulo was an Italian composer, publisher and organist of the late Renaissance period, most famous for his innovative keyboard music and his ensemble music composed in the Venetian polychoral style. He was born in Correggio and died in Parma...

, the rock singer Luciano Ligabue

Luciano Ligabue

Luciano Ligabue , more commonly known as Ligabue or Liga, is an Italian rock singer-songwriter, film director and writer.-Biography:...

, the famously disqualified 1908 Summer Olympics

1908 Summer Olympics

The 1908 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the IV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was held in 1908 in London, England, United Kingdom. These games were originally scheduled to be held in Rome. At the time they were the fifth modern Olympic games...

 marathon runner Dorando Pietri

Dorando Pietri

Dorando Pietri, often wrongly spelt Petri was an Italian athlete famous for his dramatic finish and eventual disqualification in the marathon at the 1908 Summer Olympics held in London.-Early years:Pietri was born in Mandrio, a frazione of Correggio, but spent his youth in Carpi...

, and the novelist Pier Vittorio Tondelli

Pier Vittorio Tondelli

Pier Vittorio Tondelli was an Italian writer who wrote a small but influential body of work. He was born in Correggio, a small town in the province of Emilia-Romagna in Italy and died in nearby Reggio Emilia of AIDS...

.