"Vilco" > wrote:

> A pair of weeks ago I have been to Berlucchi cellars, in
> Borgonato (Brescia), and had the usual tour of the estate.
> During the tour, the PR man told us where the name of the region
> came from: Francae Curtis, which was the name for those fields
> ("curtis") who had been made free ("francae") for the use by
> paesants, thus leading to the modern Franciacorta. Same origin,
> but reversed words, has the name Cortefranca, the Franciacorta
> town which includes Borgonato.
> Anybody has heard of other origins?

Yes Sir!

From Maurizio Zanella (Ca' del Bosco). Sometimes in the distant
past the region was occupied by the French. A local uprise was
successfull, the occupants were thrown out of the region, the
battle cry of the insurrectionists being "la Francia e corta",
"[the way to] France is short".

But he added that this was only one theory amongst another two
or three.

M.