"Here is the land, the little world of a world yet little, sowed somewhere in the North of Italy. There in that piece of fat, loamy, flat land sprouting between the river Po and the Appennino" as Giovannino Guareschi described the lowland of Don Camillo e Peppone, the so called Bassa (literally, low), which served as setting of the famous film adaptations to which the "Brescello e Guareschi, Il territorio e il cinema" Museum (the cinema and the land), and the "Peppone e Don Camillo" Museum are dedicated.

Once a Gallic-Germanic settlement and then a Roman colony around 220 a.C., the ancient Brixellium used to be a strategic trading and military point of great relevance, set on a crossroads of roads and river courses. In 389 it became a bishopric dedicated to the cult of Saint Genesius. The Byzantines and the Longobards, and, during the Middle Ages, the Benedictine Monks and the Canossa dynasty would then leave deep marks on the land. Finds and architectural remains are stored and exhibited in the Museo Archeologico "Albino Umiltà" (the "Albino Umiltà" Archaeological Museum), located inside the magnificent late 15th-century benedictine manor which nowadays serves as the seat of the Centro Culturale Comunale “San Benedetto” (the Municipal Cultural Centre), together with the library and the civic halls.

Following the XIII century/From the XIII century onward, Brescello witnesses the rise and fall of many dinasties, from the Sforza to the Estensi, who annexed it to the Duchy of Modena in 1598. During the Napoleonic era, Brescello became part of the Cisalpine Republic (Repubblica Cisalpina), while in 1860 it joined the recently unified Kingdom of Italy.

Brescello was home to the 16th-century philosopher and scholar Mario Nizzoli, and to the patriot, senator and “prince of the librarians” Antonio Panizzi (1797-1879) key figure of the well known London’s British Museum Library.

The countryside, the squares and the churches, the landscapes and their tourism are still today the protagonists of this little, yet boundless world.