Reggio nell’Emilia, though not Roman in origin, begins as an historical site with the construction by Lepidus of the Via Aemilia, a trunk road in the north Italian plains leading from Piacenza to Rimini.

Reggio would become a justice's administration center, with a forum called at first Lepidi, then Lepidum Regium, and in the end simply Regium, whence the city's current name.

During the Roman age, Regium is cited only by Festus and Cicero, as one of the military stations on the Via Aemilia.

However, it will flourish as a city, a municipium with its own statutes, magistrates and art collegia.