HISTORICAL ROADS: ON THE TRAIL OF PILGRIMS
The Via Francigena in Piacenza
The Via Francigena (also called Francesca or Romea) was the road connecting Rome with France, probably one of the most important in the Middle Ages. In those times, millions of pilgrims speaking different languages and coming from different nations, cultures and social classes walked or rode the Via Francigena from Northern Europe on their way to Rome or Jerusalem. Some of them did it to fulfi l a vow, some to have their prayers granted, some others to test their own limits. Whatever their motives, they all stopped over in Piacenza, which had at least 30 hospices, places where pilgrims could rest and form parties. They had names such as Sant’Antonio a Trebbia, San Cristoforo (near Piazzale Medaglie d’Oro), Ospedale della Misericordia (which stood where the church of San Giuseppe is now, in Via Campagna). San Sepolcro was a part of a Benedictine monastery, while Santa Brigida was a hospice for Irish pilgrims. The Via Francigena cut through Piacenza along the axis of today’s Via Taverna, Via Garibaldi, Via San Antonino and Via Scalabrini, where most hospices were concentrated. Here pilgrims would have found Santa Vittoria (at the sanctuary of Santa Maria di Campagna), Santa Brigida, Sant’Ilario, Santa Maria Maddalena at San Donnino and Sant’Antonino, over whose ruins the Palazzo Giacometti was built.
The Via Francigena outside Piacenza
If you want to spend a day as a medieval pilgrim, follow the Via Francigena, the road that from Northern Europe cut across Italy to Rome. One of the busiest pilgrim trails is documented by the small but precious journal of the Archbishop of Canterbury Sigeric, who lived around 1000 AD. The starting points of this itinerary can be either Fidenza, a mystical medieval town with a monumental cathedral, or San Pancrazio, which has an ancient parish church also used as a hospice and a rest-post for pilgrims. The various strands of the Via Francigena met in Fornovo di Taro, a town at the base of the Apennines, an important node between Emilia, Liguria and Tuscany. Fornovo features a handsome Romanesque church which dates back to the 11th century and several trekking paths offering breathtaking landscapes and mouth-watering food and wine. The Via Francigena went up to the mountain pass of the Cisa, where it crossed the Apennines towards the Tyrrhenian coast. Following this pilgrim road is not only an occasion to revive history, but also to see works of art, monuments and wonderful sights that would otherwise be left out of a typical tourist itinerary. This makes them all the more interesting! A pilgrimage to the sanctuary of the Basilica of the Beata Vergine della Ghiara Building for this Basilica began in 1597, but it was decorated and frescoed during the first half of the 17th century. Following the plan of a Greek cross, it is an outstanding example of baroque art in Emilia. A miracle took place here in 1596, attracting flocks of pilgrims to Reggio: one Marchino, a young deaf and dumb boy, regained his voice and sense of hearing after praying in front of an icon of the Virgin. Inside there are precious frescoes celebrating the virtues of the Virgin and altarpieces by the best local artists of the 17th century. The “Giareda” handicrafts market, held here during the first week of September, dates back to the same period.
Old towns and villages along the Via Cassìola
The ancient Via Cassìola – a Latin diminutive for Via Cassia – was a main road connecting Modena with Pistoia in Tuscany, across the Apennines. It was also a pilgrim route connecting Emilia with Lucca and eventually Rome. One of the most interesting stops along the Via Cassìola around Bologna is Bazzano at the border between the provinces of Modena and Bologna: high up on a hill inhabited since the Iron Age, it has an imposing castle and a picturesque old town centre. Monteveglio is another fortifi ed village with a beautiful abbey; it was part of the fi efdom of countess Matilda of Canossa and in 1092 it resisted the siege of emperor Henry IV. But these are just two of the fortresses and manors which top virtually every hill around Bologna. Others are the castle of Serravalle, the parish church and manor of Samoggia (which features in a 7th-century list of Byzantine castles that resisted the advance of the Lombard army) and the castle of Savigno, once used as a pilgrim hospice. In Santa Lucia di Roffeno there is an old church with a charming courtyard, while Castel d’Aiano has two 13th-century hospices. The next stops are Gaggio Montano and the Rocca Corneta, perched on one of the mountain passes in the Monti della Riva range, which dominates the Val Dardagna.
A pilgrimage along five religious itineraries
These fi ve itineraries will take you to several thousand-year-old parish churches around Ravenna, on the trail of Early Christian devotion. The fi rst itinerary follows the ancient Via Romea which led to Rome through Venice and the cathedral and Byzantine churches of Ravenna, Classe and Cervia (the main sight here being the church of the Madonna del Pino). A second itinerary runs along the Agro Decimano and the Via Ravegnana which connect Classe and Ravenna with Cesena: highlights are the parish churches of San Pietro in Cistino, Santa Maria di Ronta, San Bartolomeo in San Zaccaria, Santo Stefano in Pisignano (where you will fi nd one of the stone crosses that once dotted pilgrim routes), San Cassiano in Decimo in Campiano, San Pietro in Vincoli and San Pietro in Trento. Other itineraries are the Via Faentina between Ravenna and Brisighella, which touches on the churches of Russi, Godo, San Pancrazio, Faenza and Brisighella, or the itinerary of the hills surrounding the valley of the Senio (from Castel Bolognese to Casola Valsenio), running along the main Statale Casolana Riolese and crossing the Apennines to Tuscany. Lastly, there is an inland medieval itinerary heading north towards Bagnacavallo (with the church of San Pietro in Sylvis), which passes through Lugo, Argenta, Bagnara, Solarolo, Piangipane, Cotignola, Barbiano, Fabriago and Fusignano.
