| Berceto | ||
 | ||
| State | Italy | |
|---|---|---|
| Region | Emilia Romagna | |
| Territory | Parma | |
| Altitude | 808 m a.s.l. | |
| Surface | 131.58 km² | |
| Inhabitants | 2.109 (2015) | |
| Name inhabitants | Bercetesi | |
| Prefix tel | 39 0525 | |
| POSTAL CODE | 43042 | |
| Time zone | UTC 1 | |
| Patron | San Moderà | |
Position
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| Institutional website | ||
Berceto is a center ofEmilia Romagna.
To know
It is one of the main centers of the Val di Taro, a holiday resort and center of commerce and services. It has an important past linked to the prestige of the powerful Rossi family and to its role as the last center on the Emilian side of the Via Francigena before the Cisa Apennine pass, in ancient times Bardone. It preserves important architectural testimonies: the imposing Duomo and ancient prestigious buildings. It is part of the Authentic Villages of Italy.
Geographical notes
In the Parma valley, on the Parma Apennines, 10 km. from the Pass of the Cisa, 60 km. from Parma, 65 km. from Spice..
Background
Berceto has always been a trading town due to its proximity to the Apennine passes, in particular that of the Cisa (formerly called Bardone), which also favored pilgrimages to Rome and from there to the Holy Land. Its position on the Via Francigena, in addition to favoring its commercial development, has promoted the construction of its important Cathedral, which we now see in its final appearance after the successive adjustments that took place over the centuries, but which dates back to the twelfth century as a primitive plant.
In the seventh century the Lombards built a monastery nearby which later gave rise to a village that was disputed over time by the Rossi, the Da Correggio, the Fieschi and the Della Scala. The Reds were lords of it for longer, until 1666, when Berceto was sold for debts to the Ducal Chamber of the Farnese. The relative wealth of past centuries has left many valuable architectural testimonies: in addition to the Cathedral, Renaissance houses, the castle (now unfortunately reduced to a few vestiges), modest medieval quarters but also buildings with valuable portals, windows and architectural elements of great value. testimony of the styles that have followed one another in the Parma mountains over a period of time from the 12th to the 17th century.
The ancient aspect of the town is clearly visible in the fresco by Benedetto Bembo which depicts it in the famous Golden room of the castle of Torrechiara, where Pier Maria Rossi had it reproduced, as well as other castles of his; there are paintings of the Castle with its high keep and the circle of walls that also embraced the town.
The best period for the town was certainly that of Pier Maria Rossi, who left the memory of the splendor of the castle, and that of Bertrando Rossi, who was responsible for the first major restoration of the church of San Moderà. Having passed into the full dominion of the Farnese, Berceto slowly slipped into the role of a peripheral mountain center.
The legend
It is said that shortly before the year 1000 San Moderà, coming from France to bring the relics of San Remigio to Rome, stopped to rest near the current Berceto. For fear that the relics would be stolen from him while he was resting, he tied them to a tree.
When it was time to set out again, she tried to retrieve the casket that contained them, but the casket continued to climb the branches of the tree. Faced with this supernatural sign he decided to stay in Berceto and to found a church right in the place of the miraculous event that had happened to him. The new monastery by his will was subjected to the jurisdiction of the French monastery of Reims.
How to orient yourself
Berceto: full screen map.Neighborhoods
Its extensive territory includes numerous other inhabited centers: Bergotto, Boschi, Cantoniera Tugo, Casa Brusini, Casa Dolfi, Casaselvatica, Case Pesci, Castellonchio, Cavazzola, Corchia, Fugazzolo, Ghiare, La Costa, Lozzola, Pagazzano, Pian Farioli, Pietramogolana, Preda, Roccaprebalza, Between La Riva, Valbona, Villa di Sotto.
How to get
By plane
- 1 Parma airport (G. Verdi), Via Emilia - Golese locality, ☎ 39 0521 951511.
- 2 Bologna airport (G.Marconi), Via Triumvirato 84, ☎ 39 051 6479615.
By car
It has a motorway exit right on the Cisa Parma - La Spezia motorway
Strada Statale 62 della Cisa
It has a motorway exit right on the Cisa Parma - La Spezia motorway
Strada Statale 62 della CisaOn the train
- It has a railway stop on its territory in the Ghiare hamlet
- Railway station a Borgotaro (20 km)
- Railway station a Fornovo (25 km) on the Parma - La Spezia route
By bus
It is served by TEP bus lines (timetables)
- Extra-urban line Parma - Berceto
- Line 84 Berceto - Lozzola - Roccamurata - Borgotaro
- Line 85 Corchia - Berceto / Pagazzano - Berceto
- Line 88 Berceto - Casaselvatica - Ravarano - Calestano
- Line 90 Berceto - Cassio - Casola - Fornovo di Taro
How to get around
What see
1 Cathedral of San Moderà. Its foundation dates back to the eighth century; it was entrusted to the bishop Moderà, to whom it was later entitled after its elevation to the honors of the altar; in the ninth century it belonged to the Diocese of Parma. At the end of the twelfth century it had a first reconstruction involving the three naves and the transept with the three apses.
The Romanesque façade is a nineteenth-century reconstruction that preserves the rich splayed portal of the twelfth century. There remain some interesting sculptures including the lunette of the portal on the facade and a rare eighth-century panel of Lombard art depicting peacocks on the sides of cross .. In the grandiose Ligurian-Tuscan interior there is a bronze bell cast in 1497, the cope of San Moderà, in twelfth-century Lucchese fabric and a precious collection of liturgical objects and a bas-relief depicting the Crucifixion.
- 2 Ruins of the Castle. The castle is located in the highest part of the town. It was a fortress and residence of the Rossi, lords of Berceto. In 1494 the French king Charles VIII stayed there while on his way to conquer the Kingdom of Naples.
Part of the ruins was recovered and equipped as Open-air archaeological museum, with walkways equipped and provided with panels with didactic captions and plans that allow you to know its structure and to read its remains. The invisible part of the castle is still under the building of the schools which were built on part of the ruins. The area brought to light and usability before the recovery was completely buried and constituted the lawn courtyard of the school building.
Corchia
It is a village in the territory of Berceto and is located at 650 meters above sea level in a secluded valley. The town is very suggestive for having maintained its ancient mark with narrow alleys, underpasses and houses with characteristic roofs in sandstone slabs. Among the houses stands out a three-storey building with a loggia and a roof covered with stone slabs. Similar in architecture is a house also with a loggia which can be dated to the 13th century.
The church, closed to worship, is dedicated to San Martino. It has a singular facade surmounted by the bell tower supported by an arch extending over the street.
The road that crosses the village has the typical pavement of the medieval Romea road, and constitutes the fulcrum around which the inhabited center gravitates. From the fourteenth to the eighteenth century Corchia was the prerogative of the Sanvitale family; after them it passed to the Tarasconi Smeraldi family.
The Farnese people believed that in Corchia there was gold, to be found in the mine. Eliminated this hope, in 1865 the exploitation of the copper mines began, an activity that lasted until 1942; on the side of Monte Maggio, which extends above the town, there are still the mines' tunnels.
Pass of the Cisa
- 3 Shrine of Our Lady of the Guard (on the Pass). The Cisa Pass, on the border between the Ligurian Apennines, the Emilian Apennines and the Tuscan Apennines, connects the high Val di Taro and the Lunigiana and is located at an altitude of 1041 meters. It has always been one of the busiest and most disputed Apennine pass, also because it was one of the few open all year round, even in winter.The road originates in Roman times, when the censor Marco Emilio Scauro built it in 109 BC. He then marked the border between the Lombard and Byzantine lands.
In the eighth century it became the traditional pilgrimage route between northern Italy and Germany towards Rome; in the Middle Ages it was known as Monte Bardone. In this period a hospice of Santa Maria, just before the pass, for the use of pilgrims and wayfarers. In the 16th century it was again the border point between the Duchy of Parma and the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
The church that is currently located near the pass is dedicated to Our Lady of the Guard; its construction began in 1919 and ended in 1922 when it was consecrated. On August 29, 1930 it was declared a Sanctuary, and since then every year on this August day a large crowd of faithful goes there on pilgrimage from both sides.
Our Lady of the Guard was named Patroness of sportsmen from all over the world in 1965.
Events and parties
- Horse market exhibition.
- Festival of San Moderà.
October 22. Patronal feast of ancient origin - Festival of the Madonna della Guardia (at the Cisa Pass.). The end of August..
- Gastronomic festival of mountain products. in September..
- Feast of Our Lady of Grace.
- Chestnut in celebration. in October..
October 22. Patronal feast of ancient originWhat to do
Berceto is the ideal starting point for long excursions in the woods of the area in search of mushrooms, or for long rides along the horse trail of the Taro and Ceno valleys, combining landscape tourism with cultural tourism in search of characteristic small towns. all of which boast fine examples of mountain architecture in ancient homes and churches.
Shopping
In addition to the richness of the gastronomic, culinary and production tradition of Parma (salami, hams, stuffed pasta, Parmigiano Reggiano), Berceto and its territory excel in the collection, marketing and culinary use of the porcini mushroom, which abounds in its woods and its mountains.Berceto is one of the members of the gastronomic tourism promotion association Boletus mushroom road together with Albareto, Bedonia, Borgo Val di Taro, Compiano is Tornolo. The Borgotaro mushroom is an I.G.P (Protected Geographical Indication) product that it received in 1993. In 1995 the Consortium for the Protection of I.G.P was established. "Mushroom of Borgotaro" to guarantee and promote the porcino.
Typical of the area is the mustard from Berceto, a fundamental ingredient of spongata which is also prepared in Berceto following a local recipe that legend says was stolen from the kitchens of the Conti Rossi castle, where it was jealously guarded, with the complicity of a courtier.
How to have fun
Where to eat
- 1 Romea Pizzeria, via Romea 30, ☎ 39 052560207.
- 2 Pizzeria Da Romano, Piazza G. Micheli, 1, ☎ 39 0525 64260.
Average prices
- 3 Trattoria Vecchi Ricordi, Via Fondovalle, 10 Ghiare di Berceto (in Ghiare), ☎ 39 0525620030.
- 4 Trattoria Locanda Pasquinelli, Via Martiri della Libertà, 33 (in the center), ☎ 39 052564367.
Where stay
Moderate prices
- 1 B&B Gioli, Via Ripasanta 5, ☎ 39 052564251.
- 2 Via Francigena hostel, Location Grossa, 89 (in the locality of Valbona), ☎ 39 0525 629072, 39 3288741814, fax: 39 0525 64199, @[email protected].
Average prices
- Fondovalle Hotel, via Fondovalle 10, ☎ 39 052568320, fax: 39 052568283. 3 stars.
- Vittoria Hotel, Via Guglielmo Marconi 5, ☎ 39 052564306, fax: 39 0525629512, @[email protected].
- 3 Hotel Bersé, Groppo di San Giovanni - Lozzola, ☎ 39 3468772593, fax: 39 05251910844, @[email protected]. 3 stars S.
Safety
- 3 Emergency medical Service, via Salita Silva, ☎ 39 0525 64225.
- 4 Carabinieri, Salvo D'Acquisto square 4, ☎ 39 0525 64225, 39 0525 64407.
- 5 Police, via Martyrs of Liberty 16, ☎ 39 0525 629911.
Pharmacy
- 6 Municipal, piazza don Giovanni Bosco 3, ☎ 39 0525 64228.
How to keep in touch
Post office
- 7 Italian post, via Monsignor Lucchini, ☎ 39 0525 60413.
Around
- Bardone - His Pieve was one of the stops on the Via Francigena; there are preserved sculptures of the Antelamic school.
- Bar of - Its castle is certainly one of the most spectacular among the numerous manors in the Parma hills; perched on a rocky peak, it had a reputation for impregnability. It is also one of the best preserved and most visited castles by tourists.
- Compiano - Its well-preserved urban structure around its massive castle has earned the town its inclusion in the ranks of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
- Varano de 'Melegari - It is less known and less cited than the other manors, but the castle of Varano Melegari connotes the ancient part of the town with its towering grandeur, enriching it with charm. It boasts an ancient parish church in the Serravalle district; it is finally known for its racetrack.
- Pellegrino Parmense - An isolated castle, not excessive in size but with a good presence, an ancient Pieve Sanctuary of great attendance in the hamlet of Careno and an equally ancient Pieve in the hamlet of Iggio make Pellegrino a good destination for those who suffer the charm of medieval suggestions.
Itineraries
- Castles of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza - Scattered over the Parma and Piacenza Apennines, but also present in the plain to guard the natural border of the Po, the numerous castles of the ancient Duchy of Parma and Piacenza characterize the whole area. Originally military bulwarks, many of them have kept the appearance of an inaccessible fortress, many have gradually transformed their war nature into a refined noble residence; all perpetuate over time the atmosphere of adventure, fairytale and legend that has always been linked to castles, many of which tell of the presence of spirits and ghosts.
- Via Francigena
