Gabbioneta - Gabbioneta

Gabbioneta is a center of the Lombardy.

To know

Geographical notes

In the Cremona countryside of lower Lombardy, not far from the right bank of the Oglio river, it is 20 km away. from Cremona, 35 from Casalmaggiore, 48 from Brescia. With the nearby center of Binanuova constitutes a single Municipal Body which takes the dual name of Gabbioneta Binanuova

Background

The whole area on the banks of the Oglio has produced finds of great antiquity, with the discovery of archaeological sites even from prehistoric times. For Gabbioneta, local historiography is inclined to consider its origin in Roman times more probable, when the area was regulated by the centuriation following the foundation of Cremona. In the locality of San Pedretto a Roman stone was discovered with an inscription attesting the presence in Roman times of a college of blacksmiths. A hypothesis regarding the origin of the town's toponym derives the name Gabbioneta from Gabinius, that is inhabitant of Gabi, Lazio city from which the Roman colonists sent to colonize the area came.

In the following centuries the history of Gabbioneta is similar to that of the coastal towns of Oglio. The river marked the border between the municipalities of Cremona and Brescia, often fighting each other for the control of the territory and for expansionist aims. So almost all the towns of Oglio had castles and fortifications, often opposed to equal defenses in the centers beyond the river. Gabbioneta also had its fortifications and its castle, which from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century was owned by the Cremonese merchant family of the Cannobio and then the Pallavicino family. Eighteenth-century cartographies place it on the present oxbow lake, once a bend in the Oglio river, now abandoned.

How to orient yourself

How to get

By plane

• Airport greens of Parma
• Airport Catullus of Verona
• Airport D'Annunzio of Montichiari (BS)
• Airport Caravaggio of Orio al Serio (BG)
• Airport Marconi of Bologna

By car

It can be reached, with a short detour, from the former Cremona - Mantua or from Roccabianca - Seniga (director Brescia - Parma across the bridge over the Po di San Daniele Po - Roccabianca)

The nearest motorway exit is at Pontevico on the highway Turin-Brescia

On the train

• Station in Gazzo Pieve San Giacomo on the line Cremona - Mantua

How to get around

What see

• Prepositural Church of Sant'Ambrogio. It stands on a pre-existing sacred building, and was built at the end of the seventeenth century; the completion of the facade in 1710 is remembered by an inscription on the pinnacles of the facade itself. It has a single nave modulated by successive spans, alternately small and large. The presbytery is closed by an elegantly made marble balustrade, with floral decorations and geometric motifs. The monumental marble altar with colored inlays was built by workers from Brescia who were very active throughout the area. A richly carved wooden choir from 1731 covers the apse. The church also preserves a precious Amati organ from 1860.

Among the picture gallery, in the chapel of the marble baptistery there is a canvas reproducing the Baptism of Christ, work of the Fields which is located in the Cathedral of Cremona;a Deposition of Christ with souls in purgatory and San Rocco it's a Saint Anthony of Padua by an unknown author, donated in 1802 by the Marquises Pallavicino, feudal lords of Gabbioneta.

The wall decoration is the work of restoration after the fire that blackened and devastated the interior in the mid-nineteenth century. The church is not redundant in the Baroque style, but calm. On the right side a small portico shelters a small entrance on the corner with the bell tower; under the portico a plaque commemorates Don Angelo Grandi, a priest in Gabbioneta and a distinguished scholar of civil and religious history of the Cremona area and diocese. The bell tower hosts a concert of 5 bells. 

• Oratory of the Beata Vergine di Caravaggio. It rises at the gates of the town, leaning against the fence of the Cemetery and surrounded and shaded by majestic trees. Originally in its place stood a votive shrine built in a field of the wealthy Cannobbio family by Don Bernardo Corsi, a priest at the time administrator of the family. thus a vow made to the Madonna of Caravaggio.

Immediately the small sacred building became an object of veneration by the people, and soon the news of miracles that occurred through the intercession of the Madonna depicted in the chapel spread. With an episcopal decree the building was recognized as a place of worship, and the devotion to it led to its rebuilding in 1666 in its current form. With a single nave, it is illuminated by some windows. The presbytery is slightly raised and preserves in the main altar the image of the Blessed Virgin by Caravaggio, painted on a wall and sheltered by a glass; it is certainly the ancient image of the Madonna coeval with the first building.

The construction of the new largest temple was possible thanks to the offers of the faithful and above all to the huge economic intervention of the Cannobbio family, who endowed it with income and practically made it a celebratory monument of the family. The church passed by inheritance to the Cannobbio Pallavicino and Pallavicino Clavello families.

At the end of the eighteenth century the Cemetery was built adjacent to the church; on this occasion the Pallavicinos obtained the right to use the church as a family sepulcher; the burials are still remembered by numerous tombstones. To enhance the decoration of the family mausoleum, the Pallavicinos erected an altar in polychrome marble with a marble balustrade. Over time, several furnishings and ex-votos have been stolen from the oratory, as well as two statues of the Ecce Homo and the Baby Jesus.

On the vault two frescoes represent the Annunciation and the Assumption. 

Events and parties

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Where stay

Safety

How to keep in touch

Post office

• Italian post, Way of Liberty, ☎ 39 0372 844310. 

Around

• Torre de 'Picenardi - Villa Sommi Picenardi developed from a pre-existing castle nucleus; starting from the sixteenth century it was transformed in the following centuries up to its present appearance. A body of the villa, in neoclassical style, overlooks the town square. A second factory develops inside and is connected to the ancient body of the primitive castle. A large garden surrounds the villa complex, surrounded by a large moat with water.
• Cicognolo - Exposed terracotta and marble make the impressive and varied appearance of the imposing Manfredi castle, scenographic in the green of the lawn that embellishes the ground in front of the main facade, with a romantic garden and moat behind it.
• San Lorenzo de 'Picenardi - Its castle, built in the fifteenth century, was enlarged over time to then arrive at its present form, majestic and decidedly castellana, in the nineteenth century, the work of the architect Luigi Voghera. The vast building, in perfect condition, shows numerous crenellated towers which give it the characteristic medieval aspect, however mitigated by the elegant character of a noble castle residence. It is surrounded by a large park.
• Cremona - It has a monumental historic center - the Cathedral, the Baptistery, the Town Hall - one of the most distinguished in Lombardy. It was a Roman city. It was powerful at the time of the Communes and rivaled Milan, which finally subdued it. His violins (Stradivari and Amati), his Torrazzo and even more his torrone, are known everywhere.
• Mantua - Capital of the Gonzagas, it still exudes its subtle charm as a great city of art for which it appoints it a UNESCO World Heritage Site it was not so much a recognition as a necessary acknowledgment. Its ancient atmospheres are incomparable, the profiles of the palaces and domes that stand out in the Po Valley mist enveloped by the mirror of its lakes, its endless Gonzaga palace that incorporates numerous buildings in the city center.
• The Oglio North Park is a river park in the Lombardy region established by the regional law of 1988; it includes the territories of the right bank and the left bank of the Oglio river in the river section between the exit from Lake Iseo and Seniga on the left bank, while on the right bank it reaches Gabbioneta Binanuova. It occupies an area of ​​14,170 hectares and includes the coastal lands of the territories of 34 municipalities in the Bergamasco, Brescia and Cremonese areas: Alfianello, Azzanello, Bordolano, Borgo San Giacomo, Calcio, Capriolo, Castelli Calepio, Castelvisconti, Chiari, Cividate al Piano, Corte de 'Cortesi, Corte de' Frati, Credaro, Gabbioneta Binanuova, Genivolta, Orzinuovi, Palazzolo sull'Oglio, Palosco, Paratico, Pontevico, Pontoglio, Pumenengo, Quinzano d'Oglio, Robecco d'Oglio, Roccafranca, Rudiano, Sarnico, Scandolara Ripa d'Oglio, Seniga, Soncino, Torre Pallavicina, Urago d'Oglio, Verolavecchia, Villachiara, Villongo. The administrative seat of the Oglio Nord Park is in Orzinuovi, while the cultural one is in Soncino. The stretch of river downstream of Seniga and Gabbioneta Binanuova up to its introduction into the river Po constitutes the South Oglio Park.

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