Gazzuolo - Gazzuolo

Gazzuolo is a center of the Lombardy.

To know

Geographical notes

It is located on the right of the Oglio, in the fertile Po valley of lower Lombardy, in the district Oglio Po Casalasco Viadanese. It is 14 km away. from Casalmaggiore, 15 from Viadana, 21 from Mantua. It is in the frieze of the former state road 420 Casalmaggiore - Mantova.

Background

Gazzuolo probably derives its name from its location in a ford point of the river: Vadiolum, small ford, or Vadolium, ford of the Oglio. Originally Gazzuolo was a less important center than its current Belforte hamlet, which was a fortified place and for some centuries, thanks to treaties put in place with the Municipality of Cremona that dominated the area, it was a free village.

After the domination of Bonifacio di Canossa in the 11th century, the area passed between the lands subject to the Bishop of Cremona, a possession that was ratified by the Emperor Conrad III. During the struggles between the cities of Brescia, Mantua, Verona is Cremona for the possession and control of rivers and navigable waters, a bloody battle takes place in Belforte, which sees the houses and castle razed to the ground.

Belforte no longer rises; accepts the union with Gazzuolo, whose inhabitants in 1393 give themselves to the Gonzagas of Mantua, tired of the continuous destruction and looting to which the area was subjected for the continuous struggles between the neighboring states.In 1478 the Marquis Ludovico Gonzaga entrusted Gazzuolo to the son Gianfrancesco, who married Antonia del Balzo, a woman of great culture and patronage; thus the Lordship of Gazzuolo was born, which in 1565 was elevated to the rank of Marquisate. A period of urban redevelopment and embellishment begins for Gazzuolo; it is equipped with a fortress with a moat; illustrious families are called to reside and populate it: the Camerari (or Cesenati), the Mainoldi, the Pico di Mirandola.

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  Gianfrancesco Gonzaga (left)

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  Antonia del Balzo

Then periods of tranquility and cultural splendor alternate (Ludovico Ariosto, Torquato Tasso, Matteo Bandello, Baldassarre Castiglione were guests at the court of Gazzuolo) with other passages of power between members of the Gonzaga house either by normal succession or by contrasts and disputes that arose from time to time within the Gonzaga family. During the war of the Spanish succession, in the early eighteenth century, Gazzuolo was sacked by the imperial troops, and its fortress was demolished. In 1733 the surviving defensive structures of the walls were also demolished, the turn of which went beyond the Oglio, over which there was probably a bridge of boats.

How to orient yourself

Gazzuolo's points of interest are located in the main street, along which the town stretches: arcades, parish church of Santa Maria Nascente, oratory of San Rocco. Along the same street there is a large parking possibility. The visit can be done easily on foot within a few hundred meters.

At the end of the arcades, where the road bends towards Belforte (10 minutes by car), a garden area allows you to climb the Oglio embankment, which runs close to the town. On one side of the garden, in a small square, is the town hall, with sober architectural lines.

Neighborhoods

The towns and localities of Belforte, Bocca Chiavica, Pomara, Nocegrossa and La Marchesa are part of its municipal territory.

How to get

By plane

• 45.6661869.7018081 Bergamo-Orio al Serio Airport (Caravaggio), Via Aeroporto 13, Orio al Serio, ☎ 39 035 326323. 
• 45.42555610.3269442 Brescia Airport (D'Annunzio), Via Aeroporto 34, Montichiari (Connections with Brescia airport are guaranteed by public transport via the bus. The stop a Brescia city ​​is located at the bus station (number 23), while the airport is at the front of the terminal. There are also connections to the city of Verona via bus / shuttle line 1), ☎ 39 045 8095666, @[email protected]. Charter only 
• 45.39666710.8877783 Verona Airport (Catullus), Boxes of Sommacampagna, ☎ 39 045 8095666, @[email protected]. 
• 44.821810.296034 Parma airport (G. Verdi), Via Emilia - Golese locality, ☎ 39 0521 951511. 
• 45.452179.27635 Milan-Linate airport (Enrico Forlanini). 

By car

• Mantova north and Mantova south motorway toll booths on the Brenner motorway
• ex State Road 420 Casalmaggiore - Mantua

On the train

• Railway station a Cocoon on the line Cremona - Mantua

How to get around

What see

• Gonzagheschi arcades. The Gonzaga arcades of Gazzuolo immediately connote the close link with the Gonzagas, who frequently used this characteristic architectural structure abundantly represented in the various centers that saw the domination of this House. They were probably added later to the building they are part of. They constitute a large work, which with its 120 meters in length can be considered the largest of the numerous buildings commissioned by the Gonzagas; the arcades exceed for example by 20 meters the development of the most famous Gallery of the Ancients in Sabbioneta.

Their construction dates back to the early sixteenth century; they were commissioned by Ludovico Gonzaga, who entrusted the construction to Andrea Bertazzolo da Acquanegra, father of the more famous Gabriele.

They consist of thirty arches, made up of Verona marble columns, which have the characteristic of being different from each other in architectural style and related ornaments. Each of the thirty fields was once equipped with a brick cruise; the cruises were eliminated during a restoration in 1933. The last conservative intervention took place in 2001.

Under the arcades there are two patriotic commemorative plaques; there is also the entrance portal to the Giacometti Theater. 

• Parish Church of Santa Maria Nascente. The ancient church, also dedicated to Maria Nascente, was demolished by the Duke in 1620 to erect a fortification. It was replaced by the Oratory of the Holy Trinity, which however was inadequate in relation to the population.

It was only in 1664 that the construction of the new parish church began, which was then enlarged in later periods; the last interventions took place in the nineteenth century. The wide-ranging interior, in Baroque style, has a single nave, with seven side chapels and a large presbytery. It displays stucco decorations and numerous lavishly framed period canvases.

Noteworthy is a canvas by the Casalasco painter Marco Antonio Ghislina (1676 - 1756); the chapel of Santa Carità, martyr in Rome under the emperor Hadrian in 123 AD; A seventeenth-century wooden statue of San Giuseppe.

In the church, in a silver urn in the chapel dedicated to her, the relics of Santa Carità, received from Rome in 1664, are preserved. The martyr became the patron saint of the town; the parish church is instead dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente. 

• Oratory of San Rocco. Like the parish church, the Oratory of San Rocco is also in Baroque style. It dates back to the early seventeenth century, and must have been part of a larger religious complex.

The apse preserves a painting depicting San Rocco, which has two young Gonzaga princes who were its patrons next to it. A painting by an unknown artist depicts the Madonna del Pilar, an indication of the relations that the Gonzagas had with Spanish society.

A crucifix carved in wood, purchased around the sixteenth century, has been the object of strong popular devotion for centuries. In the rich wooden furniture stand out the valuable choir with panels depicting saints, the altar in gilded wood, painted tables. 

• Giacometti Theater. It is accessed from a portal under the Gonzaga arcades. The Municipal Administration has promoted its restoration, which in the nineties led to its total recovery and its usability as a place of entertainment. It is mainly used for concert cycles and for performances of comedies.

Its title recalls the playwright Paolo Giacometti, who lived in the nineteenth century. Of Piedmontese origins (he was born in Novi Ligure in the province of Alexandria, Giacometti became attached to Gazzuolo after his second marriage with the granddaughter of the parish priest of the town; here he lived in fact with his wife and three children born of the marriage. He died on August 31, 1882 in Nocegrossa.

In front of the entrance to the theater named after him, a plaque commemorates this artist, a Gazolese by adoption. 

in Belforte

• Church of San Bartolomeo. It was finished in Baroque style in 1687; the bell tower was built in 1710 by reusing the bricks of the previous church. The interior has a single nave with five chapels on each side that collect paintings and statues probably coming from the church of San Pietro, including the statue of the Madonna della Misericordia.

In the baroque apse the wooden choir and the frontal of the main altar in black marble and with a rich arabesque inlay of various colors, which was purchased in 1754 by the Fabbriceri of the church from the Cathedral of Montichiari. 

• Oratory of San Pietro. The oratory of San Pietro appears in an ancient document of exchange of assets dating back to 966, and is defined as a baptismal chapel. In the twelfth century it was owned by the Benedictines.

1506 is an important date for this small building; Cardinal Pirro Gonzaga, son of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga and Antonia del Balzo, founders of the Gazzuolo dynasty, donated an oratory and monastic complex to the Gerolimini. Probably at this time it was transformed, as well as the adjacent convent, and began to be used as the Pantheon of the Gonzaga.

With the Jesuits of Mantua, to whom it was given in management from 1704 to 1773, it became their holiday resort for the summer period; after their suppression it passed to the Fisco di Mantova, then to Giuseppe Raimondi in 1840 until 1869, when the latter owner left it to the community of belforte.

At the end of the nineteenth century it recovered its use for worship, which then ceased in the first decade of the following century. Since then a long history of neglect and decay began; used as a warehouse during the Second World War, the roof collapsed in April 2000, which had been partially rearranged in the 1960s. The interior is bare, in a state of serious decay.

A Renaissance loggia resists; there are also tombstones of noble characters, such as members of the Pico family (whose main branch ruled Mirandola), in addition to the tomb of Antonia del Balzo, wife of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga, initiator of the Gazzuolo dynasty. Antonia Del Balzo is remembered by history as a woman of admirable culture, who favored the arts and cultural expressions and who hosted at her court the best names of the culture of the time.

In the apse there is a sixteenth-century fresco. The bell tower, in Romanesque style, is traced back to the rebuilding of the church in the 11th century; finally the work The Holy Family by Teodoro Ghisi, once present in this church, is now located in the church of Santa Maria in Castello a Viadana, donated to his parish priest in the last century as a reward for having directed the restoration work of the parish church of Belforte. 

• Casa Bergamaschi ex Gonzaga. Ludovico Gonzaga, second Marquis of Mantua, had it built in the second half of the fifteenth century as a summer residence, then surrounded by the waters of the Dugale. It represents the only remains of the Gonzaga family in Belforte.

In the following century it became the property of the Pico della Mirandola family, which was related to the Gonzagas. The palace owes its embellishment to the Pico family with paintings and frescoes with a Raphaelesque flavor, which have been partially brought to light in modern times. The house took the name of Palazzo Picchi, from the Pico family who owned it until 1714, when they sold it to the Belfort family of the Bergamaschi.

The legend

A popular tradition recalls the existence in the house of the size well, in which it is said that girls were thrown and killed who were forced to submit to the whims of the noble and underground road, dug under the village, which is said to lead to the church of San Bartolomeo. 

• Valle Turchino Theater. It is a construction of the early twentieth century that underwent a complete renovation in 2000 by the property and the Municipal Administration, and is now used as a multipurpose room for the Belforte hamlet. 

in Pomara

• Loreto Oratory. Isolated on the road that leads from the hamlet of Pomara to Gazzuolo, surrounded by greenery, the Loreto Oratory has a small square in front, a soaring bell tower, a facade decorated with two pilasters on the sides of the entrance door, a string course that divides it to half the height, a gable that finishes it.

In the nineteenth century it was owned by the Raimondi family. A plaque placed at the base of the bell tower indicates the year of construction of the building in 1666; two other engravings, on a wall and on a cornice, reveal that in 18o2 the Oratory was rebuilt, and in 1808 it was raised.

The town of Pomara, to which the Loreto Oratory belongs, owes its name to the fact that here the Gonzagas had an apple orchard that produced a quality of knobs which were kept for a long time, making them suitable for building a food supply for the winter months, but also for supplies for the army during military campaigns. 

Events and parties

• Artists under the tree. Palm weekend. Exhibition of handicrafts. 
• Frog and donkey stew festival (in Belforte). Third week of July. 
• Fair of Holy Charity. First week of August. Various events and dinner under the stars. 
• Fried dumpling party (in Belforte). Third week of August. 
• The porch of ancient things, under the Gonzaga arcades. the second Sunday of the month. Small antiques, hobby and vintage market. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Average prices

• With Sunflower, Fraction Pomara 53 - 55 (in Pomara), ☎ 39 0376 924044. 
• Giannetto, via Belgioioso 52 (in Belforte), ☎ 39 0376 956204. 
• From Ginen, via Belgioioso 27 (in Belforte), ☎ 39 0376 956213. 
• The Golden Moon, via Roma 24, ☎ 39 0376 97444. 
• Paprika, Via Arisi 3, ☎ 39 0376 97621. 

Where stay

Average prices

• B&B La Marchesa, Viadanese road 5, ☎ 39 0376 97232. 

Safety

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 45.07023510.25846 Italian post, piazza Garibaldi 1, ☎ 39 0376 97134, fax: 39 0376 97134. 

Keep informed

• Oglio Po news. Computer newspaper of Oglio Po. 
• ^{[link not working]}The Envoy. Online newspaper of the province - Casalmaggiore Chronicle. 
• The province, Via Pozzi 15, ☎ 39 0375 200493, fax: 39 0375 201466. Daily newspaper - Casalmaggiore editorial staff. 

Around

• San Martino dall'Argine - The Gonzaga Porticoes magnificently frame Piazza Castello and part of the main street of the town, giving the center the characteristic physiognomy of the Gonzaga courts. It was the capital of a cadet branch of the Gonzagas who left their indelible urban imprint.
• Commessage - It was part of the principality of Sabbioneta; its tower housed Vespasiano Gonzaga during his stays in the town. Characteristic is its ancient pontoon bridge over the canal that runs along the town.
• Sabbioneta - City of foundation, UNESCO World Heritage Site, maintains the walls within which the magic of ideal urban planning by Vespasiano Gonzaga has remained intact; the Teatro all'Antica, the Palazzo Ducale, the Gallery, the Incoronata church are some of its monuments that stand out in a context that has been admirably preserved.
• 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 Gazzuolo river area is part of the South Oglio Park (headquarters in Calvatone), a protected regional area that extends from the Oglio Nord Park to the confluence with the Po. The river areas of the territories of Acquanegra sul Chiese • Canneto sull'Oglio • Casalromano • Marcaria • Ostiano • I want to on the left bank; Cocoon • Calvatone • Commessage • Halyard • Gazzuolo • Dovarese Island • Pessina Cremonese • Piadena • San Martino dall'Argine • Viadana on the right bank The area is affected by a cycle path of about 60 kilometers that winds through the interesting habitat of the countryside and the Oglio floodplains.
• Casatico (Marcaria) - It is the homeland of the famous scholar Baldassarre Castiglione, who was born here on December 6, 1478. Interesting Corte Castiglioni, built in the fifteenth century and remodeled in the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries.

Itineraries

• In the lands of the Gonzagas - An itinerary through the centers, large and small, which were the capitals of the Gonzaga cadet branches: principalities, marquisates, duchies which, within the Mantuan state structure, enjoyed real independence, often minted coins and held refined courts that rivaled that of Mantua, embellished their urban centers by equipping them with elegant architecture - churches, squares, palaces, walls, towers - and characteristic urban views such as the typical Gonzaga arcades.
• Rice road - The itinerary - to be carried out in particular from May to September - runs through the Mantua area dedicated to the cultivation of rice, between rivers and canals.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Gazzuolo
• Commons contains images or other files on Gazzuolo

Usable : the article respects the characteristics of a draft but in addition it contains enough information to allow a short visit to the city. Use i correctly listing (the right type in the right sections).