Gussola - Gussola

Gussola is a center of the Lombardy.

To know

Geographical notes

Not far from the left bank of the Po river, in Lower Lombardy, in the interprovincial Casalasco Viadanese area - Oglio Po -. It is 7 kilometers from Casalmaggiore; 34 from Cremona; 16 from Viadana.

Background

Some scholars identify it with the Etruscan Vulturnia, others with the Roman Laguxola (Roman finds have been found in the Borgolieto area). It is certain that in past centuries two centers coexisted: Valdoria, perhaps the ancient Vulturnia, and Gussola, or Lacusculum or Lagoxola according to ancient documents. Gradually the oldest inhabited center, that of Valdoria, continually threatened by floods, was abandoned, and its inhabitants moved to nearby Gussola, which although near the river was however in a more sheltered position. Thus it was that Valdoria disappeared from history and lost its primacy over Gussola, which had been subject to the parish church of Valdoria until 1565.

Gussola was Byzantine, a Lombard center in feudal possession of the cathedral of Cremona, and then of the Bishop of Cremona until the 13th century. It was therefore of the Visconti, the Gonzagas, the Venetians, and finally from Milan. Since 1484 feud of the Carminati Bergamino with Martignana di Po is San Giovanni in Croce it enjoyed a certain prosperity, up to the French and Spanish military devastation of the sixteenth century. The fiefdom passed to Alfonso Pimentel.

These three centers were separated in 1623; San Giovanni in Croce passed to Cesare Vidoni; Gussola and Martignana constituted another fief that was sold to Giacomo Antonio Annoni, a family that kept it in possession until the nineteenth century.

Under the Austrian domination, with Maria Theresa of Austria the feudal bond was dissolved and the territory returned to the full availability of the Camera Regia of Milan.

How to orient yourself

How to get

By plane

The nearest airports are:

• Airport Giuseppe Verdi of Parma
• Airport Valerio Catullo of Verona
• Airport Gabriele D'Annunzio of Montichiari (BS)
• Airport Caravaggio of Orio al Serio (BG)
• Airport Guglielmo Marconi of Bologna

By car

It is crossed by the Provincial Low of CasalmaggioreCremona - Casalmaggiore, which connects it with the former state AsolanaParma - Casalmaggiore - Buttonhole - BresciaIt is connected with the former state Giuseppina Cremona - Casalmaggiore which passes a few kilometers to the north.

On the train

• Casalmaggiore station on the line Parma - Brescia

By bus

• It is served by the bus line Casalmaggiore - Cremona

How to get around

What see

Religious buildings

• Parish Church of the Beata Vergine Annunciata. It overlooks the main square in the center of the town. It dates back to the 12th century. The tower and apse are in Lombard Romanesque style. In 1565 it became the parish seat, replacing the ancient church of San Lorenzo, in Valdoria, which was demolished because it was now unsafe and continuously threatened by the floods of the Po. The current architectural structure is the result of the restoration carried out in the first half of the 16th century (according to what is reported is a panel of uncertain interpretation placed in the convex of the apse) of a previous building (corresponding to the current transept and to the middle of the sacristy leaning against the presbytery) with the traditional east-west orientation. As evidenced by the recent restorations, the presbytery, the naves and the chapels of the Rosary and of San Carlo were later grafted onto the pre-existing walls of the transept. The overall project was however the result of a unitary vision, as evidenced by the perfect planimetric symmetry that the church and the annexed buildings (bell tower and sacristy) came to assume at the end of the works. In the same years the bell tower was rebuilt, which has remained unchanged to this day.

Subsequent significant interventions:

• in 1724 the sacristy was enlarged reaching the current structure;
• in the second half of the 19th century, the neo-Gothic façade was restored with the arrangement of the five turrets and the central crescent window, which replaced a previous tripled window (identical to those still found in the major chapels);
• in 1860 work began for the enlargement of the church with the breaking through of the side chapels. This intervention, however, altered the original Latin cross architectural layout, took away momentum from the external façade, made the interior darker and led to the dismantling of the ancient, now worn altars. Of these only the altar of St. Anthony of Padua was relocated, of the others parts were reused for the construction of the altar of the Crucifix;
• between 1910 and 1913 prof. Pietro Verzetti painted the frescoes in the central nave, the presbytery (the sixteenth-century paintings that adorned it had been covered in the seventeenth century and are perhaps recoverable) and the canvases in the transept. To finance this work, however, several paintings in the church were sold, including the main altarpiece depicting theAnnunciation made by Marc’Antonio Ghislina and finished a few days before his death, and the altar canvas of St. Mary Magdalene, also by Ghislina.

Noteworthy are:

• the sacristy, the oldest part of the church, which has valuable 18th century cabinets and the fresco of the Madonna and Child, 16th century reconstruction of a previous painting, found during the dismantling of the altar of St. Mary Magdalene.
• the presbytery with the High Altar from the 1700s made of polychrome marble from Cremonese marble workers, and the wooden choir from 1780
• the Chapel of the Beata Vergine del Rosario: the cycle of frescoes (on the vault from the right Adoration of the Magi, Mary giving the Rosary, the Flight into Egypt, along the pillars and the vaulted arch are represented the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosary) is from the end of the 1600s, the Altar from around 1750,
• the Chapel of S. Carlo and SS. Relics: the current altar in polychrome marble is from 1735; the cycle of frescoes (on the vault from the right Angels with palms and crowns, Trinity in Glory, Miracle of St. Agata, on the left wall the Martyrdom of St. Agata) is from the end of the 1600s and later taken up by Ghislina.
• the pulpit dedicated to S. Lorenzo in inlaid polychrome marble dates back to 1730.
• the Baptismal Font in red Verona marble, from the second half of the 16th century
• the Chapel of St. Anthony of Padua: built in 1755 in Baroque style, the lacquered and gilded wooden ancona is from the 17th century.
• the canvases of St. Andrew the Apostle and St. Francis of Assisi, of Ghislina, and of St. John the Evangelist, unknown author, from the early 18th century; these canvases adorned their respective altars.
• the organ from 1826 with fine gilded carvings. 
• Parish house. 17th century building now home to the oratory. The ceiling of the central corridor is decorated with coffered, curiously from the rear wall protrudes a suspended latrine. As evidenced by a plaque still present, Duke Ferdinando Borbone of Parma stayed in this house for two days, who arrived in Gussola on 22 April 1779 to personally become aware of the current of the Po that threatened the territory of the Duchy of Parma. 

• Chapel of Our Lady of the Pillar. Also known as "Madonnina dell'Argine" and "Cappella dello Spagnolo", it stands as it is set in the embankment of the main embankment preceded by a long tree-lined avenue leading to the main square. It was erected in 1618 at the behest of Don Francisco de Mangas, representative of the Spanish authorities who governed the Duchy of Milan and who had a garrison stationed in the country. The original fresco, now almost indecipherable due to the advanced state of deterioration, depicts a Madonna and Child resting on a column (the "pilar" in fact). In its place a photographic reproduction of the copy on canvas made in 1780 by the local artist Giovan Battista Rossi has been placed. 

• Archpriest Church of San Benedetto (Borgolieto). From 1208 the documents speak of a church of San Benedetto in Borgolieto, but its history sinks into an older era, as evidenced by the findings of some Roman tombs which took place in 1882 in the field where the temple stands. Originally a subsidiary parish of Gussola, it was elevated to an autonomous parish in 1458 and remained so until its suppression in 1989.

The current Baroque appearance of the temple is due to the restructuring that took place in the years immediately preceding 1731, the year in which the church was rededicated. The interventions concerned the raising of the central nave, the roof with clawed vaults and in all probability the construction of the current facade which has a slightly concave shape. The internal pictorial decorations, on the other hand, are attributable to the early 1900s, perhaps contemporary with the construction of the new bell tower, on the occasion of which the church was again subject to restoration. Of the two figures painted on the side of the church overlooking the embankment, one of which depicts St. Benedict and both referable to the eighteenth-century restoration, today only a few indecipherable shreds remain.

Inside the church there is a precious Bossi organ from the 19th century, the main altar in marble, a wooden altar dedicated to the Madonna of Lourdes, four eighteenth-century paintings of which two ('' Rebecca al pozzo '' and '' Gesù e l 'adultera') recently attributed to the painter Marcantonio Ghislina who worked in Gussola in the last years of his life.

The bell tower was rebuilt in neo-Gothic style in 1912 in place of the previous one (built in 1478 following the elevation of the temple to a parish church) now considered "disproportionate" to the increased height of the church (in the documents it is often described as "square, squat and low ") and made unsafe by the instability of the ground following the persistent flood of the Po river in 1907.

In front of the church, the small portico that leads into the small Oratory of the Madonna del Carmine is perhaps the last remnant of a Benedictine cloister. 

The Church is currently not accessible due to the 2012 earthquake and has been repeatedly subjected to vandalism. An urgent restoration is awaited

Civil buildings and monuments

• Asylum “Monument to the Fallen. The establishment of the institute dates back to 1921 when a city committee was convinced that the best way to honor the Fallen was the construction of an asylum that the country needed. It was inaugurated on May 3, 1924 in the presence of the Hon. Farinacci. The commemorative chapel is located in the central turret.

The Fabbriceria della Chiesa donated the material resulting from the demolition of the nineteenth-century loggias that surrounded the churchyard on the western side (the loggia located to the east had previously been demolished to allow the transit of the Tram Cremona-Casalmaggiore, the so-called tramòn). 

• city ​​Hall. Palace of the second half of the nineteenth century with friezes that refer to the terracotta decorations of the Lombard Renaissance. : The porticoed atrium with Corinthian columns continues in a small loggia overlooking the internal courtyard. 
• Old Theater, Via Marconi. from the early 1900s. 
• Monument to Angelo Bergamonti. 

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Stately villas

• Villa Ferrari. The Villa dates back to the 18th century and is made up of two compact nuclei that join the porticoed and rear part of the building, suggesting an older period, late 16th century. The villa is linked to important noble families of Cremona: it was probably commissioned by Count Ludovico Magio, then passed to the Marquises Trecchi (owners of Palazzo Trecchi in Cremona) by female succession, to whom it belonged until 1887, when the residence was purchased. from the Ferrari family. The building is preceded by a large garden. 

• Villa Lodi Bodini. Originally belonging to the Marquis Magio, it was inherited by the Marquis Lodi Mora and finally to the Bodini family. Its appearance is that achieved between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The juxtaposition of the two lateral buildings raised from the level of the facade together with the arrangement of the access stairway reveal stylistic links with Venetian and Mantuan architecture. The portal of the facade is decorated with ashlars; the windows alternate with triangular gables and curved gables. On the tympanum and along the entire façade and on the lateral bodies, some pinnacles are shown as an ornament. 

• Ala Ponzone Palace - Casaglia (Borgolieto). The project was probably born in the early 1780s by the will of Gian Francesco Ala Ponzone as a residential building linked to the administration of his land properties. The designs of the Villa were presented in 1788 to the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence, and allowed the architect Luigi Bianzani (1757-1816) to obtain the title of associate professor.

The palace, built in the place where the Castello di Borgolieto (called "dell'Oca") stood, belonged to the Ala Ponzone until 1870, was then sold and divided into different properties, undergoing considerable interventions on the structure. From here begins the slow process that led to the very advanced state of decay of the building.

The central forepart formed by the architraved portico with coupled Doric columns, the loggia above with Ionic pilasters and archivolt openings and the tympanum at the top represents a beautiful example of neoclassical architecture. Overall, the neoclassical elements mixed with other pre-neoclassical ones are very numerous. The loggias that surmounted the lateral bodies (still visible in the postcard below) were demolished in the early 1900s, a period in which the total demolition of the unsafe right lateral body was then proceeded. In this photograph it is still possible to appreciate the balustrade attic that surrounded the entire top of the building in direct continuity with the open space of the arcades.

The arcade leads to the central hall, as high as the entire structure and ending with an imposing pavilion vault with an elliptical opening in the center (perhaps designed to be covered by a dome). A central staircase (demolished in the 1940s) led to a wooden gallery that allowed access to the rooms on the first floor and to the room above the portico which contains the most elaborate decorations.

The walls and ceilings of the east wing, all covered and supported by pavilion vaults, were richly decorated with stucco, with mainly floral motifs and linked to rural symbology (among these the "cycle of the Seasons" deserves a mention).

The 2012 earthquake caused the breakthrough of many of the ceilings of the east wing, of which only the perimeter and internal walls and shreds of vaults remain; some photographs taken at the beginning of 2000 and collected in the publication "Fragments of a building" constitute the only remaining testimony. 

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  Vault of the central hall

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• Farmhouse "La Cartiera". Beyond the main embankment, immersed in the protected oasis "Lancone di Gussola", it is possible to reach Cascina Palazzo (or Cascina Beretta), better known as the "Cartiera" (Cartèra in the local dialect), a typical example of a Lombard farmhouse with a closed court within which walls in the past lived numerous families of laborers. Built around 1830, it was for many decades the seat of the hunting reserve once present in the oxbow lake. Attached to the body of the building is the Oratory of S. Luigi Gonzaga, built in 1838 by the heir of Beretta.

The name Paper mill it is due to Senator Beniamino Donzelli (Treviglio, 1863 - Milan, 1952) who was an important entrepreneur in the paper sector. After World War II, the paper mill was the scene of a tough battle between Donzelli and the company's workers, culminating in the occupation of the same by the employees; the memory of the episode opens the film "The world of the last" by Gian Butturini, with shots taken inside the same paper mill. 

Events and parties

• San Lorenzo Fair. In the first ten days of August. 
• Patronal feast of Maria SS. Announced. March 25. 
• "Bergamonti" motorcycle rally. First Sunday of April. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Night clubs

• Fura night club, Via Gramsci 7. 

Where to eat

Average prices

• The Main Ouverte, Piazza Pezzali 21 (on the main road, towards Cremona), ☎ 39 0375 260787. 

Where stay

Safety

Pharmacy

• 45.011510.3458211 Guide, Via Roma, 221 / A, ☎ 39 0375 64033. 

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 45.00936510.3508282 Italian post, Comaschi Square 20, ☎ 39 0375 64043. 

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

• 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.
• Colorno - Its Royal Palace belonged to the Sanseverino family, then to the Farnese family, to Maria Luigia of Austria, to the Bourbons; it is by far the most important monument of this little Versailles Parma, which also offers a small but beautiful historic center, close to the Lorno stream that gives it its name and Parma, not far from the Po.
• 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.
• Parma - One of the major cities of art inEmilia, it maintains with great evidence the aspect, elegance and ways of life of a capital, as it was for centuries. The Farnese della Pilotta palace, the Romanesque Cathedral, the Steccata church are some of the monumental emergencies that characterize the city; of great fame his theater, his musical tradition (Giuseppe Verdi), his school of painting (Correggio, Parmigianino), his love for good food (Parma ham, salami, Parmigiano Reggiano, Lambrusco).

Lancone Oasis

In the vast floodplain area, a large expanse of land called Lancone it constitutes a protected area for the protection of the flora and fauna of the river. It represents a dead branch of the Po river that originated following the ruinous floods that followed one another in the eighteenth century (in particular that of 1778), which diverted the main course of the river, natural border with the Duchy of Parma, 3 kilometers further south (the strip of land included currently between the lancone and the river it is precisely called Bosco ex-Coltaro); since then the oxbow was first an active branch and then a secondary meander of the river.

Characteristics of the area are the wetlands with reeds (reed); other plants present are willows, poplars, alders.

Various species of birds find a favorable habitat in the Lancone: Mallard, Coot, Moorhen, Purple Heron, Little Bittern, Marsh Harrier, Green Reed Warbler, Salciaiola, Wood Pigeon, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Owl, Owl, Lodolaio, Sparrowhawk

During the migrations, the Lancone is populated by ducks and water birds that find a stopping point here: Teal, Wigeon, Pochard, Porciglione, Bittern, Buzzard, Kestrel, Common Crow.

Among the amphibians there are examples of Frog of Lataste (rare), Emerald Toad, Tree Frog

Some guided tours are planned during the year for LIPU members, groups and school groups. Contact the LIPU section of Cremona (telephone 39 0372 34076).

• Some of the animal species found in the Lancone of Gussola
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  Mallard

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  Common Crow

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  Green toad

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  Moorhen

• Friendly Nature Center. A little further south of the Lancone, in Valloni, there is the "Amica Nature Center" which carries out onotherapy programs and educational courses concerning flora and fauna typical of the lagoon area. The registered office is in via XX Settembre n. 50. More information on the association's website. 

• Maria-Luigia Island. Included in the Natura 2000 site, Maria Luigia Island is separated from the floodplain area by an oxbow lake (secondary branch of the river) connected to the river Po only in its eastern sector and separated from the river in its western section by the hydraulic defense brush. : The island can be reached using the Valloni road, then through the classic network of dirt roads for agricultural use.

The environment is characterized by running waters, oxbow lakes with slow or still waters, some "beaches" consisting mainly of open stretches of sand, uncultivated areas, residues of riparian woods and arboriculture plants. The tree species mainly represented are the white willow (Salix alba), the black poplar (Populus nigra), the white poplar (Populus alba), the field elm (Ulmus minor) and the English oak (Quercus robur). The island is a wildlife area used by many species, especially birds, for reproduction, for wintering and for resting during migrations.

For the mammalofauna there are: hedgehog (Erinaceus euroapaeus), fox (Vulpes vulpes), badger (Meles meles), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), weasel (Mustela nivalis), hare (Lepus europaeus), terrestrial vole (Arvicola terrestris) and l 'allochthonous nutria (Myocastor coypus). 

• PLIS Floodplain of the Po. in the recognition phase. 

• Rosalba lakes - Former Manini furnace. Ex-clay quarries that in the last century fed the nearby Manini forace (which "dominates" the area with the characteristic hanging chimney), now naturalized and equipped for amateur and competitive fishing activities. 

Itineraries

• Golena del Po cycle path (page 24)
• Historic villages of the Po - The itinerary, from west to east or vice versa, leads to know some historic villages that rise near the "great river".

Other projects

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

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).