The Lodigiano is the territory of the city of Praise in Lombardy.
To know
Geographical notes
Enclosed roughly between Adda, Addetta, Lambro and Po, the territory of Lodi is a fertile plain with intense agricultural activity that has had a certain industrial development since the 1950s, especially in the area north to the Milan area. TO San Colombano al Lambro the land rises in a slight hilly undulation of just over a hundred meters, a relief densely cultivated with vines, which produces D.O.C. and I.G.T., including red San Colombano.
Background
The area is historically homogeneous. The current Lodi Vecchio it stands on the site of the ancient proud Municipality of Lodi, which was razed to the ground by Barbarossa during the struggles between the Municipalities and the Empire. There Praise current corresponds to the city which was rebuilt by Barbarossa himself in 1158 with the name of Laus Nova, as the ancient Laus Pompeia had been destroyed.
Once the municipal freedoms ended and the Lordships arose, the territory was incorporated into the Duchy of Milan and always followed the fate of the Lombard metropolis. Administratively it maintained a good autonomy, constituting a provincial territory which for a certain period also included the Cremasco. The Unit downgraded it to the district of the province of Milan. The battles to recover provincial administrative autonomy never ceased, however, until the Lodi area achieved its goal by becoming an autonomous province again in 1992.
Territories and tourist destinations
Urban centers
- Praise - It has a remarkable monumental center, which certainly classifies it among the art cities of the Region.
- Abbadia Cerreto - To see its Lombard Romanesque church of San Pietro.
- Casalpusterlengo - Of the lost feudal castle it preserves a civic tower.
- Codogno - - Main city after Praise it is a commercial and industrial center. The sixteenth-century parish church preserves beautiful paintings.
- Lodi Vecchio - Of the ancient Laus Pompeia it preserves the Basilica of San Bassiano.
- San Colombano al Lambro - It is an agricultural center at the foot of low orographic corrugations; viticulture thrives in its countryside. It is named after the holy Irish monk who would have stopped here on his journey to Bobbio, where he would have founded the famous monastery.
- Sant'Angelo Lodigiano - Its castle, which has enjoyed a recent restoration, houses important art collections. In the past it was the southern bulwark of the Duchy of Milan.
Other destinations
How to get
By plane
They are Lombard airports:
- 1 Bergamo-Orio al Serio Airport (the Caravaggio), Via Aeroporto 13, Orio al Serio, ☎ 39 035 326323.
- 2 Milan-Malpensa Airport (MXP), Ferno. The airport has two terminals (T1 and T2), the second is used for low cost flights. The bus service Motorway connects the airport with Milan central station in about 50 minutes, while the Malpensa Express it connects Terminal 1 with Cadorna station (red and green line underground) in 40 minutes. The buses of the Sadem is Motorway reach the city of Turin (2 hours), while the company Foxes make a few trips for Genoa (3 hours).
- 3 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 that of 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
By car
The backbone of the Lodigiano road infrastructure are:
Autostrada del Sole, with exits Piacenza nord, Casalpusterlengo, Lodi, Melegnano.
State road 9 - Via Emilia
On the train
The stations of:
- Praise
- Tavazzano
- Secugnago
- Casalpusterlengo
- Maleo
- Codogno
On the Pavia-Cremona route:
- Casalpusterlengo
- Ospedaletto Lodigiano
- Codogno
- Maleo
How to get around
By bike
 | To learn more, see: Cycle tourism in Lombardy. |
What see
- Duomo (in Lodi). The historic center of the city of Praise contains its most important monuments. The Duomo of medieval origin dates back to the twelfth century, to the reconstruction of the city. Much remodeled, it has a facade where Gothic elements and Renaissance characters coexist. The interior, with a raised presbytery, has three naves and preserves fragments of frescoes from the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries.
- Broletto (in Lodi). The Broletto, near the Cathedral, dates back to the 13th century.
- Sanctuary of the Incoronata (in Lodi). The valuable Sanctuary of the Incoronata, the work of Giovanni Battagio and Gian Giacomo Dolcebuono from the years 1488 to 1494, is a pearl of the Lombard Renaissance. The octagonal interior is richly decorated; it has a majestic dome and an elegant loggia. In its basement is housed the Incoronata Museum, which preserves illuminated manuscripts and precious liturgical goldsmith objects.
- Basilica of San Bassiano (in Lodi Vecchio). Lodi Vecchio is the ancient one Laus Pompeia 8 km from Lodi, destroyed during the struggles between the Lombard municipalities and the Empire. Nothing remains of the Roman Municipium; the remarkable Basilica of San Bassiano survives from the medieval Laus, just outside the city, whose distant foundation is to be placed in the 4th century; fourteenth-century renovations have remodeled it in its current features.
- Parish Church of San Pietro (in Abbadia Cerreto). The parish church of San Pietro is what remains of the Abbey of Cerreto, founded in 1084. In Romanesque-Gothic style, it has a beautiful octagonal tower. It was built by the Benedictines, who kept it until 1131 when the Cistercian monks took over.
Of imposing structure, it has a Latin cross plan with a well pronounced transept. The bell tower rises at the intersection of the arms of the cross. The facade is preceded by a portico whose central part is projecting.
- Civic tower (in Casalpusterlengo). From its past the city preserves, as an imposing remnant of a feudal castle that provided it, an imposing civic tower which is its symbol.
- Villa Biancardi (in Casalpusterlengo, Zorlesco district). In the hamlet of Zorlesco the villa Biancardi is a beautiful example of a stately villa. Its vaguely turreted appearance brings to mind the memory of the castle that in other times the noble Vistarini family would have built in these lands that it owned from the time of Frederick Barbarossa.
- Churches of Codogno (in Codogno). In the Lodi area, Codogno is the second largest municipality by population Praise. It preserves a good number of churches from the past: the Church of the Graces, or of the Frari, the Church of San Teodoro, or del Cristo, the Church of the convent of San Giorgio, the parish church of San Biagio and Santa Maria Immacolata, the Sanctuary of the Madonna di Caravaggio.
- Codogno zootechnical fair (in Codogno). The Zootechnical Fair of Codogno, a city with an ancient agricultural and industrial vocation, is one of the most important in the Lombardy.
- San Colombano Castle (in San Colombano al Lambro). The holy monk Colombano stopped there on his way to Bobbio, where he founded a large monastery which was an important religious, cultural and political center; here he left his name to the town. Of its past the churches and the remains of a castle remain in the city which together with some ancient houses constitutes a small medieval village that has survived the ravages of time.
- Bolognini Castle (in Sant'Angelo Lodigiano). it was built in the thirteenth century by the lords of Milan as a military garrison especially against Lodi. Its warlike function was replaced in the following century with the new function of a noble residence intended for a summer stay by Regina della Scala, wife of Bernabò Visconti. The building was transformed into a luxurious princely residence. Restored in the early twentieth century, in 1933 it began to host the Morando Bolognini Foundation and the Museums: Morando Bolognini Museum; Bread Museum; Lombard Museum of Agricultural History.
What to do
At the table
The cuisine of the Lodi area has the common features of the more generically Lombard lowland cuisine. More specific dishes of the territory are the cannelloni alla lodigiana, verzata di luganeghe, busecchin. The local cheese is known from Lodi, as well as mascarpone and butter.
Drinks
The area boasts DOC wine San Colombano, which is produced at Graffignana it's at Sant'Angelo Lodigiano.
