Pellegrino Parmense - Pellegrino Parmense

Pellegrino Parmense is a center ofEmilia Romagna.

To know

It is known for its castle, which dominates the valley and the town, and is one of the most interesting stops on a hypothetical route among the castles of the Parma hills which also includes Bar of, Compiano, Scipio, Varano de 'Melegari, Torrechiara, Corniglio. It is 28 km away. from Fidenza, 38 from Parma.

Geographical notes

It is located in Val Ceno, on the Parma hills.

Background

The first written documents testify to the assignment of the Pellegrino fief by the Emperor Otto II to the Marquis Adalberto Pallavicino, founder of the family established between Parma and Piacenza. Since then all the local events were centered on the presence of the Castle, whose silhouette stands out against the inhabited center.

The religious presence marks the territory peculiarly. The testimony of the Franciscan settlement in Pellegrino is already from the early fifteenth century, but more generally for centuries the area represented a point of great historical-religious interest by virtue of the presence of the important Sanctuary of Careno, an extraordinarily poetic architectural episode, with its side arcaded spaces unequivocally linked to pilgrimages.

At the center of the historic core of Pellegrino Parmense in the fifteenth century there was also a Franciscan convent with an adjoining church, which was later suppressed.

The civil events speak of struggles for the possession of this strategic area for the control of the communication and trade routes with Liguria and Tuscany, and also as a transit area for pilgrimages to Rome. Feud of the Pallavicino family, then of Niccolò Piccinino, of the Sforza, of the Meli Lupi, Pellegrino Parmense finally entered the orbit of the Duchy of Parma and its destiny followed.

How to orient yourself

Neighborhoods

The territory of Pellegrino Parmense also includes the villages of Aione di Sopra, Aione Sotto, Berzieri, Besozzola, Casalino, Castellaro, Cavallo, Ceriato Lobbia, Grotta, Iggio, Mariano Case-Dell'Asta, Marubbi, Montanari, Pietra Nera, Pietraspaccata, Rigollo, Sant'Antonio, Santini, Stuzzano, Varone, Vigoleni

How to get

By plane

• 44.821810.296031 Parma airport (G. Verdi), Via Emilia - Golese locality, ☎ 39 0521 951511. 
• 44.5352811.291162 Bologna airport (G.Marconi), Via Triumvirato 84, ☎ 39 051 6479615. 

By car

Tollbooth of Fornovo di Taro on the highway of the CisaParma - Spice

• • • Provincial road 359 of Salsomaggiore Terme - Bar of

• • • Provincial road 109 Valle Stirone

• • • Provincial road 30 Varano de 'Melegari - Pellegrino Parmense

On the train

• • • Salsomaggiore Terme Train Station (17 km)

By bus

• • TEP bus line Salsomaggiore Terme - Pellegrino Parmense

How to get around

What see

• 44.7300569.9243611 Pallavicino Castle, Via Roma 20, ☎ 39 0524 594665, @[email protected]. it can be visited for groups by reservation only. It was built in a dominant position on a hill to control and defend the valley, probably in 981 by Adalberto di Baden, progenitor of the Pallavicino family. For a long time it was disputed between Guelph Parma and Ghibelline Piacenza; in 1303 the Parma army unnecessarily besieged it. A subsequent series of assaults that were never successful was interrupted in 1428 when Niccolò Piccinino was sent by the Visconti to conquer it. Having taken the castle, he became Count of the Pellegrino fief and had the walls widened so as to include the noble houses, the church of Saints Abdon and Sennen as well as an area for the refuge of the population.

Later the fortress passed to the Sforza, the Fogliani, the Meli Lupi di Soragna; then several other changes of ownership followed, and to this day it is still a private residence. It can be visited by appointment.

The legend

The ghost called is related to the castle The Pilgrim Fairy, which for a long time was revealed exclusively to the castellans. It is from 1827 that the phenomenon becomes mass. The chronicles report that the population of Pellegrino gathered outside the castle to see the ghost that appeared to many people all white, placed under the mantle that covers it all: shoulders, neck and head.

The Ducal Dragons of Parma were sent to the place and the Mayors of the surrounding villages were asked to intervene, to prevent the matter from degenerating or being transformed into apparitions of the Madonna. A college of mayors claimed to have personally ascertained that there were no ghost demonstrations. The collective visions ceased.

Periodically, however, the Pilgrim Fairy someone still shows up ..... 

• Parish Church of San Giuseppe

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  Wooden statues

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  Last Supper

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  (Walter Benecchi)

At the center of the village stands the parish church dedicated to San Giuseppe. It is a modern building dating back to 1915, the year the works began, and finished in 1927. Despite its modernity, however, its construction in imitation of the Romanesque style, its elevated position on top of a staircase and its height make it a good glance.

The façade is divided into three parts by four pilasters which underline the three naves. Hanging arches at the top and three rosettes above each portal enliven the surface. A balustrade delimits the churchyard, from which you descend into the small square in front of it via a bipartite staircase.

The interior retains a Last Supper, a work of wooden sculpture by the contemporary artist Walter Benecchi. The almost natural-sized statues of Jesus and the Apostles are placed on the high altar.

• Former Convent of San Francesco

At the center of the historic core of Pellegrino Parmense, along the central axis of via Roma at the corner with via San Francesco d'Assisi, stands the ancient former Franciscan convent, almost certainly dating back to the fifteenth century. Archival sources in fact identify San Bernardino da Siena as the founder in Pellegrino of a monastery of Frati Minori Conventuali in 1424. The convent, which seems to have been annexed to a church of much earlier time and dedicated to San Francesco, was then suppressed in 1804 during the French domination. From 1879 and during the twentieth century the building housed the Vittorio Emanuele II Hospital, whose activity ceased a few years ago, its ownership being transferred first to the Emilia Romagna Region and then to the municipal administration, which has created a pleasant hostel .

In Careno

Careno is a small town in the municipality of Pellegrino Parmense known for its very popular Sanctuary and for the very crowded feast of the Assumption which is celebrated every year in August.

• Sanctuary of the Beata Vergine Assunta.
  

An ancient inscription existing on the entrance lintel of the church (today no longer legible) dates its foundation to the year 1044, while the first mention on a written document is from 1230, in which it is indicated as dependent on the Pieve di Serravalle La primitiva Romanesque church probably had to be remodeled in the 13th century. In the second half of the fifteenth century an extension was started, which transformed it from a church with a single nave to a temple with three naves. Madonna and Child with San Rocco, Two Saints, God the Father in almond.

The facade is divided into three parts by four pilasters; hanging arches surmount the mirrors. In the eighteenth century, two porticoes were added on the sides to shelter the pilgrims who still flock today. The churchyard is enclosed by a perimeter wall. On August 15 of each year the seventeenth-century wooden statue of the Madonna, kept in the church, is carried in procession in the surrounding fields.

In 1902 the Bishop of Parma granted the title of Sanctuary to the church of Careno. The Madonna venerated in this church is commonly called Madonna of the Fools because it is invoked above all to solve problems related to disorders of nervous origin. There are numerous ex-votos preserved in the building. 

In Iggio

Iggio is a fraction of Pellegrino Parmense about six kilometers from the capital. The small village has just under 400 inhabitants and celebrates the patron saint San Martino di Tours on 11 November.

• Parish church of San Martino Vescovo. The parish church of Iggio has remote origins. It was born as a parish church and in 1040 a document lists numerous chapels under its jurisdiction. Subject to repeated building interventions, it retains little of the original Romanesque building. Its current appearance corresponds to the radical interventions of the second half of the eighteenth century. The last restorations of 1924 brought to light Romanesque bas-reliefs of the ancient church, which were incorporated into the entrance portal.

The building with a central Greek cross plan and the title to the Saint of Tours, much venerated in the Lombard period, reaffirm the antiquity of its foundation. In the Romanesque remains we note the figure of a bird, perhaps a dove, a processional cross, a praying figure as well as stylized flowers and ornaments.

On the western side a small splayed portal shows stylized trees in the arch, a chalice, leaf and diamond decorations engraved in local stone, dating back to the 12th century. La Pieve took advantage of its position along the road that connected the routes from Bar of to Varsi with Berceto and the Via Francigena.

The legend

An ancient legend, documented since the fifteenth century, tells us that in the territory of the Pieve di Isso, precisely the Chapel of Santa Cristina (no longer existing), every year after the anniversary of the Holy flying ants appeared in large quantities on the mountain around the church . After two weeks they then headed to Monte delle Formiche where they went to die around the Sanctuary of Santa Maria di Zena. The dead ants, present by the thousands and thousands, were collected, blessed and distributed to the faithful. No one was ever able to explain what arcane mystery was hidden behind this strange behavior of the insects nor what link there was between this church and the distant Santa Maria di Zena in the Bologna area, where the phenomenon of winged ants mass suicide still occurs. 

Events and parties

• Traditional Bread Festival. It takes place every year at the beginning of June and involves the whole town and its shops. It is proposed to underline the importance of this ancient and essential food by rediscovering its traditional and artisanal characteristics. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

Where to eat

Moderate prices

• 44.7336429.92681 ^{[link not working]}The Old Barracks, via Roma 37 (in the center), ☎ 39 0524594945, @[email protected]. Pizza and osteria with kitchen 

Where stay

Moderate prices

• ^{[link not working]}Hostel of San Francesco, Via Roma, 33, ☎ 39 0524 64800, 39 3483975974, fax: 39 0524 64800, @[email protected]. 
• Sun, via Garibaldi 14, ☎ 39 052464304, fax: 39 052464304. 2 stars. 

Average prices

• La Quercia hotel, via 1 May 24, ☎ 39 0524594946, fax: 39 0524594684. 
• Le Ginestre Pighouse, Varone-Salsomaggiore road 58 (in the Pietraspaccata district), ☎ 39 052464170, fax: 39 0524594614. 

Safety

Pharmacy

• 44.7315689.929663 St. Joseph, Via Micheli, 1 / a, ☎ 39 0524 64235. 

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 44.7336249.926844 Italian post, Berzieri Square 2, ☎ 39 0524 64740, fax: 39 0524 64740. 

Around

• 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.
• Berceto - Its imposing Cathedral of ancient Romanesque foundation was one of the most important stops on the Via Francigena; ruins of the Rossi castle remain. The town retains a historic center with ancient prestigious buildings; it is an important service, trade and holiday center on the Cisa Pass road.
• Fidenza - The Cathedral of San Donnino, cathedral of the diocese, is rightfully included in the category of the great Romanesque cathedrals of Emilia, for example those of Parma and of Modena; it boasts an unfinished façade with statues and bas-reliefs by Benedetto Antelami and his school.
• Parma - One of the major cities of art inEmilia, 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).
• Salsomaggiore Terme

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.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning Pellegrino Parmense
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