San Martino del Lago - San Martino del Lago

San Martino del Lago is a center of the Lombardy.

To know

An eminently agricultural country, it recently (July 2012) equipped itself with a large racetrack [1], one of the largest sports facilities, second in Lombardy and fifth in Italy, in frieze on the provincial road GiuseppinaCremona - Casalmaggiore.

Geographical notes

San Martino del Lago is located in the Lombard Po Valley, in the District Oglio Po casalasco viadanese, 15 kilometers from Casalmaggiore, 26 from Cremona, 25 from Viadana, 45 from Mantua. Its territory is bathed by the Cingia canal and the Dugale Navarolo, which make the cultivation of its fertile countryside particularly easy.

Background

The town, located on one of the alluvial terraces of the Po, rises on a territory affected by the culture of the terramare (finds in the nearby Piadena is San Giovanni in Croce, visible at the Museum of Piadena) already affected by the Etruscan then Celtic influence. Starting from the second century. B.C. its territory was affected by Roman agricultural properties, subject to centuriation in the Republican era but reassigned to the veterans of Ottaviano after 40 BC. (Episode quoted by Virgil in his writings). San Martino al Lago owes its name to the presence in the past of the Martinian monks, who erected a monastery there in the eighth century, even if the dedication to Sant'Agata presupposes the presence of elements of Germanic origin, which for many centuries remained faithful to the cult. Aryan, as a sign of cultural specificity and independence. The addition of the lake handed down the memory of the existence of Lake Delmona, which once covered a large part of its territory crossed by the Navarolo, a watercourse buried in 1927 with a water lifting and reclamation system still existing today in the nearby Castelponzone. According to some historians, such as Ugo Gualazzini and before him Don Parazzi da Viadana, the canal that disappeared in medieval times (after the construction of the Muzza by the Lodigiani) could be that branch of the Adda cited several times by Tacitus in his Stories, a source of primary importance for the study of places. San Martino al Lago was certainly interested, as well as the nearby Roman center of Bedriacum (Calvatone, S. Andrea locality) from the clashes between legions that followed one another in 69 AD. in the bloody struggle for the conquest of power between Otho, Vitellius and Galba which caused the destruction and looting of Cremona and the deportation of almost all of its inhabitants as spoils of war. In the Lombard period, San Martino was the baptismal church of the Cremona countryside, and remained for centuries under the influence of the Duchy of Brescia, as evidenced by various acts of exchange and medieval parchments preserved in the state archives of Cremona and in the archives of St.Pietroburgo, where they arrived in circumstances not entirely clear after the end of the Second World War. The Lombard occupation that followed that of Alamanni and Goti, used as mercenaries in the late Roman period, left many traces both in the customs, in the customs, in the foods (boiled, the use of butter) and in the particular dialect spoken by the people of the area. Interested on several occasions by the passage of troops from the German area (Federico Barbarossa and his troops had their most trusted vassals in northern Italy in the Cremona area), on the natural route Brenner-Verona - passages on the Po. Route used by German troops in withdrawn until May 1945.During the Middle Ages, as well as many neighboring towns, it became part of the Feud of the Ponzone family, which had its main center in the nearby Castelponzone, a valuable village where many of the medieval structures of the ancient castle from the 1300s are preserved, which was destroyed during the 1600s by the French fighting against the Spanish dominance in the area. In the thirteenth century San Martino was exempted from the taxes due to the Municipality of Cremona; it then became Venetian in 1524, when the Serenissima took possession of these lands between Oglio and Po. It was marginally affected by the invasion of the Gonzaga troops who snatched many territories on the left bank of the Oglio from the Cremonese during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. belonging to the Cremonese Diocese (Rivarolo, Viadana, Sabbioneta), returned to the Milanese orbit during the 1600s, to Lombardy-Venetia and finally to reunified Italy.

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)

By car

Near the provincial GiuseppinaCremona - Casalmaggiore, on which it has its own junction, it can also be reached from the south from the provincial road Bassa di Casalmaggiore, through Scandolara Ravara is Castelponzone.

The nearest motorway exit is that of Parma on the Autostrada del Sole

On the train

• Station a San Giovanni in Croce on the line Parma - Brescia
• Station a Piadena on the line Cremona - Mantua

By bus

• Casalmaggiore - Cremona bus line

How to get around

What see

• 45.07769710.3324921 Sanctuary of Caruberto. This sanctuary church stands out in the green countryside, far from the inhabited nucleus of Caruberto, in the territory of San Martino del Lago. Its Po Valley Gothic structure, common to the Casalasca architecture of the mid-fifteenth century of many religious buildings, too large in relation to the smallness of the villagers, testifies to the great devotion of the people of the area. The choir is covered by a vault, as in the small room used as a sacristy, which has a cross-shaped face with ribs. The only nave has a flat ceiling, supported by joists that act as reinforcement but also as decoration. The ceiling is an eighteenth-century work, which covers the original exposed beams. At that time the rose window of the facade was closed, cut from the new ceiling, and a window was opened in its place to give light to the interior. The bell tower is an addition from 1847, built on a portico adjacent to the building, and is about fifteen meters high. The façade is gabled, with a typical decoration of hanging arches that runs along the entire upper part.

The church is dedicated to Santa Maria Nascente, and surprisingly reveals numerous frescoes inside, about forty, almost all of Marian inspiration and by unknown and different authors, probably commissioned as ex voto. Some scholars place them towards the end of the fifteenth century; others give a much earlier dating. The ensemble brings to mind the paintings of the Old Church of Scandolara Ravara, which is located a short distance away (2 kilometers).

The frescoes, which covered all the walls of the church, down to the floor, were covered by a total whitewashing, almost certainly as a result of some pestilence, as was the custom. They were rediscovered and brought to light in the years between 1920 and 1930, with a recovery work often carried out inadequately, so that much has been saved, but much has deteriorated. Add to the wear and tear also due to the humidity of the environment, which fortunately in recent years is periodically ventilated precisely to keep the walls and paints dry.

To the damage of time and climate must be added the nefarious interventions carried out in the first half of the twentieth century, when niches were created along the walls to house statues of saints, niches that destroyed large surfaces of frescoes.

The depiction of the Madonna almost entirely follows the same pattern: the Virgin sitting with the Child on her lap caressing the face of the Mother or sucking the milk: the latter iconography that finds many other representations in the Casalasca area, as well as in the most important Marian sanctuary , the Madonna of the Fountain of Casalmaggiore. It should be noted that in several of these Marian figures the hands of the Madonna very much recall the characteristic of the so-called fork hands, with a Byzantine flavor. One fresco portrays a pilgrim, another a saint. Of considerable interest and of good workmanship a Christ at the column, which tells us about the torture of Jesus. Very important is the well that rises in the house next to the Sanctuary, made of bricks, an element that is repeated in various sacred places in the area, linked to the cult of waters and sources of pre- Christian. (Sanctuary of Santa Maria della Fontana, Casalmaggiore). A cult that survives in the Lombard period associated with a female divinity protector of the waters, the springs and the birth, to which the Lombards were very attached, to which the figure of Saint Lucia will later be associated. It is no coincidence that Caruberto, just as the territory of San Martino ad Lacus rises on the lines of the two Roman centuriations that affect the area, located a short distance from the important Via Postumia built in the Republican era that connected Genoa with Aquileia, a formidable Roman garrison against the Insubri Celts. The Cremona area was in fact the first Roman garrison north of the Po with its head Cremona, a Roman city built in 218 BC. In the territory of San Martino al Lago there is also Villa Talamazzi, today little more than a farmhouse, whose name refers to the presence of rowers from the Greek Talamos. According to the eminent Cremonese historian Ugo Gualazzini, the etymology indicates the presence of border structures from the Roman-Barbarian age, a crucial moment in the history of the entire Po area. Here, in fact, both the border between the Goths and the Byzantines had to pass, during the events of the Gothic War of the 5th century AD. than that relating to the subsequent Lombard invasion. Cremona, and other Roman-Byzantine garrisons on the Po, resisted the barbarians for half a century until 603, when King Agigulfo, aided by Turco-Avare troops, after two months of siege, put an end to the westernmost of the Byzantine garrisons forever, delivering the eastern Cremona territory to the Lombard Duchy of Brixia.

Very interesting in the vicinity is the San Faustino and Jovita farmhouse, in the territory of Castelponzone, placed on a Roman decumanus. Here a legend very present in the oral sources of the elders of the area recalls the nocturnal flight of the two Roman priests Faustino and Jovita (from a follower of Jupiter, then a former pagan priest) martyrs under the emperor Decius, during the terrible Christian persecutions of the 3rd century . A.D. Arrived in the Cremonese town on the run from Brescia during the night, they would find the doors closed by the frightened inhabitants. In this area they were captured by Roman soldiers who brought them back to Brescia where they were martyred. San Faustino is the current saint of Brescia and the so-called gate is the one that faced south, towards San Martino del Lago. 

• 45.071710.31432 Parish Church of Sant'Agata. Built in the late eighteenth century on a project by the architect Luigi Voghera, it was financed with a large bequest. Inside it has four side chapels, with late eighteenth-century decorations by the painter Giovanni Motta. It also houses an eighteenth-century canvas by Giacomo Guerini depicting Sant'Agata, as well as a crucifix and a wooden reliquary dating back to the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. 
• La Villa - farmhouse in Ca 'de' Soresini. 

Events and parties

• Patronal feast of Sant'Agata. on February 5. 
• Feast of San Pietro. at the end of April. 

What to do

Shopping

How to have fun

The large sports facility of the San Martino circuit[2], track for cars, motorcycles, karts; it is a new large facility, with annexed notable commercial and sports facilities. The San Martino del Lago racetrack is a multifunctional structure, with a track of almost four kilometers and a kart track. It is the second racetrack in Lombardy and fifth in Italy for length after Mugello, Monza, Misano and Vallelunga.

• San Martino circuit, Strada Giuseppina, 2 (on the provincial Giuseppina Casalmaggiore - Cremona, adjacent to the exit for the town), ☎ 39 0375 323005, @[email protected]. 

Where to eat

Average prices

• The Ganascino, via Roma 1 (in town), ☎ 39 0375 350275. 
• Circuit restaurant, via Giuseppina 2 (on the Provincial Giuseppina), ☎ 39 0375 323006. 
• ^{[link not working]}Ai Due Galli, via Roma, 13 (in town), ☎ 39 345 4236699, @[email protected]. 

Where stay

• ^{[link not working]}Ai Due Galli, via Roma 13 (in town), ☎ 39 345 4236699, @[email protected]. 

Safety

How to keep in touch

Post office

• 45.0713110.3156191 Italian post, piazza Italia 3, ☎ 39 0375 95188. 

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

• Castelponzone - The country of rope makers, to which the local museum is dedicated, has maintained its appearance of an old Po Valley center with porticoes; in its urban planning you can guess the design of the fortifications it once had, when it was a feud and Castle of the Ponzone. It is part of the most beautiful villages in Italy.
• Scandolara Ravara - The Old church, of Romanesque origin, isolated at the end of the village near the cemetery, contains a surprising treasure of frescoes and is one of the most important examples of the period in the area ofOglio Po.
• San Giovanni in Croce - Villa Medici del Vascello is the castle of the Lady of the Ermine of the famous painting by Leonardo da Vinci. It was Cecilia Gallerani, the Lady of the portrait, who began her transformation from a military structure to a stately home, lightening the warlike aspect of its primitive fifteenth-century foundation. The Villa is surrounded by a large park and a high wall that does not prevent you from seeing its elegant beauty.
• Casteldidone - Villa Mina della Scala is a fascinating castle building that embodies the grandeur of the castle and the elegance of the villa. Built in the sixteenth century, remodeled in the seventeenth century and then in the eighteenth century, the castle that became a palace and villa still looks majestic and fascinating in the countryside of Casteldidone, not far from the other splendid villa - castle of San Giovanni in Croce.
• Casalmaggiore - Capital of Casalasco, protected by mighty embankments, the city develops parallel to the bed of the Po. The wide breath of the main square, the undeniable majesty of the Town Hall and the Cathedral reveal its character as an important center of the Bassa. The Sanctuary of the Madonna della Fontana, the church of Santa Chiara, the church of the Hospital are among its outstanding monuments.

Other projects

• Wikipedia contains an entry concerning San Martino del Lago
• Commons contains images or other files on San Martino del Lago

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).