The ultimate city guide to Vigoleno, Italy
Geographically categorized as a fraction of the municipality of Vernasca, in the province of Piacenza, Vigoleno rises to the romantic Cinderella of the entire hinterland, constituting in all respects a village, and certainly not just anyone, considering its rightful registration on 14 September 2002 among the “Most beautiful villages in Italy”, a status conferred confirming a considerable architectural and historical heritage. The question arises: where exactly will such beauty reside?
The village and the Castle
We are in the presence of a fortified village that truly represents an exceptional historical monument, able to dominate the Piacenza area for its elegant appearance and for a system that has been able to resist the fickleness of history. The characteristic and unusual ellipsoidal shape is only the base constituting a marvel surrounded by imposing crenelated walls that can be traveled through a long walkway whose purpose for the tourist is the full and exhilarating admiration of the panorama of the immense Val Stirone.
The urban fabric stands as a prominent structure the sumptuous quadrangular keep (a melting pot of museum rooms containing historical documents and priceless photographs) equipped with loopholes, corbels and Ghibelline battlements, preceded by a “ravelin” functional as a fortification prelude to the entrance to the village, one it’s unique. The keep – a fundamental part of the medieval castle founded in the 10th century (where the Duchess Maria Ruspoli Grammont Hugo welcomed personalities of high intellectual stature such as Jean Cocteau, Elsa Maxwell and Gabriele D’Annunzio) – is not however the only tower present in the complex: the second (on which there is the ancient meridian of the south) is located near the residential area, in which the square of Vigoleno is central, overlooked by the native religious buildings.
What to see in Vigoleno
Let’s talk first of the Pieve di San Giorgio, of Romanesque origin and dating back to the twelfth century. Equipped with a triptych of aisles crowned by eight pillars with sculpted capitals, it has also undergone stylistic influences from the Baroque era and the more strictly Renaissance period, returning to its original layout thanks to the restoration carried out in 1963 to instill the original austere appearance.
The façade consists of a beautiful portal to which are added columns with leafy capitals and a lunette with a sculpture depicting San Giorgio, also present in a fresco in the apse together with San Benedetto, portrayed on a pillar instead.
The church also has a quadrangular bell tower surmounted by mullioned windows. The oratory of Santa Maria is a small eighteenth-century building not lacking, however, of elegance and interest, notable for its cross plan and the staircase on the square. Today the structure lends itself to numerous exhibitions, installations and concerts thanks to its almost perfect acoustics.
Events and festivals
Although small, the hamlet of Vigoleno does not renounce to preserve some long-standing tradition: the begging of the cantamaggio (a seasonal festival that pays homage to the expected arrival of spring after winter) sees on April 30 a group of singers bring the May wishes for the houses of the inhabited center, receiving as a sign of thanks eggs and other gifts dropped from the windows with the Cavagna hanging on a string.
Food and wine and typical products
The village, in short, has something to boast about and every year enchants hundreds of tourists, also aware of the fact that Vigoleno has been awarded the Orange Flag, recognized by the Italian Touring Club as a prestigious tourist and environmental quality brand that rewards various aspects of a site, including the cultural background, the receptivity, the hospitality and the ability to offer visitors typical genuine products such as, in this case, the renowned mushrooms, the Vezzolacca potato and the Vin santo di Vigoleno, a passito wine preserved in barrels of wood for not less than 5 years, with a limited production of approx. 2,500 bottles a year, one of the most incredible wines you can drink in your life.
More inflated but certainly not secondary delicacies are Parmigiano Reggiano, Parma ham, Piacenza coppa, Culatello di Zibello and rolled pancetta.
