• Menu
  • Skip to right header navigation
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Sos Italian – Learn Italian online

Online Italian lessons, Italian culture, Italian translation

  • About
    • Awards
  • Choose me
    • Online Italian Lessons
    • English > Italian Translations
    • Proofreading of Italian Texts
  • Resources
    • Teaching aids
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Translation
  • About
    • Awards
  • Choose me
    • Online Italian Lessons
    • English > Italian Translations
    • Proofreading of Italian Texts
  • Resources
    • Teaching aids
    • Teaching and Learning
    • Translation
  • Home
  • My Blog
  • Learn Italian
    • Test your Italian
    • Exercises
  • Italian books
    • Grammar books
  • Online Italian courses
  • Contacts
  • Subscribe
  • Home
  • My Blog
  • Learn Italian
    • Test your Italian
    • Exercises
  • Italian books
    • Grammar books
  • Online Italian courses
  • Contacts
  • Subscribe

Italian walled towns to see – Castell’Arquato

Last Modified: November 7, 2020

In Italy there are many walled towns that are worth a visit. I wrote about one of them, Brisighella, some weeks ago.
Today, I’d like to talk one of the many beautiful Italian walled towns: Castell’Arquato.

Castell’Arquato

Castell’Arquato is one of the most wonderful Italian walled towns in the province of Piacenza, in Emilia-Romagna.
Time there almost seems to have stopped.
Some of the things to visit in Castell’Arquato are the Visconti fortress and the Church of St. Maria Assunta.

Visconti Fortress

Visconti fortress was built in 1342 over a pre-existing building. In 1347 it was expanded by Luchino Visconti. The fortress was built on the highest hill for defensive purposes.
In the fortress, today, there’s a Medieval museum which hosts exhibitions of medieval culture and history.

Church of St. Maria Assunta

Another church existed where the church of St. Maria Assunta stands today. It appears that the old church was built around 758 and was then donated to the Bishop of Piacenza in 772.
However, it was damaged by an earthquake in 1117 and now no longer exists. At its place, the church of St. Maria Assunta was built. The church has many frescoes dating back to the XV century, and sculptures and capitals dating back to the XII century.
Next to the church there’s the Museum of the Collegiate Church. In it there are sacred furnishings, sculptures, paintings, silverware, etc.

Castell’Arquato is not the only place that is worth a visit. Indeed, nearby there are the towns of Chiaravalle and Velleia Romana.

Chiaravalle

Chiaravalle is a small town 20 minutes from Castell’Arquato. Chiaravalle is famous for its abbey, the Abbey of Chiaravalle that was built by monks in 1136.
During the years the abbey was sacked several times and, in 1805, the monks had to leave it under the order of Napoleon Buonaparte.
It was only in 1937 that they could go back.
One of the things that is worth mentioning inside the abbey is the sepulcher. It dates back to the 14th century and contains the remains of the first monks.
In the abbey you can also buy all the products that monks produce like honey, teas, perfumes, liqueurs, etc.

Velleia romana

Valleia Romana is a town not very far from Castell’Arquato. It’s an ancient roman city that was abandoned in the fifth century due to landslides.
Many archeological findings were found there like a bronze inscription, thermae, an amphitheatre, etc.
In Velleia there’s a museum, called the antiquarium, which hosts some of the archeological findings. You can see the majority of all the other archeological findings in Parma, in the national museum.


Credits

Original image by veerasantinithi

Related Posts:

  • Italian medieval towns: Castell’Arquato
    Italian medieval towns: Castell’Arquato
  • Three stunning walled cities in Italy
    Three stunning walled cities in Italy
  • Four beautiful Italian villages to visit
    Four beautiful Italian villages to visit

Category: TravelTag: Italy, visit Italy

Previous Post: « Appena or non appena? – What does appena means?
Next Post: Do you know how to use essere and avere? Essere and avere - differences»

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

sixteen − two =

Primary Sidebar

Italian grammar: beginner to advanced

Newsletter

Join my newsletter and get a piece of Italy delivered right into your inbox!

Learn Italian with my online courses

Sos Italian - Online Italian classes

Categories

  • Culture
  • English-Italian texts
  • Grammar
  • Italian food and drinks
  • Italian Language Certifications
  • Learn Italian
  • Learning
  • Teaching
  • Translation
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Archives

  • Popular

Footer

Terms and Conditions

© Copyright En

Privacy Policy

Termini e Condizioni

© Copyright It

P. Iva: 02736390028

Copyright © 2023

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookies should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.

3rd Party Cookies

This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.

This website uses Pixel Facebook to better measure, optimize, and retarget our marketing campaigns.

This website uses AdSense to enable an analysis of the use of the website and to allow third party vendors, including Google, to use cookies to serve ads based on a user’s prior visits to this website or other websites.

Keeping these cookies enabled helps us improve our website.

Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!

Cookie Policy

More information about our Privacy and Cookie Policy

Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance