Emilia-Romagna: Castell’Arquato

From our hotel in Piacenza it was a 35-minute drive to the picturesque town of Castell’Arquato. The town was highly praised in our travel guide because of its beauty and panoramic views, and once we had arrived, we concluded that every word in the guide was true. Those who want to visit Castell’Arquato basically have two options. The first is to park their cars in the lower part of town and then climb the hill to the historical centre, located in the higher part. Because it was very hot that day, we decided to go for the second option: we took our car up the hill and parked at the large car park P4 next to the cemetery. From here one already has a splendid view of the green landscape and the light blue Arda river. From the car park it is just a 5-minute walk to the central square of Castell’Arquato, the Piazza del Municipio. Here we find the three highlights of the town: the Palazzo del Podestà, the Rocca Viscontea and the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta.

The Palazzo del Podestà was built at the end of the thirteenth century on the orders of Alberto Scotti. Between 1290 and 1313 he was, intermittently, lord of Piacenza. His family claimed to have been descended from a Scotsman who, in the eighth century, had fought in the ranks of Charlemagne against Desiderius, the last king of the Longobards in Italy. The story was nonsense of course, but rich and prestigious families often made up illustrious ancestors. Alberto Scotti was ultimately expelled from Piacenza by the Visconti of Milan, but managed to hold out at Castell’Arquato for a few more years. He was nevertheless captured there in 1317 and died the next year in Crema. His sarcophagus in the church of San Giovanni in Canale in Piacenza (not used for him in the end) has been discussed previously on this website. Alberto Scotti was just one of many rulers of Castell’Arquato. He was succeeded by the Milanese Visconti and the Sforza family from Santa Fiora, a small county in the south of Tuscany. The founder of this county was Bosio Sforza, half-brother of Francesco I Sforza, Duke of Milan (1450-1466). In 1707 Castell’Arquato was added to the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza.

Opposite the Palazzo del Podestà stands the Rocca Viscontea, the citadel of the town. It was built in 1343 by Luchino Visconti, who was lord of Milan between 1339 and 1349. The Visconti were Ghibellines, supporters of the Holy Roman emperor, as is evidenced by the shape of the battlements of the citadel: these have the shape of a swallow’s tail. The same by the way holds true for the battlements of the Palazzo del Podestà. Famous condottieri such as Niccolò Piccinino (1386-1444) and Bartolomeo Colleoni (1395-1475) served as lords of Castell’Arquato and made use of the castle, until it was granted to the aforementioned Sforza of Santa Fiora in 1466. Only a part of the citadel can be visited, but the view from the high tower is spectacular. Apart from the highlights I already mentioned we can see, for instance, the eighteenth-century church of the Santissima Trinità and the Torrione Farnese, named after the Dukes of Parma and Piacenza. This large tower is next to the Palazzo del Duca, which was also commissioned by Alberto Scotti.

I personally consider the Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, the collegiate church of the town, to be the most splendid building in Castell’Arquato. The history of the church is said to go back to 758, when a certain Magnus (or Magno) ruled over Castell’Arquato and had a pieve (church with a baptismal font) erected there. The present church is, however, a Romanesque building from the first quarter of the twelfth century which was heavily remodelled in the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. The church still has its sandstone Romanesque façade, but of much greater interest is the loggia on the north side of the building, reconstructed at the start of the twentieth century (image on the right). Here we find, above the side entrance, a Romanesque tympanum with four figures. In the centre these are the Madonna and the Christ child, although Christ actually looks more like an adult. On the left we see the archangel Gabriel and on the right presumably Saint Peter the apostle (he is holding a key in his left hand). Below the tympanum there is a Latin text that, with a little help, I could decipher as:

NATA GERIT NATVM * DE SE SINE SEMINE CREATVM * EST PATER IHC NATVS * NATE DE VENTRE CREATVS

The text can be translated as: “the daughter bears the son, who is created from himself without semen, the son Jesus (or this son) is the Father, who came into existence in the belly of his daughter”. This is of course an extremely complicated theological statement, that would have been completely unintelligible for the average citizen of Castell’Arquato. The statement is related to the equation of Father and Son. As a consequence Jesus is Mary’s son, and she is simultaneously his mother and his daughter, because he is also the Father. I think Christianity has elements that are far more attractive than this kind of zealous nitpicking, but it cannot be denied that the text is intriguing. Note for instance the wordplay between NATVS and CREATVS, and the use of the word IHC (which in correct Latin should have been HIC), the first three letters of the name of Jesus in Greek.

Note the huge contrast in the church between the Baroque Cappella di San Giuseppe from 1630 and the gorgeous Cappella di Santa Caterina with its late medieval frescoes. These are dated to the beginning of the fifteenth century and they are attributed to an unknown master from the Tuscan school. In the eighteenth century they were covered by plaster, but they were rediscovered during the large renovation at the start of the twentieth century. Fortunately the state of preservation of the frescoes is fairly good. Some are about the life of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, other about the Passion of Christ. The large central fresco represents the Dormition of the Virgin (dormitio Virginis), with above it a representation of the Virgin in Heaven, sitting on her son Christ’s lap, who is also her father God. The throne of Christ is surrounded by angels making music. On the vault of the chapel the four evangelists and their respective symbols have been depicted. The cloister next to the church has a small museum that can be visited for free. Among other things we can admire a Gothic polyptych in the Lombard-Emilian style here.

More about Castell’Arquato: Evert de Rooij, Emilia-Romagna, p. 38-39.