A table full of delicacies at Tanamalia.
The charming town of Lizzano in Belvedere is mostly known for the Corno alle Scale regional park. The park has been a ski resort for many decades, but climate change raises the question of how long it will remain so (the owner of our agriturismo openly doubted its future). However, we did not visit the town in winter, but in summer, with temperatures of well over thirty degrees. When you are this high up in the Apennines, it is usually still quite a long drive to supermarkets and restaurants, and the main reason for our visit to Lizzano was the presence of a restaurant that we really liked. I am referring to the restaurant of Albergo Piccolo Hotel Tanamalia. We went to eat there multiple times, and each time the terrace outside was loaded with people. It is therefore highly recommended to make a reservation. The restaurant adjoins a lively piazza where often activities are held during the summer, such as an open-air disco for children.
One conspicuous building in Lizzano is the church of San Mamante. With its honey-sweet pink façade it seems to come straight from a Disney movie. The church is dedicated to Saint Mammas of Caesarea. He was a child martyr from the third century from present-day Kayseri in Turkey. According to tradition he was thrown to the lions, but these animals refused to tear him to shreds. Accompanied by a lion, Mammas subsequently preached to the birds, like some sort of Saint Franciscus of Assisi avant la lettre. Ultimately Mammas was martyred after all. The church of San Mamante is not very old: the current church building dates from 1931. It replaced an older church that was presumably built somewhere in the early Middle Ages. The dedication to an eastern saint and the construction in the Byzantine style betray a connection with the Byzantine exarchate of Ravenna (ca. 550-751).
Church of San Mamante.
Side view of the church.
View of Lizzano in Belvedere.
Delùbro, or Longobard baptistery.
Visitors will not find any interesting art in the San Mamante, but the circular building behind the church is intriguing. It is called the Delùbro, a word that means something along the lines of “sanctuary” or “temple”. The building is presumably a baptistery from the Longobard era. In 568 the Longobards under their king Alboin invaded Italy and conquered large parts of the peninsula which had previously been under the control of the emperor in Constantinople. The invaders also captured Lizzano. Between 749 and 756 the Longobard kingdom was ruled by Aistulf, whose biggest feat was the capture of Ravenna in 751. In 753 the king donated sizeable territories to the abbey of Nonantola (near Modena), which had just been founded at the time. Lizzano was part of the donation. It is quite conceivable that the baptistery dates from this era, so from the second half of the eighth century.
We were staying at an agriturismo some four kilometres outside Lizzano, at a location where the Apennines are at their most beautiful. Not far from our apartment there was an old bell-tower on a hill. We researched its origins, and it turned out to have once been part of a fortress, the Rocca Corneto. This fortress had been built in the fourteenth century on the orders of the Senate of Bologna to protect the borders of Bolognese territory. One immediately understands why the Senate chose this location, as the view here is truly phenomenal. The bell-tower is close to the small church of San Martino. This church can be visited, but it houses no genuine artistic treasures. The one true treasure here is the view.
Bell-tower, once part of the Rocca Corneto.
Bell-tower and church of San Martino.
The Apennines.