Castell’Arquato is located in the first hills, a few km from the A1 motorway exit of Fiorenzuola d’Arda. Getting lost in its cobbled streets, admiring its noble palaces, stopping in one of its small squares arouses a unique sense of wonder: visiting Castell’Arquato is like taking a step back in time.
In addition to the Rocca Viscontea, the tower that dominates the village, you can visit the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, a fascinating Romanesque church and museums: Museo della Collegiata, Museo Geologico G.Cortesi, Museo Luigi Illica.
A few kilometers away, in the hamlet of Vigolo Marchese, you can also admire a Romanesque church and a unique rounded baptistery dedicated to San Giovanni.
Crossing the hills you can reach in a few minutes Vigoleno, a small fortified village surrounded by imposing crenellated walls overlooking the neighboring Val Stirone. You can visit both the Keep and the noble part, renovated in the ’20s by Princess Ruspoli to make it a very active social salon (among its guests: Gabriele D’Annunzio, Anna Pavlova, Mary Pickford and Max Ernst). The small parish church of San Giorgio and the Museum of the Orsanti (migrants who between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century earned their living as wandering bear trainers) complete the visit. The archaeological site of Veleia Romana is located on the hills between Morfasso and Lugagnano. Veleia was an important administrative center able to govern over a large area located between Parma, Piacenza and Lucca and a well-known spa. Today we can visit the remains of the forum, the “popular houses”, the baths, the basilica, and, in the small Antiquarium, admire a copy of the Tabula Alimentaria traianea, the largest bronze inscription in the whole Roman world.
In the upper Val d’Arda, in the territories of the municipality of Morfasso, you can follow in the footsteps of pilgrims on ancient paths, also used more recently by the partisans during the Second World War. The Museum of the Piacenza Resistance, located in Sperongia, is dedicated to them.
