Castell'Arquato: the Perfect Medieval Piazza and the Fossils of an Ancient Sea

A medieval stage among the Piacenza hills

Some piazzas seem designed to take your breath away, and that of Castell'Arquato is one of them. Piazza del Municipio opens up suddenly after a climb through narrow alleyways, and the view is perfect: the Rocca Viscontea on the right, the Collegiata di Santa Maria on the left, the Palazzo del Podestà at the far end, and at the centre a harmonious void that seems made to hold the golden light of an Emilian late afternoon. It is no accident that this piazza has been used as a film set on more than one occasion: its beauty is so balanced it might have been composed by a director.

Castell'Arquato is one of the best-preserved borghi in Emilia, a concentration of medieval architecture that has mirrored itself in the hills of the Val d'Arda with the same grace for centuries. Yet it remains off the mass-tourism routes, a place where time moves at the rhythm of the seasons and the wines maturing in the local cellars.

The Rocca and the borgo

The Rocca Viscontea, built in 1342, is the most imposing monument in the borgo. With its battlemented walls and square keep, it commands the surrounding landscape with an authority the centuries have not dimmed. Inside you can visit the rooms with their medieval weaponry, but it is from the top of the tower that you truly grasp Castell'Arquato's strategic position: the gaze sweeps from the Po plain to the first Apennine foothills, and on the clearest days the Alps appear on the horizon.

The Collegiata di Santa Maria

The Collegiata is a masterpiece of Piacenza Romanesque, built between the eighth and twelfth centuries. The sandstone facade — severe and harmonious — introduces a three-nave interior that preserves fourteenth-century frescoes and a cloister of rare elegance. The baptistery, adjacent to the church, contains a monolithic twelfth-century font. Not to be missed is the portico of the Palazzo del Podestà, whose round arches frame the piazza like a natural theatre.

The borgo extends along the main street in a succession of stone palazzi, shops, wine bars and restaurants occupying medieval cellars. The walls, partly still intact, define the perimeter of the old nucleus and offer a panoramic walk between towers and bastions.

The geological museum: when the sea was here

The most unexpected surprise in Castell'Arquato is the Museo Geologico Giuseppe Cortesi, housed in the ancient Santo Spirito hospital. Here you discover that the Piacenza hills, three million years ago, were the floor of a warm, shallow sea. The museum displays an extraordinary collection of Pliocene fossils: whales, dolphins, sharks, giant shells and fish that once swam where today the vines of Gutturnio grow.

The centrepiece is the near-complete skeleton of a fin whale found in the clays of the Val d'Arda, a fossil that leaves you open-mouthed for its size and state of preservation. For children (and curious adults) it is an experience that transforms a walk in the hills into a journey through the deep time of the Earth. The area surrounding the borgo is also an active palaeontological site, and with a little luck you can still find fossil shells emerging from the gullies.

Wines and flavours of the hills

Castell'Arquato is the heart of the Colli Piacentini wine zone, and the culture of wine permeates every aspect of life in the borgo. Monterosso Val d'Arda — a fragrant, light white produced exclusively on the surrounding hills — is the wine to discover: few know it outside the area, but whoever tastes it never forgets it. Gutturnio, a lively red made from Barbera and Croatina, is the ideal companion to the Piacenza cured meats.

Coppa piacentina DOP, salame and pancetta are the trio of local cured meats, best enjoyed with warm tigelle and gnocco fritto. Tortelli con la coda, filled with ricotta and spinach, are the traditional fresh pasta. For dessert, a quince tart or sbrisolona with cornflour.

- Tortelli con la coda — the Piacenza fresh pasta with its twisted flap

- Coppa piacentina DOP — the king of Emilian cured meats, with gnocco fritto

- Monterosso Val d'Arda — aromatic white produced only here

- Gutturnio — lively red of the Colli Piacentini, perfect with cured meats

How to get there and when to go

Castell'Arquato lies about 30 kilometres from Piacenza, easily reached by car via the Fiorenzuola d'Arda motorway exit on the A1 and following signs for the Val d'Arda. SETA buses also run from Fiorenzuola to the borgo (about 20 minutes). The car park is at the foot of the historic centre, from which you walk up to the piazza in a few minutes.

The best months are spring and autumn. From April to June the hills are a mosaic of green and the vines are beginning to bud. September and October are the season of the harvest and local festivals, with open cellars and tastings that bring the borgo and surroundings to life. On the first Sunday of September, the Medieval Festival is held, with costumed participants, flag-wavers, games and a banquet recreating a fourteenth-century feast in Piazza del Municipio.

In the surroundings, Velleia Romana — an archaeological site with the remains of a Roman municipium — and the castle of Vigoleno, another medieval gem of the Piacenza hills, are both worth a visit.