In the land of rice pickers, between the Burgundian jokes: a day in Sannazzaro dè Burgondi
Around the year One thousand was probably best known for a monastic settlement and called Sancti Cell Nazari. Today Sannazzaro de 'Burgondi is a beautiful city where the religious tradition and the past coexist with a peasant industry also, thanks to the presence of a major Agip refinery. The curiosity that has brought us in this common Lomellina was rewarded with a day full of historical and artistic discoveries, as well as culinary.
The story is interwoven with that of Sannazzaro Po, as the city is on the edge of the terrace overlooking the alluvial valley of the River. The "coexistence" with the river was, very hard over the centuries, because of frequent flooding, some of which are particularly dramatic. We start our walk from the monument which is perhaps the most important witness of those times: the splendid Church of Our Lady of the Fountain. Its origin and name are linked to a miracle of the Virgin that would make water gush from a rock. Instead, they were the waters of the Po to destroy around 1600, then was rebuilt in its current position, and also the town moved to the edge of the alluvial terrace. A hundred years later, in 1705, a flood destroyed it again. After a stiff winter, spring in the Po swelled alarmingly and took a sudden flooding in sleep sannazzaresi. Among the buildings that collapsed was the church, which was saved only the image of the Madonna. And who knows if it was again the work of the Po Virgin miraculously moved the bed elsewhere, thus putting an end to destruction. The population sannazzarese rebuilt the church and erected a monumental arch, called the door, that reads an inscription that recalls the tragic flood. Today a beautiful tree-lined avenue, called "allies" by locals, connects the door to the church.
The history of Sannazzaro, like a little 'all Lomellina, is also characterized by the cultivation of rice, which previously involved a very large part of the female population. The life of weeders has also inspired many artists like Michael sannazzaresi Mainoli Zanchin and Pino, who has dedicated to a series of paintings entitled "The Lomellina". The "Monument to Mondino", sculpture by Domenico Real, is located in Piazza del Popolo. Even the design of a cartoonist Sannazzaro De'Burgondi, Andrea Bianchi, pays tribute to these female figures, as well as the Burgundian, another key figure in this city: Sannazzaro is the only center to have its own Lomellina popular carnival mask. It is beloved Burgundian, a "soldier" with a medieval helmet from which sprout two huge horns, which inspired countless jokes funny goliardic among the locals.
During our walk we also admired the other two churches in the city, the parish church, dating from the fifteenth or sixteenth century and the seventeenth-century Church of San Bernardino, it houses a splendid organ Lingiardi, in addition to the frescoes and paintings of 'sannazzarese artist Paolo Maggi.
We stay in the old town for dinner, and we choose a family restaurant that a friend has recommended the area who often eat lunch there, and there has even praised their lunch menu with fish. From heavy smoker, our friend loves this place for the existence of a smoking room. Then we sit at the tables of the Restaurant Pizzeria Victor in Via Vittorio Veneto, and we immediately put at ease the kindness of the owners that a couple of years ago were awarded the prize of the Lombardy Region "Golden Mercury Quality ". "My parents have thirty years of experience in catering, first run a restaurant in Milan," he tells his son Placido as we begin to study the menu. The restaurant is famous for its fish dishes, then mixed with a inziamo sea, with small portions of the base of octopus, shrimp and arugula, and whitebait. The son of our friends opted for a nice Pizza Spring, as we continue with the spaghetti with seafood and brushes with the redfish. We follow these excellent pasta dishes with a beautiful fillet of sea bass with artichokes and mushrooms, while our friends choose the fry. Let's water these delicacies with fine wines by counsel to the plates, ranging in variety of local, ranging from the Pavese Bonarda and Barbera to the Sicilian reds and whites such as Fiano and Falanghina Sannio.
Sannazzarese Our day ends in sweetness, with products from the local dessert: a slice of apple pie, a cake of chocolate, soup and English profitterol. A great pleasure that we hope to repeat soon.
Frances Bertha
FOR INFORMATION:
www.comune.sannazzarodeburgondi.pv.it
www.sannazzaro.com
www.ristorante-victor.com
Victor Restaurant and Pizzeria
Via Vittorio Veneto, 27/29 Sannazzaro de 'Burgondi (PV)
0382/997145