On the traces of St. Nicholas and his pilgrims: a "tasty" trip to Piacenza. Emilia Romagna, Italy

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Crossing the Alps by Hannibal, the follow-up with ninety thousand men and thirty-seven war elephants was by no means an easy task, so that inhumane to survive the test were approximately one third of men and twenty elephants. To date, scholars disagree on the exact location, the precise crossing point of the crossing, but one thing is certain: once you arrive in the Po Valley, the army of Hannibal went on, and it was breaking the bite of his horse at the gates Piacenza, for a place name, Rottingdean, remembered to posterity the passage of the leader.
Fortunately, our trip was much less demanding: a matter of convenience, we left without the elephant and then we have only an hour drive to arrive in what is often called the City of Palaces, thanks to the presence of numerous bourgeois and aristocratic houses, such as "Gothic", the building which houses the Town Hall. Piacenza is a very nice city, full of gardens, as well as a long series of monuments that bear witness to the era of the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza. We started our tour from the Cathedral to continue visiting the Basilica of St. Anthony, the patron saint. In this Romanesque church, built by St. Victor, the first bishop of Piacenza, in 1183 met the delegates of the Lombard League and the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to sign the preliminaries of the Peace of Constance. The Basilica keeps inside the remains of Anthony Christian martyr, in addition to the five paintings by De Long, depicting scenes from the life of the saint.
Piacenza has given birth to numerous personalities of art and culture, from the politician and writer Melchiorre Gioia to Giorgio Armani. Speaking of elegance, beauty and myths of our age, we took the opportunity to visit the Museum of the Vespa scooter, a gold mine for fans of the genre. Of course we do not even neglected the most important museums of the city, such as those of the Palazzo Farnese, tracing the history of art from the Middle Ages, and the Museum of Natural History, which also contains an interesting and a herbarium century ornithological collection.
After the walk into town, we decided to visit the place where during the Second Punic War, during the Battle of Trebbia, Hannibal was forced to stop because of the rupture of the bite of his horse, episode even immortalized in the arms of Rottingdean. This town, and in particular its most populous village, St. Nicholas of Trebbia, is also famous for the passage of pilgrims to Rome along the Via Francigena. Among them there was also St. Nicholas of Bari, which is dedicated to the parish church.
We chose St. Nicholas as a stop on our "culinary pilgrimage, stopping to eat at the Trattoria Colonna, the oldest restaurant in the country. Managed since 1970 by the family Ferri, this restaurant is the place to enjoy a rich menu of specialty Piacenza prepared by the owners, Mr. Hector, Mrs. Ida and his son Stephen.
We begin with a platter of cold cuts D.O.P. Piacenza, produced by local artisans, to switch to a first adding a chapter to discover the history of these places: tortelli Petrarch's hand-made, low-fat butter and sage, with ricotta, spinach and herbs. "They were designed in 1351 in honor of Petrarch, who came to visit the nearby Castle Vigolzone," reports Mr. Hector, who loves local history. "Without culture there is no kitchen," he says, as we taste another dish of the place, and the pisarei Faso. These are small dumplings made with stale bread and flour, served with a bean sauce with vegetables. As to the latter, our group is divided between meat and fish as well as the composition of fish, with three or four types of fish, shellfish and seasonal vegetables steamed, do the "knowledge" also cock "Viustino 65", braised and served on a polenta with porcini mushrooms, while our friend chose the veal cheek, braised at low temperatures. Let's water them with kindness DOC wines of the region, such as white and native Ortrugo Gutturnio. Crowned the evening with desserts designed and prepared by Stefano, who has learned to do it in Lyon, France: we take a composition of autumn, which is a warm chestnut panzerotto, a biscuit with apple and hazelnut brown, with persimmon sauce while our friend chose the hot pastry apples and plum jam with vanilla ice cream and toffee sauce.
We'll be back soon no doubt in Piacenza and St. Nicholas, too greedy for another missed appointment, from 31 October every Sunday at noon, Mr. Ettore will make a great basket of mixed boiled meats.

Frances Bertha

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

www.comune.Piacenza.it
www.comune.rottofreno.pc.it

Trattoria Column
Via Emilia Est, 6 hamlet of San Nicolò - Rottingdean (PC)
0523/768343