Zibello

Zibello is a town in the province of Parma. The morphology of the territory is typical of the lower Po valley. Numerous archaeological finds testify to the presence of Roman settlements. The history of the village begins in the medieval period with the Pallavicino family; to this family we owe the construction of the most important monuments that still characterize the village today. In the main square we find Palazzo Pallavicino which today contains the same shops of the past, which produce traditional products of the territory; the building has thirteen arches supported by octagonal pillars surmounted by shield capitals, the exposed bricks are the distinctive feature. Bricks that we also find in the parish church of Saints Gervasio and Protasio, one of the most significant examples of Gothic-Lombard architecture, the church built in the 15th century, again at the request of the Pallavicinos, dominates Piazza Cavour; there is no shortage of valuable works on canvas such as the canvas of the martyrdom of the saints to which the church is entitled and the canvas of the discovery of the water of Moses. A few steps from the church there is the convent of the Dominican fathers, the building restored several times, preserves the ancient cloister which develops on three sides and on the side walls the frescoes made by the monks themselves that tell life and miracles of San Domenico. The rooms on the ground floor house the museum of peasant civilization and collect the collection of Doctor Giuseppe Riccardi, there are unique tools dating back to the 19th century that the doctor has preserved; this collection is completed by the collection of the war relics museum which presents documents, medals, uniforms and other objects donated by citizens to preserve their memory. Important is the sanctuary of San Rocco, which testifies to the events that occurred during a plague epidemic of 1746, on July 15 of that year two springs of miraculous water arose from a small ditch that allowed to cancel the plague. Along the cycle path we find the Viale delle Rimembranze which remembers the fallen of the great war. The village has always had a close link with the Po river, thanks to the fog and the climatic characteristics that it favors, the master butchers have developed Culatello, the 'king' of cured meats.