Zavattarello

Zavattarello is a small medieval village located in Oltrepò Pavese, in Lombardy. Since ancient times in a strategic position, the village is situated in the area of Northern Italy defined "Four regions", because the point of encounter of four regions: Lombardy, Piedmont, Emilia Romagna and Liguria. These valleys are united by traditions and typical dishes and historical events.

Now it is known that the name "Zavattarello" derives from the craft more practiced in the Middle Ages, that of ciabattini: in fact the vulgar savatarellum indicates exactly where slippers have been handmade (savatte).

The village is made up of a central nucleus dominated by the castle Dal Verme, where the houses have maintained the patina of the centuries: it is the ancient village of medieval and that the villagers call "on the inside" because in the past it was surrounded by strong defensive walls. More under develops the new country, cut from the provincial road that joins the SS412 of Valtidone to SS461 of the Penice.

The characteristic old country lying around the castle is accessed from Piazza Luchino Dal Verme, passing under the stone arch of a tower of medieval input. It should be noted this tower is the entrance arch in sandstone. Other three towers as this constituted the defensive system of the "On the inside", together with the walls of the fortified walls, still in part visible from the outside of the village. That today appears as a narrow lane was at one time the town main street, leading up to the castle at the top of the hill. On the left, exceeded this "voltone", you see the "guard", a narrow compartment is intended to accommodate the squires of sentry. The first track which climbs to the right after a building renovated which was the seat of the district prisons of the nineteenth century, is the vicolo dell'Abate, one of the most picturesque of "On the inside". His name is due to the ancient presence of a monastery.

The visit to the old country can reserve pleasant discoveries: to the attentive observer will not fail to note, above the door jamb in sandstone of an ancient house, a tile in terracotta depicting a Madonna with Child, a valuable work of an unknown artist from the seventeenth century. Under this tile, at the center of the architrave of the entrance, is carved a characteristic cross, which is also found on other lintels of doors and windows of the oldest houses in the village. Even the more recent part of the country has attractions. The main square, surrounded by the typical stone houses in view, is dominated on one side by a big nineteenth-century palace: in origin the dwelling place of the Dal Verme, became in the seventies the municipal headquarters, then the middle school, and now houses the municipal library and the seats of the associations of the territory. Higher up on the right side before the carriage road that leads to the castle, an imposing seventeenth-century building housed the pretura and prisons in use up to the middle of the Nineteenth Century. At the entrance of the square meets the fourteenth-century Oratory of San Rocco. It was originally part of a Cistercian monastery unfortunately now disappeared, whose buildings included probably also the current town hall. The high altar has a superb 17th-century altarpiece in gilded wood that Ambrogio Corona (in "Zavattarello pearl of the Oltrepò") has defined "a masterpiece of baroque art".

The parish church of San Paolo is almost to the edges of the country in the direction of Varzi, on a small hill that the latest research say was the seat of an ancient pagan shrine. Precisely by the divinity venerated, Saturn, seems to derive the most ancient name of Zavattarello Sarturanum. The current appearance of the Church is that of the Sixteenth Century remake, even if the building seems to be the most ancient of the castle. In fact precisely in this church stopped the monks of Bobbio in 929 during their trip to bring the relics of S. Columban to Pavia, along the route known as the Via Santi Colombani. Remarkable, behind the building, the octagonal cemetery from the seventeenth century, which also houses the tombs of the family of the Counts Dal Verme. A little later, along the provincial road, you will meet the "Warehouse of memories" Museum, which through a path of daily life allows the discovery of over a century of traditions: a cultural heritage that has its roots in the mists of time and is testimony to the long, rich, painful story of work and in the toil of man. Not to be missed are the educational activities and initiatives for young and old alike.

Zavattarello is the ideal place for lovers of peace and silence as for those who are looking for a place alive from the rich cultural offer and entertainment.

BY CAR

• From Milan: Take the A1 Autostrada del Sole, follow the direction for Piacenza, near Piacenza, continue on the A21 motorway, exit at Castel San Giovanni, take the SS 412, pass the town of Castel San Giovanni, continue towards Zavattarello.
• From Bologna: From the A14 Adriatica motorway, continue on the A1 Autostrada del Sole, follow the direction to Piacenza, near Piacenza continue on the A21 motorway, exit at Castel San Giovanni, take the SS 412, pass the town of Castel San Giovanni, continue for Zavattarello.
• From Genoa: From the A7 highway, follow the direction to Piacenza, continue on the A21 highway, exit at Castel San Giovanni, take the SS 412, pass the town of Castel San Giovanni, continue towards Zavattarello.
• From La Spezia: From the Cisa A15 highway, follow the direction to Milan, continue on the A1 del Sole highway, follow the direction to Piacenza, near Piacenza continue on the A21 highway, exit at Castel San Giovanni, take the SS 412 , pass the town of Castel San Giovanni, continue towards Zavattarello.
• From Brescia: Take the A21 highway in the direction of Turin, exit at Castel San Giovanni, take the SS 412, pass the town of Castel San Giovanni, continue towards Zavattarello.
• From Pavia: Take the SS 617, pass Broni, continue on the SP 198, reach the SS 412 and follow the indications for Zavattarello.

BY PLANE

• Milan Linate Airport
• Genoa airport
• Parma airport
• Bergamo airport
• Milan Malpensa Airport

BY SEA

• Port of Genoa

The Mystery Tours

The Mystery Tours is an emotional experience, a theatrical spectacle, a path through time and space at the border between suggestion and reality. And it will be hard to distinguish between the two closed in an ancient castle, separated from the outside world, in a place where past and present blend, accompanied by characters emerged from the Middle Ages that mingle with other of our present. Beware: as claimed Hemingway, is easy to react with coldness to things during the day but at night is all another speech. In a place soì load of emotions, accompanied by the protagonists of the more mysterious stories, Può become difficult to distinguish between suggestion and reality. For this reason we advise you to follow the path traced and venture out on this journey with an open mind and ready to surprises.

Summer in Art
"Summer in art" is the annual cycle of exhibitions organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art "Joseph and Titina Dal Verme". The experimentations, compenetrazioni, interchanges. These are the figures of distinctive of exhibitions located in the halls of the castle of Zavattarello. This mighty fortress houses inside a museum quite young, whose history forò part from far away, from before its official institution. Binds in fact with a double wire to the life of the millennial building that contains it. A castle so ancient, in fact, is a container and producer of art in all its forms throughout the centuries who lived. Here are the reasons that have led not only to the establishment of the museum of contemporary art, but also the organization of the cycle of exhibitions “Summer in Art”: to continue to live the exposure, the dissemination and promotion of art in a place suited to always to this purpose. The ratio between the castle and the museum, between the container and its contents, is always been very tight in the manor of Zavattarello, and exhibitions of "Summer Art" want to contribute to emphasize, for harmony but also for contrast. Here is that every year during the "Summer in art" you can meet emerging artists and famous that compete with the expression of their art in a particular place as the castle of Zavattarello. Is usually easy to realize an exhibition in an empty room that is a white cube, you can fill and characterize as you want from time to time. Most difficult is to expose in a place already characterized itself, strong, from its identity and personality. In these cases there's a challenge, but when the challenge is accepted, the final result is often more rewarding, pleasant and rich in meaning.