Castello di Rivalta

A splendid Sunday morning: it feels like the height of spring, off we go...!!

After about 50 minutes we reach Rivalta, a hamlet of Gazzola just 17 km from Piacenza. At the sight of the Castle various exclamations break out: "FASCINATING!", "BEAUTIFUL!"

Having parked the car in one of the two free car parks a stone's throw from the Borgo (well, if not quite two... it'll be fifty steps at most... don't worry):-)

In the company of my new Fuji s9600 camera, and accompanied by the curiosity to test in the field the abilities of this new "little toy", we head for the superbly preserved medieval village, within whose walls are to be found, besides the castle.... the church of San Martino, a lovely garden, two restaurants, a hotel, a few shops and some charming private houses.

Ah, I forgot.... the borgo also has a tasting and sales point for the delicious local wines... careful not to overdo the tasting;-)

Not to be missed is the guided tour inside the castle: full price 7 euros (2007 rate) for a duration of over an hour.... it's worth it, believe me!!!

Of the roughly fifty rooms, only some are given over to the museum, the rest are enjoyed by the family of the Counts Zanardi Landi

The wonders you can admire are, in order:

- Large Hall of Honour: a fine fifteenth-century salon, with two complete suits of armour

- Dining room in Louis XVI style: with an extendable early-nineteenth-century table still used by the Zanardi Landi family

- Kitchen (charming, the little press in which they crushed the goose bones cooked to obtain a delicious seasoning..... if you say so!

- Green Room: the canopy bed is charming but a little short

- Red Room: reserved in recent years for Princess Margaret of England

- Cellar: once a stable, today used for the ageing of the Count's Reserve Gutturnio, which takes place in French oak barrels. What humidity!!!

- Tower: the ideal place to take a few panoramic photos

- Cut Well: so called because at the bottom it has a series of blades for the torture of the unfortunate thrown into it.

- Prisons: five solitary cells, which in times of siege were used to store provisions.

- Weapons Room: here are kept helmets, ancient and modern weapons.... a fine room!

- Billiards Room: where war games were also played (Risiko-style... cool!!!) which consisted of moving, seated on the sofa, the pieces on the billiard table with a long wooden stick

To conclude, watch out for the ghosts!!! I didn't see them...... but they say they're there! To be precise, the cook Giuseppe, a ghost stabbed and then strangled by an unknown hand, and lowered into the fortress's water well where his body, according to one popular version, was later found. It's he who still today roams the corridors of the castle

A stop at a trattoria is a must!

I recommend "La Locanda" in località Tuna, about a km from the Borgo of Rivalta. I should warn you there's a risk, as happened to us, of finding no room for lunch (not even in the neighbouring trattorias); in that case, always on the road leading to the Borgo, there's a fishermen's lake and inside it a pizzeria that serves Piacenza cold cuts at lunch.....

Returning to the refreshment, at dinner I did manage to taste the specialities of the trattoria "La Locanda". In the evening there's no difficulty finding a table. I recommend the amaretti cake… a delight!!!

Bye! Bye!