Two Day Trips from Bergamo: Sirmione and Crespi d’Adda

Left: View through the ruins of the Grotte di Catulla (Sirmione) onto Lago di Garda. Right: Factory entrance at Crespi d'Adda.


Besides the Perché Bergamo?, the next question locals usually ask is if we’ve been to Sirmione or Crespi D’Adda. For almost a year we’ve had to say no. But no more because finally this weekend the timing was right and we went to both of these iconic sites.

Aside: It is possible to take public transportation to both of these sites: a train and bus combo to Sirmione and a bus to Crespi D’Adda. Instead, we rented a car for the weekend and used that to visit. Sirmione is a little over 1 hour west of Bergamo, and Crespi D’Adda is about 25 minutes southwest of Bergamo. We found parking in Crespi relatively easily. In Sirmione, if you are lucky and the town isn’t busy, you can park just south of the historic center in the large pay lot. If not, you’ll have to park further south along one of the many pay lots and hoof it to the center.

Sirmione

Geographically, Sirmione is a peninsula – a long skinny finger – jutting into Lago di Garda, running north south. About midway up the peninsula, is the south entrance of the old city, guarded by the photogenic Castello Scaligero. After the castle and continuing north, you pass through shops, restaurants, and large hotels until you reach the Grotte di Catullo, which is the ruins of a large Roman villa at the north end of the peninsula. Along the journey, you are never more than a few steps from the lake.

The main attractions for us were the Castello and the Grotte di Catullo. Spas which take advantage of the warm, mineral-rich waters that come out of the natural hot springs of the peninsula are a popular draw as well in Sirmione, but not for us today. We did see a few bathers taking in the “waters” in makeshift spa pools built up of rocks along the shore and profiting from excess hot water released into the lake.

We spent about 1 hour in the Castello, walked a bit, ate lunch (Ristorante Il Girasole), and then tackled the Grotte in the afternoon, a full day.

Some points:

• The name grotte in the Grotte di Catullo is not because it really is a grotto, but rather it looked like one when it was discovered. After the complex collapsed, it was slowly reclaimed by the centuries and became covered with vegetation and earth and so took on the appearance of a grotto to those who visited it. Today, for a small entrance fee, you can visit the ruins of the former villa as well as its small museum.
• The name Catullo comes from the Roman poet Catullo (Catullus in English). Although it is sometimes written that he was the owner of the villa, according to the museum (see schede didattiche), Catullo only mentioned in a poem that he had a house in Sirmione. The villa was constructed after his death and the real owners are not known.
• The Castello Scaligero is named for the family della Scala, a noble family from Verona. Scaligero means of or belonging to the family della Scala. Their family insignia features a ladder (scala). There isn’t anything in the castle to see, but the fun is walking through it and the views from the battlements.
• One striking aspect of Sirmione are the surrounding beige limestone beaches. It’s not your classic sandy beach, but rather, flat slabs of stone that make for a unique landscape.

Photos of the Castello Scaligero in Sirmione. Note ghibelline merlons, swallow-tailed shape.


Left and center left: Castello Scaliergo (Rocca Scaligera di Sirmione) brochure. Center right: Shore below Grotte di Catullo. Right: Grotte di Catullo substructure.


Left: Arch and substructure in the Grotte di Catullo. Center left: Catullus (English spelling)  depicted in a fresco found in the ruins. Center right: West crypto-portico of the villa. Right: A schematic of the Grotte di Catullo showing paths through the ruins.


Left: View of Sirmione looking north from the Castello Scaligero. Right: View of Sirmione looking south from the Castello Scaligero.


Limestone rocks around the tip of Sirmione.

Crespi d’Adda

Crespi d’Adda is a company town along the River Adda, built by the industrialist Cristoforo Benigno Crespi in the late 19th century. The factory produced textiles and has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1995. The idea behind Crespi d’Adda was to provide workers with more than just a place to work: the town included housing for workers as well as a school, a church, and other social services. The utopian ideals behind the town endured for a surprisingly long time, running from the late 1800s until the factory closed in 2003.

The role of the town during the industrial revolution, as well as its beautiful industrial architecture are the main reasons to visit Crespi d'Adda. A couple of observations:

• At first glance, the layout of the town is overly symbolic: the perfect symmetry of the houses of the workers (cassette operaie) on a street near the factory (fabbrica), the positioning of the chaplain’s and doctor’s homes on a hill overlooking the workers’ houses as if keeping watch, the elegant houses (ville) of the factory directors (dirigenti) apart from the workers’ houses, and the Crespi castle-house (castello) apart from the rest, but close to the factory. And to cap it all off, the cemetery is located just down the main street with the oversized mausoleum of Crespi keeping eye on the modest graves of the workers even in death. The cradle to grave approach of Crespi d'Adda seems confining to me, but I have only to think of what other options there would have been for work, education, and a healthy lifestyle at that time, and I can easily convince myself that maybe it wouldn't have been so bad living and working there.
• The tour we took, one of two offered on Sundays, didn’t include going inside any of the buildings other than an info center carved out of a small part of the factory. So you don’t go into homes (which are all private) nor the factory (which is empty). I sort of expected a peek inside of something. On every other Sunday there is a tour of the hydroelectric plant.
• The idea behind company towns and “enlightened industrialists” who built them is an interesting one, but was only briefly discussed on the tour. Currently, the factory part of Crespi d’Adda is owned by Peracassi, with plans to relocate their headquarters there. From one enlightened industrialist to another. Stay tuned.

The Crespi d’Adda site is a good source of information, and is provided in several different languages.

From Crespi D’Adda, we walked to Castello Visconteo (Trezzo D’Adda), about 30 minutes north by foot. From the northwest edge of the Crespi D’Adda "castle" property, we walked north along east side of the river, crossed over a small foot bridge (location) to get to the west side of the river, and continued north. When you get to the base of the Castello, you can climb a steep road or continue along the river to pass by the centrale idroelettrica Taccani di Trezzo sull’Adda and then loop back around to reach the Castello. We took the tour of the Castello subterranean and tower for a few euros. Or, you can skip the tour and climb to the top of the tower. The full tour was well worth it. For more information about itineraries along the Adda River starting from Crespi d’Adda, see Itineraries on the Crespi d’Adda site.

Left: The characteristic emblem of Crespi d'Adda, an 8 sided star with a circle inscribed inside. Right: Example of a worker's house. North and south windows were often fake or closed with most openings on the east and west sides.


Left: Foot bridge across the Adda River near Crespi d'Adda. Right: The cemetery at Crespi d'Adda.


Left: The Taccani Hydroelectric plant at Trezzo sull'Adda. Right: Above the hydroelectric plant are the ruins of Castello Visconteo.


Left: Dungeon of Castello Visconteo. Center: A map of the Castello Visconteo (Trezzo sull'Adda). Right: A sign explaining the open-air museum along the Adda River: Ecomuseo Adda di Leonardo.


Left: Walking on the west side of the Adda River, under the A4 Autostrada, on the way to Trezzo sull'Adda. Right: View from the Castello Visconteo south back along the Adda River.


Left: View from the Castello Visconteo tower down on to the Taccani Hydroelectric plant and the bend in the Adda River near Trezzo sull'Adda. Right: View from the Castello Visconteo tower looking south toward Crespi d'Adda (two smoke stacks of the factory are visible in the distance).

Augusta Bagiennorum Roman Ruins - Bene Vagienna, Italy

Left: Aerial View [Google Maps] of Augusta Bagiennorum with Cardo and Decumanus; Right: View of Farmhouse and Wheatfield near Augusta Bagiennorum


Left: View of Theater and Hospitalia at Augusta Bagiennorum with Monviso (Monte Viso) in the Background; Right: View of Uncovered Part of Forum


Last May 2013, we spent an early morning at Augusta Bagiennorum in Piedmont, near Bene Vagienna, Cuneo. We were staying a few weeks in the region (see Two Weeks in Villanova Mondovi - Off the Piemonte Tourist Track) and ventured out for early morning forays as we waited for the rest of our party to assemble.

Augusta Bagiennorum is a site that was an old Roman town dating to the last quarter of the first century BC (according to the sign at the site), probably at the same time as Augusta Taurinorum (Torino) and Augusta Praetoria (Aosta). Only a few tantalizing bits of Augusta Bagiennorum are visible in the surrounding farm land on the site. Today, the site is part of a reserve, Riserva Naturale Augusta Bagiennorum.

According to a sign at the site, the first inhabitants were probably veterans of Augustus and the town is named for him. Before the Romans, the area was occupied by the Bagienni, an ancient Ligurian people that lived in what today is southwest Piedmont. The Bagienni lend their name to the modern-day commune of Bene Vagienna. The Bagienni were conquered by the Romans around the middle of the 3^rd century BCE, becoming part of the Roman Republic.

The layout of the town follows the standard Roman city grid. The decumanus maximus (the main east – west oriented street) actually runs southwest to northeast here. The cardo (the main north – south oriented street) runs southeast to northwest.

Views at and from Augusta Bagiennorum, View toward Podi and Monviso

The site was discovered by Giuseppe Assandria and Giovanni Vacchetta. Assandria was born in Bene Vagienna, and Vacchetta in Cuneo. The comune site has a summary of their lives and how they found Augusta Bagiennorum – of which a piece is shown below:

All'inizio del secolo i due storici benesi si dedicarono con successo alla ricerca dell'Augusta tante volte citata dagli scrittori latini. Gli studi sul territorio vennero condotti tra il 1892 ed il 1908 con tecniche archeologiche ormai largamente superate. I due, disponendo di ingenti somme di denaro, poterono pagare di tasca propria dei braccianti, arruolati prevalentemente nella zona del Podio e della Roncaglia, per scavare su quelle terre che intuitivamente si credettero custodire i resti della romanità. Le perlustrazioni del sottosuolo venivano effettuate nei periodi di incolto, quando non si arrecavano danni alle colture. Gli appezzamenti venivano infatti affittati in autunno, scavati nei mesi a seguire e nuovamente spianati in primavera e restituiti ai proprietari per la nuova annata agricola.

Feeble translation: At the beginning of the century, the two prosperous historians devoted themselves to looking for Augusta, a site cited many times by Latin writers. Their studies were carried out between 1892 and 1908 with archaeological methods of the day. The two, with their own large personal wealth, could pay for laborers, recruited from the area of Podio and Roncaglia, to excavate where they [Assandria and Vacchetta] intuitively believed the remains of the Roman site were located. The subsurface explorations were carried out in times of fallow, when they would not be causing damage to the crops. The plots were, in fact, rented out in Autumn, excavated in the following months, and leveled again in Spring to return the property to the owners for a new crop.

The most visible parts of Augusta Bagiennorum are the amphitheater (l’anfiteatro) and the theater (il teatro). The foundation of approximately one half of the amphitheater is visible and atop it sits Cascina Ellena – a bed and breakfast. At the theater enough is uncovered and reconstructed to get a sense of the size of it and how it might have felt have watched a performance there. The theatre has two reconstructed doorways are called hospitalia – the passages for the actors to access the stage.

A few years ago, we wrote about the proportions of Vitruvian Man, a study of symmetry of the human body by Marcus Vitruvius Pollio. Vitruvius, in his book De Architectura, also talked about the design of theaters (Book V/Chapter VI) which likely is the design for this theater.

On this day in late in May when were there, nobody else was there. Granted it was early in the morning (before 9 am). Entrance is free and parking is marked on the map included with this post. Augusta Bagiennorum is one of the few Roman ruins in Piedmont that are out in the open like this. We did not make it to the Museo Archea (it was closed and we didn’t have enough people for a private group) – archeologia didattica e sperimentale located a stone’s throw from the ruins in Podio or the Museo Archeologico di Bene Vagienna in the Lucerna Palace of Rorà in nearby Bene Vagienna.

Left: La Cappella San Pietro at Augusta Bagiennorum; Right: View of Podi

Left: Augusta Bagiennorum - Ruins of la basilica cristiana; Right: Cascina Ellena and Ruins of Amphitheater

The Theater (il teatro) at Augusta Bagiennorum with Schematic from Vitruvius Book V – Chapter VI of De Architectura

Informational Signs from Augusta Bagiennorum

Brochure about Riserva Naturale Augusta Bagiennorum