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Gualtieri

Description

A municipality of the region of Reggio Emilia, located near the Po, which marks the border with Lombardy, Gualtieri was inhabited since the Iron Age. More consistent are the findings from the period of the Bronze Age and the Etruscan domination and subsequent Roman colonization. The town's name "Castrum Walterii", is of Lombard origins founded by the Lombard King Gualtiero in the VII century. Over the following centuries, the town submitted the domain of the Bishops of Parma, the d'Este, the Da Correggio and again the d'Este that ceded the town in fief to the Bentivoglio with the title of Marquisate. The Bentivoglio started a massive reclamation of wetlands and the construction of new buildings that contributed to the economic, cultural and urban development of the city.
Sites of Interest:
- the superb Piazza Bentivoglio, made by the architect of Ferrara G.B. Aleotti, known as "the Argenta" (this main square, in fact, is also called Piazza Argenta), with three sides occupied by an arched portico and the fourth encompasses harmonically the massive Palazzo Bentivoglio;
- Bentivoglio Palace, residence of the Marquis of Gualtieri, overlooking the square, opposite the beautiful clock tower, recently restored, which today houses the museum dedicated to the naive painter Antonio Ligabue. The exterior features an austere and simple façade in brick, while inside the rooms are beautifully frescoed with scenes of the Freedom of Jerusalem and the Legend of the Giants. It is also features a lovely theater and chapel;
- the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Neve, designed by the Argenta and is located on the South side of the square;
- the Church of St. Andrew, the oldest of the city, which dates back to the XIII century;
- the Church of the Immaculate Conception, with a beautiful wooden carved ceiling, that features in the middle a medallion which depicts the Assumption, masterpiece of the school of the artist Battistelli.

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