Castell'Arquato

Rising from the first hills of the Val d'Arda at the edge of the Po plain, the medieval borgo climbs to the Rocca Viscontea, built by Piacenza in the 1340s. Its streets have served as a film set, Ladyhawke among them, and the librettist Luigi Illica, who wrote Tosca and La bohème with Puccini, was born and buried here. The surrounding Colli Piacentini make Gutturnio and Monterosso Val d'Arda wines.

Highlights

• Rocca Viscontea, with a display on medieval life and views from the keep
• Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta, reconsecrated in 1122, and its cloister museum
• Museo Geologico G. Cortesi, full of Pliocene fossils from the Piacenza area
• Rivivi il Medioevo, the medieval festival on the second weekend of September
• Gutturnio and Monterosso Val d'Arda wines, the latter celebrated each April (IT)

Summary based on Wikipedia and Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA), written with AI assistance.