Fontanellato is a town in the lower Parma area, in Emilia-Romagna, located a few kilometers from the Via Emilia, in the heart of the Po Valley, about 25km from the capital Parma. We are in an area also called Food Valley, where many Emilian gastronomic specialties are concentrated that have been able to conquer, in some cases, the whole world. To the north of Fontanellato, bordering on, is San Secondo Parmense, patrai of Prosciutto di Parma DOP.
The ancient village of Fontanellato preserves various monuments of interest; in particular the Rocca Sanvitale, and, due to its attractiveness to numerous pilgrims, the sanctuary of the Beata Vergine del Santo Rosario.
The castle of Fontanellato, or Rocca Sanvitale, is located in the center of the town. The keep, the corner towers and the square courtyard, originally conceived as defensive elements, are harmoniously inserted in the subsequent adaptations of the building to a noble court. From the hanging garden you can access the tower where the optical chamber is located, which allowed you to control the square and the entrance to the castle without being seen. On the first floor there is the noble apartment of the Sanvitale family furnished with furniture and furnishings from the 16th to the 18th century and now transformed into a museum.
But the real jewel of the fortress is there on the ground floor. This is the Hall of Diana and Atteone, frescoed in 1524 by Francesco Mazzola known as Parmigianino (1503-1540), for Paola Gonzaga and Galeazzo Sanvitale.
The mythological tale frescoed by Parmigianino is taken from the third book of Ovid's Metamorphoses. It tells the story of Actaeon transformed into a deer by Diana surprised at the bath with the nymphs and torn to pieces by her own dogs. On the wall where the only window in the room is open, there is a portrait of Paola Gonzaga.
On the third Sunday of each month (except January) one of the richest and most evocative antique markets in Northern Italy is held in the square surrounding the manor.
Instead, the Sanctuary of the Madonna del Rosario rises just outside the town, a vast complex built in the 17th century by the Dominicans. Inside, on the main altar, there is the miraculous wooden image of the Madonna del Rosario from 1615. Since 1628, when the first miracle was recorded with the sudden healing of a dying child, many other miracles have been attributed to Virgin and the church has walls covered with votive offerings of thanks.
Foto: di Gufo84 - Opera propria, CC BY-SA 3.0