9th May 2015
Fidenza – now in Emilia-Romagna
What good fortune to have the small attractive and historically-interesting town of Fidenza on my path for a weekend of rest! Population about 25,000.
Short version:
A lazy day walking around Fidenza & looking at the sights, hopefully followed by a nice meal tonight. No storm this evening!
Longer version:
After a decent (!) breakfast in this 3 star hotel, I went out to visit the town which looks prosperous and was bustling on Saturday morning with many people in shops, bars, piazzas. There is one straight and very long pedestrianized main street which changes its name 3 times through the old centre but is really the old Via Emilia which would explain the straightness. I first went to see my “dottore” in the pharmacy to check something & he kissed my hand as I left! There are 3 pharmacies within 20 metres of one another so are there so many ill people or is it such good service, as I’d had, that people come from near and far? They must however live long here as all the death notices posted up around the town were for people in their 80s and 90s so perhaps the pharmacists all give excellent service. After walking up & down the street I decided that my favourite shop, apart from the gelateria and my pharmacy, was that selling all specialties from Parma, which is only 20 km away – cheeses which are priced by age, many different types of prosciutto, take away dishes etc. I ascertained that they open at 8h00 on Monday so will perhaps go there to buy a sandwich for the road.
I’d noticed that the women, mostly smartly dressed, either had runner-type shoes or high stilettos, even on a bike, as people of all ages were on bikes in the pedestrian area. I walked to the street market which I’d discovered was a few streets away from the old historic centre and bought some fruit. The freshly roasted half-chickens, one of which I’d have bought, were finished & there was a queue for full chickens which were still being cooked! Also beautiful fresh fish and sea-food were for sale. I noticed, as in nearly all places I’d been to, an April XXV street in honour of the liberation in WWII.
One can’t walk through places such as this without soaking up some history and thus awakening an interest in knowing more. A very little history: Fidenza is in an area inhabited from the 4th millennium BC and the then “Fidentia” became a “municipality” about 82 BC (after a battle) and under Roman rule the Via Emilia went through here. One of the most important episodes in its religious life was the martyrdom of Saint Donnino in 293 (by beheading, so he is always shown in art holding his head in his arm) and which also changed the town name to Borgo San Donnino (only reverted to Fidenza in 1927). A place of pilgrimage and the site of many wars, it was under the protection of Frederick Barbarossa (who won a war against the Parmesans who had destroyed Fidenza twice in the previous century) that the beautiful cathedral was constructed in the 12th century (on the site of an ancient church) in Lombard Romanesque style with the most wonderful reliefs sculptured on the stone facade by the master sculptor Benedetto Antelami, even one with the three kings (Wise Men) riding on horses to Bethlehem.
Ever since reading Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth I’ve been fascinated by the building of cathedrals and here was one with Norman style arches in the two levels of clerestories and gothic arches in the vault. This afternoon I went back to the cathedral to visit the museum and I had a personal guided visit with one of the women volunteers and saw the treasures including some of the most precious sculptures from the facade by Antelami and a painting of the Assumption of the Virgin with guess who by her side – our own San Rocco whom I recognised by the wound on his thigh! The other volunteer took me into the cathedral and up into the clerestory where the women used to go to attend mass (couldn’t mix with the men). She had a key to let us into a circular stone staircase and turned the key in the lock 5 times before it opened! Was most interesting to have a view down into the nave and she said if I go to mass tomorrow morning they’ll stamp my pilgrim’s passport with the cathedral stamp. As we left she went down into the crypt to get a San Donnino prayer card for me. Oh, I forgot to say that Sigeric stayed here in 990 on his walk back to Canterbury (it would appear that this had always been an important halt on the pilgrimage trail because of San Donnino’s martyrdom).
Am now in one of the best restaurants in town (after all it is Saturday night) which has typical cuisine of the area, a lovely unpretentious ambiance, and which I fortunately booked last night as it is filling up! I asked for the maitre d’hôtel’s advice on what to eat. As many of you ask what I am eating, here is my second good dinner. The appetizer is a delicious tiny slice of a fine-pastry covered tart which has a flan-like vegetable stuffing.
And the bread is Good & warm (usually Italian bread is not good & as a baker’s daughter I know my bread!) but I’d better not eat too much as I have much to come yet… My first dish was home-made tagliolini with Gorgonzola, prosciutto di Parma, saffron, in a delicious creamy sauce. Main course is pheasant, probably softly roasted (with steam), with smoked pancetta and a special type of onion in a sage sauce with roasted vegetables – it is succulent but I hope it’s not too rich for my poor pilgrim’s digestion! I may need a digestive after the meal… It’s now 21h15 and four young couples with 4 very small children (one woman is heavily pregnant) have just come in to eat at a long table – the men have put themselves at one end of the table and have shrugged their shoulders at the comments of the women who are at the other end with the children… To listen to them all ordering is a sheer pleasure, especially with the little ones intervening. … They are now being served and the children are just beginning to assert themselves in questioning what has been ordered for them… However the women have just clinked glasses together “cin-cin” while the men are in deep discussion. La commedia dell’arte…
Well, after a great digestive I’ve been able to eat a dessert of vanilla ice cream on a balsamic reduction with glacé mandarine and a little special oil over it, scrumptious (but never would have been possible without time and the digestive). Walked back through town and many people strolling or sitting outside bars, etc, with no anti-social behaviour and lots of good humour! Am off to bed for a good night’s sleep.
Tomorrow I have to plan the next few days re distances and accommodation… I just read that as pilgrims started flooding to Rome in the 4th and then 5th centuries they had a well-maintained structure of Roman roads and pilgrim ‘hospitals’, where hospitality was offered, began to be built. It seems also that they had no linguistic difficulties as they were able to convey their needs in Latin (a language later spoken only by clerics). Unfortunately with the Barbarian invasions of 6th & 7th centuries pilgrim life became more difficult as roads & bridges ceased to be maintained, accommodation was not kept up & in areas no longer under Christian rule other dangers of all sorts beset them (robbers, invaders, wild animals, storms, lack of food & sickness, etc) so the pilgrim was not at all sure he would reach his destination let alone return home in one piece. This is known, it seems, from writings from the 6th century onwards. Not so many ‘hospitals’ today…but there are many less other dangers, thank goodness.
Today’s highlights:
– a lazy day discovering modern Fidenza and its history
– the private visit to the cathedral and its museum
– a delicious evening meal but regret that I forgot to pick up the bread which the maitre d’hôtel had prepared for me to take away (for tomorrow’s breakfast)
– a beautiful soft evening as I walked back through the town