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SOME RELEVANT QUESTIONS ON CALENDASCO CASTLE

SOME RELEVANT QUESTIONS
ON CALENDASCO CASTLE

There are sometimes very "curious" data circulating

Calendasco Castle photo UB

It is legitimate to ask "historical" questions about Calendasco Castle (not to be confused with the recetto).
In fact, there are truly "extensive" data circulating that some can even believe in good faith.
But is that really the case?

Question 1

Has the castle ever had 4 towers? Let's say clearly: no!
Yet this extremely false figure is circulating. 
The castrum as you see it has always had only one tower, cylindrical, next to the drawbridge.
But in some books, the data circulates, and some even today, with extreme ignorance, support it. To come to see is to believe: one tower only.

 

Question 2

Did it belong to other feudal lords before the Confalonieri?
First of all came the episcopal reception! Then the castle: have you seen the castle notarial deeds of anyone other than the Confalonieri?  
Some tips led us to check. A long time ago already.
Some misunderstanding of reading ancient notarial papers about the fact.  
It's not raining on the Confalonieri. Not even on the time of the birth of Saint Conrad (1290).
But this is not the place to give data, cards, of the fact!
Do not forget the Legate of 1617, notary of the Curia. 

Question 3

Some wrote that it was "destroyed at the base" by the Ghibellines of Piacenza in the 14th century.
Someone repeats it, so "copy and paste" to this day!  
But does this seem like a true historical fact to you? In your opinion was it really razed to the ground and destroyed? 
Here too we are not putting the answer now, but on the other hand in black and white in due course.
In the meantime, let's answer the "fact" of whether this happened or not, your intelligence.
 

Question 4

Did the Farnese have a hard hand with the Confalonieri of Calendasco? (Not from other places as we know). So also about the cult of San Corrado in Piacenza?
And this is because of Confalonieri, feudal lord and inhabitant and resident of Calendasco, who killed the son of Pope Paul III, Pierluigi Farnese, with others in the city of Piacenza in 1547? 
Unfortunately, the cult was stopped in Piacenza and its territory, until the expulsion, 40 years after the event, of the feudal Confalonieri of Calendasco. Paper in hand, from the originals. 

A historical answer exists. To every question. Just look for her! Sometimes you can't achieve the intent, then you have to use "historical intelligence" by connecting data and dates.

For concreteness, we will then provide data from each book, author, page, and year of publication where the many incorrect data are cited.

Umberto Battini
historical popularizer 

 

 

A DEVOTIONAL HYPOTHESIS

A DEVOTIONAL HYPOTHESIS
BRINGING SAN CORRADO CONFALONIERI 

BACK TO ITS NATIVE PLACES
 
Calendasco where he was born in the body and then converted in the hermitage and in Piacenza

 

l'Arca con il corpo di San Corrado  Traslazione di Noto del 2010 foto Umberto Battini

 

 

 

Devotional wishful thinking, perhaps one day to be able to see the Ark of San Corrado displayed in the Church of Calendasco and then carried in procession, passing through the hospitable hermitage where it was welcomed in 1315 and where it converted after the fire.
And then the passage to the Confalonieri Castle where he was born in 1290.
With obviously the stop in Piacenza too.
Wishful thinking, a simple devotional dream, but who knows!
It would be up to the Religious and Civil Authorities to carry out the entire organizational process.
Never put brakes on the Divine Providence that every Christian must believe in and which is also extensively covered in Christian Doctrine. 

 

THE GURGULARE HERMITAGE

THE GURGULARE HERMITAGE 
HISTORIC PLACE OF CALENDASCO

detail of the entrance to the Romitorio medieval hospital "del Gorgolare" now private property

BY UMBERTO BATTINI
       POPULAR HISTORIAN

This text is part of a more substantial study, which appeared in newspaper articles in Piacenza and was published in books by the same Author

An interesting local historical question, but one that made headlines in volumes published in Rome and elsewhere a few centuries ago, concerns the hospital known as “of the gorgolare”, now incorporated into the small village of Calendasco.

We have done a careful search and it turns out that it was a place known both “geographically” and “topographically” as early as ’600 by well-known historians.
The first to deal with it in 1568 was the historian of Noto Girolamo Pugliese, in one of his study books dedicated to the patron saint of that Sicilian city, who holds his holy body.
In the village on the Po River in Calendasco, until a few years ago, although abandoned, there was still a mill on the Confaloniero stream, which had been completely intubated for several decades. 

 

Practically behind the current town hall built a century ago on the lawn annexed to the mill, as evidenced for example by the Napoleonic land registry.
The ancient place, still called “molino Baffoni” in 1800, which was its owner, had a water channel that turned at an angle right near the ancient medieval hospital. 
From this unmistakable sound of the waters, which broke in this curve, the particular and local name of “hospitio del gorgolare”, produced precisely by the gurgling of the waters.

Among the historians who mention the place, therefore also dear to San Corrado for its conversion, is an important volume published in 1935 in Macerata, written by the historian Raniero Luconi in which we read that “at the beginning of the fourteenth century there existed in Piacenza, in a place called Gorgolare, a community of hermits under the obedience of Friar Aristide” the superior of the small convent hospital for pilgrims in the village.

Also in a volume of the “Acta selecta” Franciscans published in Rome in 1944 “the hermitage of the Gorgolare is mentioned where S. Corrado Confalonieri took the habit at the hands of Brother Aristide”.

Another citation comes from the historian Raffaele Pazzelli who in the volume printed in Rome in 1958 by the General Curia of the Franciscan Tower cites verbatim, censoring all the tertiary places in Italy: “the third place whose memory has been handed down to us is the hermitage convent of Calendasco near Piacenza” located right next to the mill canal.

 

 BY UMBERTO BATTINI
        POPULAR HISTORIAN

 

This text is part of a more substantial study, which appeared in newspaper articles in Piacenza and was published in books by the same Author 

 

ANNO 2023 IL TG RAI TV AL ROMITORIO

IN OCCASIONE DELLA MOSTRA

"ANTROPOCENE

ARCHEOLOGIA DI PLASTICA"

Curata da Umberto Battini 

l'importante Mostra Evento

che si tenne nel 2023 

 

Nell'anno 2023 la Mostra Evento a Calendasco 

 

Esposti sotto al portico dell'antico medievale Hospitale Romitorio

di Calendasco, oggi abitazione della famiglia di Bruno Grassi,

decine di oggetti plastici, ritrovati nel Po in secca.

 

Sono pezzi di vario genere, plastica che inquina le acque,

rilasciando microplastiche per secoli.

 

Nell'occasione anche la Rai Tv arrivò a Calendasco. 

 

LOOKING AT THE PICTURE OF SAN CORRADO

LOOKING AT THE PICTURE
OF SAN CORRADO IN CHURCH
IN CALENDASCO

by Umberto Battini
     historian of S. Corrado and popularizer

 

San Corrado 16th century painting

Sacred art, and any painting, expresses its own language, which must speak to the beholder.

This also happens with the painting from the early 17th century which is in the church in Calendasco di Piacenza: S. Corrado Confalonieri, a convert and thoughtful about his sins.

The right foot, resting naked on the raw, bare earth: here I was born, physically!
The left foot, resting naked on a bare stone, symbolizes the hermit cave of Noto!
And then the other symbols.
A very beautiful painting, to the eye and to the heart. 

Talk about the Patron. 

 

The Skull represents meditation on death, frustra, called "penance" to punish past sins, the holy rosary, the book of the Gospel. 

 

 

UN LIBRO PREZIOSO UNA FONTE STORICA

UN LIBRO PREZIOSO

UNA FONTE STORICA

Il volume sarà ripresentato online su facebook in questo autunno UN TESTO IMPORTANTISSIMO

 

Una miniera di dati inediti presi dall'Archivio di Stato di Piacenza, da quello Parrocchiale Antico ed altri, nel Testo tutti i riferimenti ai Fondi consultati dall'Autore

THE 1907 STATUE OF ST. CORRADO

FROM THE YEAR 2016 RECOVERED
REMITTANCE TO PUBLIC WORSHIP
IN THE CHURCH OF CALENDASCO 
The ancient statue of the Patron Saint Conrad

THE 1907 STATUE OF ST. CORRADO IN CHURCH IN CALENDASCO 

Here is the story of recovery

 

It had been abandoned since the 1970s in the attic of the Canonical House of the parish church of Calendasco

And even, with great devotion, even if very heavy, it was carried in procession on the solemn Feast of February 19, the day of the Dies Natalis of San Corrado Confalonieri.

One morning in a winter month, Umberto Battini, scholar and historian of S. Corrado, a devotee, found the precious statue in the attic, covered with a plastic sheet.
Looking at it he saw that it was blackened by time, but it was still in more than excellent condition, although it was painted and made of plaster it had no damage.
With the permission of the parish priest of those days, who was Don Fabio Battiato, it was taken to the first floor of the rectory, where Umberto Battini cleaned it over several days.
 
And so on the feast of February 19th of that 2016 she was once again exposed to public devotion in the church and is still on display today with the Cilio donated by the Netini in 2015 when they came to Calendasco as pilgrims.

At the end of Holy Mass the devout historian, always in agreement with the parish priest, traced a brief history of this beautiful statue, which obviously the elders remembered well.

Searching the parish archives and studying them for some time and several years, Battini discovered the documentation relating to the statue: the report of July 3, 1907, from the Parish Council of Calendasco, chaired by the parish priest and archpriest Don Giovanni Caprara and other lay people of the town, approved its purchase.
The price is indicated: "an expense of approximately L. 40", which at today's value corresponds to approximately 4000 euros. 

 

The documentation is also published in Umberto Battini's 2024 book "The Documents of the Cult of San Corrado - The Original Papers of Calendasco on the Secular Patronage."
 
Some time later, the parish priest Don Fabio Battiato had the beautiful raised wooden base that stands today built.
Since September 2025, the current parish priest, Don Fabio Galli (who resides in San Nicolò a Trebbia), has displayed it in a new setting, at the entrance to the church, still next to the majestic Cilio di Noto and four brilliant wooden candlesticks.
 
The patron saint of the village, where he was also physically born in the large castle, as per the notarial deed made in the curia in Piacenza on 9 August 1617 signed by the Bishop, after historical research, has been Saint Corrado Confalonieri for over 400 years.

In the hospitable hermitage of the village of S. Corrado, welcomed by Brother Aristide in 1315, began his lay mission as a Franciscan tertiary penitent.

He will leave and after various pilgrimages he arrives in Noto where he lives in the Valle dei Tre Pizzoni in a cave living as a hermit. 
 
There were many miracles in his life and after his death, in that rocky cave.
Calendasco and Known for these historical facts are united in the cult and devotion to their sole Patron of Heaven. 

To be fair in the historical account of the facts, we would like to point out that Umberto Battini has published some study books with documents relating to S. Corrado, in addition to dozens of popular articles on the Holy Hermit in local Piacenza newspapers and having participated in several popular conferences on the Saint of Calendasco, has organized important documentary exhibitions.

Since 2015 he has been an Honorary Member of the Cilii Bearers of Noto, a conferral that took place in the church in Calendasco. 
In 2019 he was awarded the Proserpina Siciliani nel Mondo Prize, in the Hall of Honour of the Municipality of Caravaggio, for his studies on S. Corrado and the Confalonieri family.  

 

if you copy cite the source 

 

 

THREE MONUMENTS

THE VILLAGE SEEN FROM ABOVE
I CALENDAR ITS THREE MONUMENTS 
They are a part of the historical Life of the local Patron

Saint Corrado Confalonieri, Franciscan tertiary and hermit of the Third Order. 
A noble feudal lord, who, due to youthful vicissitudes, will end up poor and disinherited. He retired among the Franciscan lay tertiary penitents to the hermitage hospital for pilgrims in Calendasco, until he himself left as a pilgrim, arriving after several years to live as a hermit in a cave in Noto, Sicily.

The place of physical birth in the year 1290: the castle, fiefdom of his Guelph family.
The place of baptism: the church of Santa Maria today with the added title of Assunta, of Lombard foundation.The hermitage hospital for pilgrims heading to the Po River pass, managed in the middle ground by lay Franciscan tertiaries "de penitentia nuncupati".

Regarding the Church, the Castle, and the Hermitage, you can find a wealth of historical material in this blog by scrolling through the pages. However, the three books published over the years, rich in documents found in the State Archives in Piacenza, Parma, Milan, and the Parish Archives of Calendasco, remain indispensable. A decades-long research and study project put into practice by Umberto Battini, historian of San Corrado and popularizer.

THE BIRTH IN THE CASTE OF CALENDASCO

IN THE FIEFDOM OF THE CONFALONIERI
GUELPH SOLDIERS OF THE BISHOP OF PIACENZA

This is how we could imagine, adding a little romanticism, the birth in the castle of Calendasco of Corrado Confalonieri, from nobleman to hermit saint 
 
In the background, as the landscape still appears today from the top of the manor tower, stands the large plain with the Po River to the north.
The Bishop of Piacenza places a fixed point on the birth date in 1617, who in the Legate Sancti Conradi, written by the curial and imperial notary, in the Bishop's Palace in Piacenza, at the behest of Count Landi, gives us this historical data.

And all this happened after the Letters of the Administrators of the Sicilian City "the Jurors" arrived from Noto in 1610, asking for historical research and information on Saint Corrado, patron saint of the City of Noto for several centuries.
These historical data have been extensively studied and presented publicly, and published in some Books dedicated to S. Corrado.  

 

IMAGE WITH AI created by UB

 

THE PROSERPINA PRIZE 17TH EDITION

IN THE TOWN OF CARAVAGGIO
THE PROSERPINA PRIZE 17TH EDITION
DELIVERED ON APRIL 14, 2019 TO UMBERTO BATTINI

A prestigious award, presented in the Hall of Honor of the Municipality of Caravaggio 

BRACCIO RELIQUIARIO

IN ARGENTO MASSICCIO

REALIZZATO CON LE OFFERTE DEI DEVOTI NETINI

Il Reliquiario del Braccio di S. Corrado

 

di Umberto Battini

    storico di S. Corrado 

 

A Noto oltre al Corpo del Patrono, custodito come ben risaputo, in una stupenda Arca d'argento, in Cattedrale si conserva anche la Reliquia del Braccio, che viene solennemente esposta durante le sante celebrazioni Patronali giornaliere agostane e di febbraio.

Realizzato dall'argentiere di Milano Devecchi. 

Nell'anno 2025 ricorrevano i 75 anni della sua realizzazione e di quando venne donato dal Popolo Netino Devoto a S. Corrado.

Nelle immagini potete notare dove sono posizionate le scritte dedicatorie ricerca-studio già presentata nel 2020.

 

Foto e ricerca a cura di Umberto Battini, studioso di San Corrado