The Italian Almanac for October 14: stories and curiosities

Bell-tower rivalries

Parma and Reggio share the name, but Bibbiano claims the cradle of Parmigiano Reggiano

The cheese carries two cities in its name, Parma and Reggio, and the protected zone spans five provinces: Parma, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Bologna west of the Reno and Mantova south of the Po. It was born in the twelfth century in the abbeys between Reggio Emilia and Parma. Then there is Bibbiano, near Reggio, which calls itself the cradle: a parchment of 1159 already mentions “formadio”, the Benedictine monks of Corniano are said to have found the recipe, and most historians credit it with the cheese's revival from the 1700s. Since 2008 six local dairies have stamped their wheels with a cradle-shaped half-wheel, and the town has a monument to Parmigiano Reggiano.

📍 Discover Bibbiano

Today's tidbits

Vanished Italy 1971

Pentedattilo, the village beneath the stone hand, abandoned in 1971

The crag above Melito di Porto Salvo, in the province of Reggio Calabria at the toe of Italy, is shaped like a giant hand with five fingers: hence the Greek name, pènta-dàktylos. Beneath the fingers, at 320 metres, stood Pentedattilo. On the night of 16 April 1686 Bernardino Abenavoli got into the castle and killed the marquis Lorenzo Alberti; seven of the attackers were later executed. The earthquake of 1783 badly damaged the village and set off a steady drift of people down to Melito. In 1968 it was declared uninhabitable, in 1971 it was abandoned for good. Today the hamlet has around forty residents, restored houses and a film festival.

📍 Melito di Porto Salvo →

Saying of the day 2008

“Lu centru de lu munnu”: in Foligno the centre of the world was a pin on a billiard table

In Foligno, in Umbria, they have always said it: “lu centru de lu munnu”, the centre of the world. The town sits at the centre of Italy, Italy at the centre of Europe and the Mediterranean, which for the ancients was the centre of the world. The exact spot: corso Cavour 60, the centre pin of the billiard table at the Caffè Sassovivo. The café is gone; a housewares shop stands there now, with a glass tile set into the floor. Eugenio Scalfari turned the phrase into a catchphrase in La Repubblica. On 29 May 2008 the town council settled the matter: the centre of the world is the Trivio, where the Roman cardo and decumanus cross and corso Cavour meets via Mazzini.

📍 Foligno →

🎉 Celebrations today in… 4

4 towns with a guide celebrate their patron saint on October 14

San Fortunato 2

TodiUmbria PeglioMarche

Other saints of the day 2

Riminisan Gaudenzio · Emilia-Romagna Ostrasan Gaudenzio di Rimini · Marche

Patron saint festival 📍 Peglio

Feast of Saint Fortunatus

📅 Every year, on 14 October

On 14 October Peglio celebrates its patron Saint Fortunatus; with just 735 residents, the territory also preserves several natural caves.

Patron saint festival 📍 Todi

Feast of Saint Fortunatus

📅 Every year, on 14 October

On 14 October Todi celebrates its patron Saint Fortunatus, bishop of the city; Todi is also the city of the Franciscan poet Jacopone da Todi.

Patron saint festival 📍 Rimini

Feast of Saint Gaudentius

📅 Every year, on 14 October

On 14 October Rimini celebrates Saint Gaudentius, its patron: an autumn date, when the beach umbrellas are down and the city belongs to its own people again.

Patron saint festival 📍 Ostra

Feast of Saint Gaudentius

📅 Every year, on 14 October

On 14 October Ostra celebrates its patron Saint Gaudentius, who gives his name to the "sprevengoli"; since 1670 the feast has been accompanied by the town's fair.