Bastiglia

Bastiglia means just what it seems: a bastia, that is a small fortified castle of the feudal age, and the crenellated tower in the arms is canting, saying so without circumlocution. The village lies between the Secchia and the Panaro, a dozen kilometres north of Modena, in a land that has always had to reckon with water: a chapel dedicated to San Clemente, built on slightly higher ground and therefore safe from floods, is cited in a document of Conrad II the Salic to the church of Modena of 1026. The court around the fortification was for centuries called Villa de Cesi, from the family that had settled there around the year one thousand. The settlement grew in the second half of the fourteenth century, when the Naviglio canal was let into the Panaro: the boroughs were born with their warehouses, the mills — in the nineteenth century Bastia had twelve of them — and the chapel of Saint Nicholas of Myra, protector of those who travel on water.

That caution of a thousand years ago had its reasons, and on 19 January 2014 they were seen again. Heavy rain quickly raised the level of the Secchia, which at six in the morning broke the right bank: the water invaded the fields and in a few hours flooded the whole territory of the comune. The next day it was the turn of the old centre of Bomporto, the neighbouring village. Of the other ancient church, instead, nothing remains: Santa Maria del Pedagno, which was the parish church of the district and is documented from 1104, was demolished between 1810 and 1812.