Pellegrino Parmense

Pellegrino Parmense owes its name to pilgrims: those climbing to the sanctuary of the Blessed Virgin of the Assumption at Careno used to stop here before the last ascent, and the municipal arms show precisely a pilgrim on his way to that church. The castle that dominates the village was begun in 981, when the emperor Otto II invested the Obertenghi lord Adalbert of Baden with the fief: from his two sons the Pallavicino house was born.

The castle, however, was paid for by a robbery. In 1198 cardinal Pietro Capuano was crossing the Stirone valley on his way to make peace between the men of Parma and those of Piacenza, when he was set upon by Guglielmo Pallavicino and stripped of everything he carried: with that booty the marquis rebuilt the stronghold from scratch, and for a long while nobody managed to take it. So much so that in 1249 the Guelphs of Parma, giving up the siege, had to grant Oberto II Pallavicino a pension of a thousand imperial lire. The village also has a church that tells a century of reuse: San Giuseppe, built in 1642 and later deconsecrated, served as a grain store, a garage and a telephone exchange before becoming the municipal auditorium.