The town lies at the foot of the Pietra di Bismantova, a narrow, sheer-sided plateau that stands alone in the middle of the Apennines, a little over a thousand metres up. The Byzantines put a garrison on its summit, the Kastron Bismanto, and the castle already appears in a traveller's diary of 628: from up there the road between Parma and Lucca was kept under watch. The name in the form we use today, however, was first written down by Dante, in the Purgatorio.
At the foot of the Pietra stands the pieve of Campiliola, called «de Bismantova», older than 980 and for centuries the largest in the diocese of Reggio: by 1272 it held land in sixty places in the Apennines and had twenty-four dependencies. It is also the church that will not stay still, because the marl beneath the foundations holds the rainwater and has undermined it again and again, so that it has been restored and rebuilt in every age. On the municipal coat of arms three stars count the parishes and communities gathered up here.
Tagliatelle al Ragù · Aceto Balsamico di Modena
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Next up: Saint Pancras, patron of the land of the Hermitage of Bismantova, Wednesday 12 May
Nearest airport: Parma, 44 km away
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📅 Every year, on 12 May; in August the Cittaslow network's square festival
Castelnovo ne' Monti celebrates Saint Pancras on 12 May. The town, a member of Cittaslow, the international network of towns for good living, holds a square festival in August dedicated to promoting local products.
Cooked grape must and wine vinegar aged in wooden barrels: Aceto Balsamico di Modena has held Protected Geographical Indication status since 2009.
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The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Castelnovo ne' Monti, but an easy day trip away.
