Arena Po controlled a point on the river worth taking, and twice nobody managed it: in 1216 the Milanese and the men of Piacenza laid siege to it, in 1356 the Visconti forces, and in both cases the castle held. What brought it down, in 1655, was a botched trick instead. During the war between French and Spanish the fortress was held by the French; the Spanish hid some soldiers in the village houses, meaning to storm it by surprise as soon as the defenders had come out. They came out too soon, the French got back inside in time, and the few plotters had to run for it. The castle was taken all the same, and the governor of Milan Trivulzio had it pulled down.
Within the comune's territory there was also a village whose whereabouts are no longer clear: the Comun Mandelli, which had a short life in the eighteenth century and today is hard to locate. Far better known was Parpanese, an important crossing on the Po, given in 1021 to the monastery of San Bartolomeo in Strada of Pavia, which held it without a break until the eighteenth century; until 1800 its comune reached north of the river too, then, reduced to almost nothing, it was joined to Arena Po. Of the past there remain the Romanesque church of San Giorgio and the fourteenth-century castle.
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📅 Every year, on 23 April
On 23 April Arena Po, a municipality of 1,625 inhabitants in the province of Pavia, celebrates its patron Saint George, to whom the town's church is dedicated; the Castello di Arena Po stands in its territory.
Straight-line distances from the town centre. Tap a point to open its page.
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
Outside Arena Po, but an easy day trip away.
