Piacenza: between rocky hermitages and legendary valleys

The Piacenza area responds to the call of silence with an almost alpine solemnity. In the city, the Kronos Museum at the Cathedral has recently opened a ‘Quiet Room’ in the Upper Sacristy, an immersive, multi-sensory space designed to foster deep contemplation. Travelling up the Trebbia Valley, one arrives at Bobbio, where the Abbey of San Colombano preserves intact the aura of the great monastic centres of the Early Middle Ages – a magnet for tranquillity that extends to the nearby Spelonca di San Michele, the cave hermitage linked to the memory of the Irish saint. Moving through the hills, the Abbey of Chiaravalle della Colomba surprises visitors with its extremely rare 14th-century Gothic cloister, whilst the Sanctuary of Santa Franca in Vitalta and the Sanctuary of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin in Santa Maria del Monte, overlooking a region boasting no fewer than seventeen DOC wine appellations and with views stretching as far as the Alps, offer travellers the chance to reconnect with a contemplative dimension that carries the scent of woodland and aged wine.