Bobbio and the Ponte Gobbo
The abbey of San Colombano
In the Val Trebbia, in the Apennines of Piacenza, a valley that Ernest Hemingway is said to have called "the most beautiful in the world", Bobbio is an ancient village of stone, one of the "Borghi più belli d'Italia", with a long and important history. In 614 the Irish monk Saint Columbanus, one of the great missionaries who re-evangelised Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, founded here, with the support of the Lombard king Agilulf, the Abbey of San Colombano, which became one of the most important cultural centres of the early Middle Ages: its scriptorium and its library, with hundreds of precious manuscripts, now scattered among the great libraries of Europe, were famous throughout the Christian world. It is said that Umberto Eco drew inspiration from it for the library of "The Name of the Rose".
The abbey complex, with the basilica, the crypt with the tomb of Saint Columbanus, the cloister and the Museo dell'Abbazia, can be visited. The symbol of Bobbio, however, is the Ponte Gobbo, the "hunchback bridge", also called the Devil's Bridge, an ancient stone bridge about 280 metres long, with eleven irregular arches of different sizes, which crosses the Trebbia with a curious undulating profile. According to legend, it was built in one night by the devil, who in exchange asked for the soul of the first being to cross it, but Saint Columbanus sent a dog across. The village also has the Malaspina castle and the cathedral. In summer, the clear waters of the Trebbia attract swimmers to its beaches and pools.
Tip: in summer swim in the Trebbia below the bridge; taste the local snails and the "maccheroni alla bobbiese", made with a knitting needle.
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