A castle that is rumoured to be home to haunting presences, an immensely charming landscape and a summer festival dedicated to the melon have made this small jewel of the Po Valley famous.
The Castle (or villa) Mina dalla Scala towers over the road connecting Rivarolo Mantovano to San Giovanni in Croce, with its vast 4-sides structure with towers, turrets and enclosure walls. Beyond the road is Casteldidone.
Built at the end of the 16th century, the Villa is the result of subsequent renovations and rebuilding works , while the internal decorations all date back to the Eighteen century and have been made by different hands. The oratory of Sant'Antonio, part of the complex, dates back to 1680.
It is a common legend that the Villa is inhabited by "presences": the ghost of an ancient Contessina would appear on the night of the first full moon in January , in search of the sister who died of plague in the seventeenth century. In January 2016, the Brescia association Hesperya, which studies paranormal phenomena, spent the night of the January full moon in the castle, filming and recording material to try and find traces of such otherworldly presence, which would corroborate this myth.
Another place worth visiting is the church of Saints Abdon and Sennen: built around 1840 on the old church dating back to the 15th century, it is in the neoclassical style with a Latin cross, a large dome and a skylight; it features three chapels on each side and only one nave. It is the work of Luigi Voghera, who in that age worked long and prolifically in the territory between Oglio and Po, linking its name to almost all the major architectural works being made in the Nineteenth century, such as the Castles and Villas of Torre de' Picenardi, San Lorenzo de' Picenardi, Cicognolo and so on. The façade has vaguely Palladian references.
Next to the church is the Cascina Cavalca, a transformation of the ancient Castle of Casteldidone, already in 1309 described as a village surrounded by a defensive moat and equipped with a fortified tower. This is the oldest core of the town. The upper part of the farmhouse is what remains of the tower which has a Fifteenth-century cornice to the East. The castle represented a shelter for the inhabitants in case of war and was therefore endowed with ample space for provisioning and sheltering. Like many other forts in the area in the Seventeenth century it was used as a farmhouse.
to manage your profile, your preferences and your stored contents
to upload your tourist offers and discover B2B opportunities