Campagnola Emilia: an old abbey and the festival of the ciccioli

A typical farming town of the Reggio Emilia plain, Campagnola Emilia spreads across the flat, fertile fields north of the provincial capital. With around 5,500 inhabitants, it gives the visitor a taste of authentic Po-valley life, where good food and a long history go hand in hand.

The abbey of the Trinita

The place is named in a document of the 8th century, when the Lombard king Desiderio gave it to the great convent of Santa Giulia in Brescia, and Roman remains show even older roots. In the Middle Ages a fortress known as the Castellazzo guarded the settlement, held by the Da Correggio family before it was destroyed by the Visconti. A couple of kilometres outside the town, amid the fields to the south, stands the ancient abbey of the Holy Trinity with its half-abandoned monastery, a quietly atmospheric goal for a country walk.

Food and history

Campagnola is proud of its table: it is famous for ciccioli, a traditional pork delicacy celebrated each year at the Sagra del Cicciolo d'Oro, and for the sparkling Lambrusco wine of the Reggio plain.

Where it is

Campagnola Emilia is about twenty-five kilometres north of Reggio Emilia and roughly sixty north-west of Bologna, near Correggio and Novellara.