Holiday apartment in Boschetto: Discover historical traces and waterways

Boschetto combines a palace with decorated halls, former monastery buildings and waterways that irrigate farmland in the Cremona area. In addition, there are historical place names, sites of Marian devotion and the faded fragments of a mural in Belgiardino.

Palazzo ex Duemiglia and the history of Duemiglia

The Palazzo ex Duemiglia is at the centre of the architectural history. Built in the 18th century on behalf of the Radicati family, the palace stands on the site of an old brickworks called Broletto. Several decorated reception rooms have been preserved. For a long time, the palazzo was the seat of the former municipality of Duemiglia before it was incorporated into Cremona.

Ernesto Primo Mazzolari was born on 13 January 1890 in Boschetto, a hamlet of Cremona, to Luigi and Grazia Bolli. This also gives the place a biographical connection to the history of Cremona.

Monastic history and historical place names

The former monastery buildings in Boschetto initially stood empty for a long time. They were later occupied by the monks of San Lorenzo di Spagna and subsequently by the Gerolamines, the brothers of Blessed Pietro da Pisa. The monastery was dissolved in 1772 by decision of the Austrian government. The monastery was more likely founded in the 12th century; the earlier attribution to the year 835 is not certain. For a long time, the Boschetto locality was equated with the monastery of Sancte Marie de Buscheto.

The historical names also date back a long way. For Boschetto, they are 1233 “ecclesia S. Mariae de Boscheto”, 1236 “S. Maria de Busceto”, 1259 “Boschetum” and 1296 “boschetum”. The historical Boschetto locality lay along the course of the Fregalino drainage canal and was near the Via Sablonorum, or Via de Sablonibus, which led north from Porta San Guglielmo (Porta dei Tintori).

Water, Marian devotion and small discoveries

The Roggia Buschetta and the Roggia Parracaccia jointly irrigate 846 hectares of farmland in the Cremona area. The local sacred landscape includes the church of Boschetto, named S. Maria Annunciata. Boschetto has several sites and niches dedicated to Marian devotion: some can still be visited, while others have disappeared over time.

At the entrance to Boschetto, in Belgiardino (el Belgiardéen), faded and incomplete fragments of a mural depicting the Holy Family with angels can be seen on the wall of a derelict building.

The planned cycle path project

A municipal cycle path project is intended to connect Piazzale Zelioli Lanzini in the exhibition centre area with the Boschetto district and continue to the intersection of Via Boschetto and Via Crocile near the primary school.

More places for planning your trip: Casalmaggiore, Castel Gabbiano, Cremona, Rivarolo Del Re, San Latino, Drizzona, San Giovanni in Croce, Gussola.

To the higher-level travel overview: Cremona.