Holiday apartment in Stradella: culture, history and Miccone

Stradella combines a distinctive cultural history with a unique local tradition. Theaters, museums, Roman heritage, Romanesque architecture and Miccone offer different thematic perspectives on the city. In Stradella, the cultural spectrum ranges from performance history and natural history to instrument making, sacred architecture and regional bread.

Culture and collections

The Teatro Sociale di Stradella was inaugurated in September 1846 with a performance of Ernani. It follows the neoclassical theater style and was expressly designed based on the model of Teatro alla Scala. For those interested in culture, the theater combines a specific opening event with its neoclassical design modeled on Teatro alla Scala. In the field of theater, historical performance and architecture thus come together.

The “Ferruccio Lombardi” Civic Natural History Museum includes sections on geology, paleontology, paleoethnology, autotrophs and heterotrophs, as well as ecology and the environment. Special attention is given to the life cycles of bees and silkworms. Within the museum, these two life cycles form a biological focus.

The “Mariano Dallapè” Civic Accordion Museum was opened in 1999. Instruments, tools and documents illustrate the origins of the instrument and the history of the total of 44 factories that have existed in Stradella since 1876. The 44 factories provide the instrument’s history with a specific local and chronological framework. The museum also includes a faithfully reconstructed workshop with original period furnishings and a workbench from the last century. The workshop conveys the atmosphere of old workshops to visitors. The original furnishings and the workbench from the last century contribute to the museum’s artisanal character.

Historical traces and sacred architecture

Stradella lies along the route of the ancient Roman Via Postumia. The Torre civica is the surviving direct testimony of Stradella’s former fortified town. The ancient route and the Torre civica belong to different historical levels of Stradella. The historical perspective thus remains tied to the ancient route and a surviving structure of the former fortifications.

The Basilica di San Marcello in Montalino is a three-aisled basilica in the Lombard-Romanesque style. Based on architectural studies, its origins are dated to the late 11th or early 12th century; however, no certain dates are available. At the end of the 19th century, the basilica was recognized as a national monument. An exact year of origin has not been established; this does not affect the three-aisled basilica’s Lombard-Romanesque style. Recognition as a national monument therefore took place at a later stage in the building’s history.

A monumental organ built by Giacomo Serassi of Bergamo was installed in 1839 and has 2,428 pipes.

Miccone and local tradition

Miccone is a traditional bread made from firm dough, produced throughout the province of Pavia and especially in the municipality of Stradella. In Stradella, Miccone therefore stands alongside the cultural sites as an independent culinary point of reference.

Other places: Spessa, Sartirana Lomellina, San Zenone Al Po, Certosa Di Pavia, Casorate Primo, Ponte Nizza, Castello D'agogna and Castelletto Di Branduzzo.

Pavia at a glance.