Holiday apartment in Castellazzo Bormida: Churches, History and the Bormida

Castellazzo Bormida features historic religious buildings, a trail through cultivated fields and a regional Zucca tradition. The Torrione, several churches and the Santuario della Beata Vergine della Creta are among the town’s historic and religious sites.

Churches, Frescoes and Historical Traces

The Torrione is part of Castellazzo Bormida’s 15th- and 16th-century ring of fortifications. The Chiesa di Santa Maria della Corte contains a late-14th-century fresco depicting Saint Roch and Saint Sebastian. The church is traditionally identified with a church mentioned in a document from 1005; its foundation is attributed to Maria, the daughter of the Lombard King Adalbert.

The Chiesa di Santi Carlo e Anna also connects a specific place with a distinctive historical trace: between 1720 and 1721, Paolo Daneo wrote the first text of the Passionist Rule in the sacristy behind the church. The rooms he occupied in the Chiesa di Santi Carlo e Anna now house a small museum about his life. The Chiesa di Santo Stefano dates back to the second half of the 11th century and was probably founded as a monastery. Of the oldest Romanesque elements, the three slightly altered apses and the crypt have been preserved in particular.

The Chiesa della Trinità da Lungi was probably built around 1130 by the Regular Canons of Santa Croce di Mortara and was first mentioned in a document in 1134. Large parts of the apse, the course of some walls and finely crafted Byzantine-influenced capitals from the originally Romanesque church have survived. It also preserves 14th- and 15th-century frescoes, as well as sophisticated sculptural detailing of the capitals.

Special Experiences and Local Traditions

The Santuario della Beata Vergine della Creta displays numerous painted votive panels in the access corridor to the Rotonda. In 1947, Pius XII granted the Santuario the title of Patroness of Centaurs by papal bull. Since 1946, an international motorcycle riders’ gathering has been held there every year on the second Sunday in July. At Christmas, the Confraternita della Pietà houses a mechanized nativity scene. In addition, there were nine confraternities in Castellazzo Bormida in the 16th century.

Circular Trail and Regional Zucca

The Anello Castellazzo B.Da - Castelspina circular trail begins at Piazzale I Maggio in Castellazzo Bormida and ends at the Chiesa Santo Stefano in the same municipality. The route passes through cultivated fields and tree-lined strips of land near the Bormida River. Zucca di Castellazzo Bormida is a traditional agricultural and food product particularly associated with the plain of the Bormida River.

More places for your travel planning: Borghetto Di Borbera, Sanico, Fabiano, Camino, Carpeneto, Ciglione, Sale, Ricaldone.

To the overarching travel overview: Alessandria.