Discovering Northern Italy: Grazzano Visconti, near Piacenza

Italy’s endlessly fascinating history is brought to life wherever you look.
The whole country is a treasure trove of castles, old churches, impressive roman ruins and hamlets from the Medieval times (which now and then need some fixing).
But this time I only want to focus on Grazzano Visconti, a small village, near Piacenza, which in the early years of the 20th century was literally turned into a Medieval hamlet.

This amazing project was the brainchild of Giuseppe Visconti Modrone, a nobleman who did his best to create a neo-medieval village; he even went the extra mile by establishing arts and crafts guilds modelled on the Medieval ones.
Despite its artificial nature, the place is well worth visiting.
To stroll through the park which surrounds the castle (Italian movie director Luchino Visconti lived there for many years as a child) or do some shopping at the local botteghe or workshops is quite an enjoyable experience and if you love pageants, you can’t afford to miss the amazing historical re-enactment of a famous joust called Giostra del Biscione which every year takes place in Grazzano on May 31.