Gualtieri

Gualtieri is one of the jewels of the Bassa Reggiana, that part of the plain that lives in constant dialogue with the Po River, made up of fertile countryside, rural courtyards, historic villages, and landscapes suspended between water, fog, and light, where centuries-old traditions and rural life continue to mark the slow pace of the territory.

Its origins date back to the Lombard era, when the place was known as Castrum Vultureno and then Castrum Walterii, residence of the Lombard Gualtiero in the 7th century. But it was between the 15th and 17th centuries that Gualtieri took on the identity that still distinguishes it today: first under the Sforza family, then under the Este family, until it became the marquisate of the Bentivoglio family, who built one of the most extraordinary “new cities” of the Po Valley Renaissance here.

It is precisely to the Bentivoglio family that Gualtieri owes its spectacular Piazza Bentivoglio, considered one of the most beautiful squares in Italy: a perfect square measuring 96 meters on each side, lined with elegant porticoes and designed by Ferrara architect Giovan Battista Aleotti, known as l’Argenta, as a large urban theater that would enhance the power of the family. Dominating the eastern side of the square stands the majestic Palazzo Bentivoglio, what remains of an originally enormous monumental complex, divided into four 90-meter-long terracotta buildings. Inside, there are frescoed rooms of rare beauty: the Salone dei Giganti, the Sala dell’Eneide, the Sala di Icaro, the Sala di Giove, the Cappella Gentilizia, and the Sala dei Falegnami, all examples of the late Mannerist elegance that marked the era.

The palace also houses the Antonio Ligabue Documentary Museum and Study Center, dedicated to the great 20th-century naïve painter who lived for many years in Gualtieri, and a rich exhibition dedicated to master tailor Umberto Tirelli.

Next to the palace are the Civic Tower and the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria della Neve, also designed by Argenta and rebuilt in the 18th century after a disastrous flood. Not far away, the refined Church of the Conception (16th century) is worth a visit, with its splendid carved wooden ceiling dating back to 1650, as is the picturesque Teatro Sociale, an 18th-century gem known as the “upside-down theater” due to the inverted layout of the stalls and stage.

Completing the elegant appearance of the village is the stylish Villa Torello-Malaspina-Guarienti, accessible via a perpendicular avenue, with its romantic English garden, one of the most evocative in the province. Not far away, in the hamlet of Santa Vittoria, stands the 18th-century Palazzo Greppi, a monumental rural residence that has recently been restored.

Between history, nature, and land reclamation

Gualtieri is closely linked to the waters of the Po River and the hydraulic engineering works that have transformed the Reggio Emilia plain over the centuries. The large-scale land reclamation projects commissioned by Cornelio Bentivoglio between the 16th and 17th centuries, which made the ancient marshlands cultivable, are still fully operational today and can be visited via cycle paths immersed in the rural landscape.

The Po floodplain offers unique naturalistic views: poplar woods, oxbow lakes, former quarries transformed into small lakes, dirt tracks, and panoramas that tell the story of the millennial relationship between man and river. Fishermen, washerwomen, millers, and Ligabue himself lived here, finding many of his most intense subjects in the wild nature of the floodplain.