We woke late and were pleased to see that it has stopped raining. There was a little sunshine in the middle of the day, but otherwise it has been overcast all day. But we really didn’t care what the weather did today as we weren’t planning on doing much!
Breakfast, blog, emails, and laundry done we strolled out into town to find a good lunch. As we have found elsewhere in Italy (and in France too) most eating places seem to be pizzerias with little else on offer. Pizza seems to us to be overrated, especially if eaten day after day! However, spying a busy cafe in the town centre we were delighted to find that it offered salads, cold meats (prosciutto di Parma in particular) and a hot meal of bass and vegetables, plus glasses of wine and a very good not-too-sweet tiramisu to follow.
It turned out that one of the chefs spoke good English and the proprietor had previously worked in London – and wanted to know which football team Tom supports…?! The chef told us he had walked to Santiago di Compostella on pilgrimage and proudly showed us the tattoo on his arm. He also said he’d seen us plodding along the road into Collecchio yesterday. We hoped he wasn’t one of the drivers at whom we’d waved our sticks for coming too close! Noting that the cafe sells filled focaccia, with an impressive array of delicious looking cooked meats hung behind the counter, we have arranged to call in there tomorrow morning when they open at 0700 to buy our lunch.
Collecchio itself is not particularly interesting compared with the towns we have visited so far. Wikipedia tells us that it has prehistoric origins and was a Roman trading centre. In medieval times it was ruled by the bishops of nearby Parma, and was later fought over by various warring noble families, but otherwise it has little notable history. Today Collecchio is a commercial centre for the huge agricultural industry in the area, including the production of charcuterie and dairy products. Most of the buildings look to be relatively new, including the mixed residential and commercial area where our hotel is situated.
Collecchio’s main claim to fame is that in 2015 it mandated the use of silent fireworks, out of consideration for animals, for which it gained international recognition. That has to be suitably obscure information for a quiz question!
Perhaps the next thing they might consider is the welfare of people who arrive in Collecchio on foot, as yesterday’s experience was neither very pleasant nor entirely safe.
On 27 April 1945 Collecchio was liberated from the occupying German Nazi army by the Brazilian Expeditionary Force after a two day battle. We weren’t previously aware of Brazilian involvement in liberating Italy and will need to do some reading up when we get home. The local people who were involved in wartime resistance activities are commemorated on an information board and a memorial in the town, and we learned that at Passo della Cisa, where we will be in a couple of days’ time, there was also a significant liberation battle.
On the way back to our hotel for the customary siesta we called in at the supermarket to stock up on food for lunches for the couple of days we will be in the mountains. It has been difficult to ascertain whether there are going to be any shops or cafes on our route, and anyway we are now wary of inaccurate or out-of-date information on the internet having got caught out several times.
With the fresh sandwiches to be bought at the Cafe Centrale tomorrow morning we are now well prepared for the next few days. All we need now is some clear weather to give us the mountain views we have been craving for the last couple of weeks.
Dear Andrea, many thanks for your cheery greeting this morning, which was a good start to our day. Collecchio may not be a touristic place but we enjoyed our rest day there. People have been very kind and friendly, and we ate well – in the Cafe Centrale in particular. We are sorry not to have met you – we understand about rushing to work, but thankfully those days are past for us. We will keep you in our thoughts as we walk on towards Rome. Best wishes, Julie and Tom
Good morning! Welcome in Collecchio, my hometown. No, it’s not a touritic place, there is not to much to see. I don’t know if you stayed inside the church of the town or in the parks, maybe better places in town. The place is not for walking people maybe because here is a place just to sleep to go to work in the morning with nervousness and rush… Unfortunately I didn’t know anything about you before the morning of your restart (I passed by bycicle and I saw “good morning” to you on foot at 8 o’ clock more or less) and I was away from home until yesterday evening. Have a nice trip!