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Grazzano Visconti is a medieval village in the municipality of Vigolzone, Val Nure in the area of Piacenza. The centre of the village is private, but it is open to the public. It is the ancient castle of the 1395. It is surrounded by a wide park of 15 hectares, which Giuseppe Visconti had realised in the same period. It is composed of centuries-old trees, hundreds of hortensias and roses, marble statues, fountains and small moats controlled by shutters, which are moved by hand. One of the most important elements, the belvedere facing Grazzano stream, is decorated with a marble statue representing Apollo, a labyrinth, an Italian style garden and a Baroque basin behind the castle.

History. The first pieces of information about the locality date back to the year 1000, but the Visconti family, lords of Milan, built the castle in 1395, to honour the marriage of Beatrice visconti, sister of Gian Galeazzo duke of Milan, with Giovanni Anguissola, who belonged to one of the most important families of Piacenza. The building was realised from a squared scheme with four towers on each corner and an interior courtyard surrounded by porticos.

The propriety remained to the Anguissola family till 1884, when it was handed down to the counts Visconti di Modrone. Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone had the village, Grazzano, modified. In fact, the colonial houses in ruins were transformed into medieval style inhabitations, in order to star a school of local handicraft in the fields of wrought iron and wood mahogany, which is still present today. In addition to the castle, the village is also composed of other fascinating buildings, such as churches, Palazzo delle Istitutzioni, the mill, fountains, and Albergo del Biscione, on whose façade is present the symbol of the family: a great red poppy with an inscription, which must be read in the opposite sense (it was designed in this way to honour Leonardo da Vinci): “Impipetene e guarda in alto”.

The park. Count Giuseppe Visconti di Modrone had refurbished together with the garden, the castle and its surrounding park. The style of this element of the building is considered now eclectic, with traces of the Italian style garden and of the English one: it is rich in arboreal species and some of them are ancient, formal hedges, geometrical flowerbeds, topiary shapes, sinuous paths. It is divided into areas: one is dedicated to the formal garden, which is characterised by to wide parterre enclosed into chains covered by Hedera helix and decorated by the statues of the Four Seasons, by the fountain of Orfeo and huge topiary shapes..

In front of them and around them, the English  style garden extends itself. It is crossed by shadowy walk ways with Taxus baccata, poplars and lindens; there are also 3 alleys of different widths, one is surrounded by rows of Celtis australis and another one by Populus x hybrida. Apart from yews, there numerous species of evergreens like cypresses (Cupressus sempervirens spp.), pines, Quercus ilex, Myrtus communis and Buxus semprevirens. There are also native species like Quercus robur, elms, black poplars (Populus nigra), Corylus avellana, Acer campester, Prunus avium, hornbeams and ashes. There are also undergrowth shrubs such as Cornus sanguinea and Ligustrum vulgaris, and numerous roses and hortensias. Among the ultra secular trees, there is a  plane tree more than 150 years old, a linden of 80 years and a magnificent group of Cedrus libani.

Behind the castle on the eastern side, there is a neobaroque fish pool decorated with vases and allegorical statues. From this point, starts a long walk after the plants of privets. North from this shadowy path, it is possible to reach a belvedere facing the country. At the western side of the fish pool, there is a small cottage in medieval style; this suggestive building was built for count Giuseppe’s sons and from there it is possible to enter a polygonal labyrinth of box trees. There is also a pool dating back to the beginning of the 20^th century, which is decorated by a statue of Neptune.

The park is watered by the Grazzano stream, thanks to a complex hydro-system with channels, small moats and  shutters.

Wildlife rescue centre and “Festival dei Gufi”The park hosts a wildlife rescue centre and also the Festival dei Gufi, which is a unique event in all Europe entirely dedicated to the world of nocturnal predatory birds, since 2013. The festival takes place in the third weekend of September. On this occasion the owls cured and rehabilitated in the various wildlife rescue centres. There are also art exhibitions, round tables, craftsmanship markets and games for children of every age.
During spring animation Sundays are organised. Children are allowed to dress up with themed costumes to live the adventures personally, while the historical parade on the last weekend of May, during which hundreds of costumed characters in the Renaissance style, a they personify jugglers, soldiers, knights and acrobats who revoke Valentina Visconti’s travel to France, the bride to be of  Luigi d’Orlèans.
Recently, “Butterfly Heaven” has been built: a garden composed of plants and flowers capable of attracting butterflies and insects like ladybugs and fireflies, in order to see them nocturnal tours are organised.

The park has organised for the last two years during the last weekend of September an exhibition and market of plants and flowers  Verde Grazzano, where are present the excellences of Italian and foreign floriculture.

This post is also available in: Italiano (Italian)