Our tour of the most beautiful villages around Cremona ends in Castelponzone, a former walled town with ties to the Ponzone family.

Nestled between the countryside and the Po river, this quiet and charming village has maintained its Renaissance architecture. Now that the walls have been flattened and the moat of the old castle has been filled, the facades of the buildings have been restored and the ancient cobbled streets have been restored, Castelponzone is ready to show visitors what remains of its precious heritage.

The local history is in plain sight wherever you look: the eighteenth-century mansion known as La Villa; the rural houses with flowered balconies overlooking the tranquil countryside; the farmyards and their barns, stables, granaries and manor houses; the typical sixteenth-century arcades with every style of arch; and the artisanal shops that recall the town's ancient vocations.  

Part of Scandolara Ravara, Castelponzone has been described as a rope stretched between the land and the river, a reference to the ropes that were produced from the local hemp and that made the village a hub of flourishing trade. As a result, the village was home to countless ropemakers over the centuries. You can get some insight into their lives at the Ropemakers' Museum, which houses a range of artefacts and machinery dating back to different eras.

Other village landmarks include the precious painting of Santa Lucia by Miradori, preserved in the seventeenth-century church, and the Chiesa Vecchia (Old Church) dedicated to the Madonna, Queen of Peace, a shining example of the transition between late Romanesque and Lombard Gothic architecture.