Immersed in the greenery of the Oltrepò Pavese like a pearl surrounded by oak and chestnut woods, Fortunago (PV) is a village to be discovered with patience.

Patience while meandering through the gentle hills and patience while admiring the careful recovery of a past era with its facades of exposed stone, natural wooden windows and the paved porphyry streets.

The suffused lighting, wooden benches, the careful attention to green public spaces make this village a perfect example of balance between modernity and tradition.

Good taste is everywhere: in the living stone of the exteriors, the flowers on the balconies, the church candles, the neatly trimmed hedges, the insects in the apple fields, the birds scattered throughout the vineyards, the focaccia cooked on hot stone, the kind local people.

You have to come in spring, when the forest is a flowering of perfumes, primroses, daffodils and periwinkles. The wheat fields add more colours: sunny yellow stems and the deep blues as the cornflowers bloom. The sun warms even the pastel tones of the houses and the bell tower that stands out above all the rest.

And there’s always something to find in the village. For example, a mineral water spring just behind the restaurant that serves excellent local wine, typical of the area.

Or the wooden tempera triptych in the seventeenth-century church of San Giorgio, with the central Pesina signed table, or in the lunette above the portal, where there is a valuable frescoed Annunciation. Or the remains of the ancient castle just below the church with a rectangular tower from the fifteenth century and traces of walls.

But the whole country, now restored, bewitches like a poem that does not age over time.

BORGHI PIÙ BELLI D’ITALIA #INLOMBARDIA