Via Romea Germanica Day 80: Anguillara Veneta - Rovigo

 

Now I know what the "unidentifiable crop" I have been seeing in the fields is: sweet potatoes. The soil around Anguillara Veneta is perfect for them, and the majority of Italy's sweet potatoes are grown here. But this American vegetable does not traditionally figure in the Italian diet, and so growers have trouble selling them here, or elsewhere in Europe. "The producers' association should be doing more to educate people about the potential of sweet potatoes," grumbled Oscar, Giovanna's husband and the other half of the Pane e Bellezza agri-campground management, when I met him outside the wash-house at 7 am and asked what he was harvesting today. Oscar and Giovanna farm about 30 hectares of land, in addition to running the campground and associated children's petting zoo with farm animals - donkeys, goats, cows, rabbits, chicken and geese - and raising four children. Three of them are teenagers, and already contribute to the running of the farm; the smallest just began first grade, on Monday.

Oscar with Giacomo (17) heading out to harvest sweet potatoes 

Pane e Bellezza campground in the morning

Taking my leave, I returned to the embankment of the Gorzone canal and followed it all the way into Anguillara Veneta, where I was lucky to arrive during a village festival that is only held once every five years. 

Anguillara Veneta 

Anguillara owes its name to the eel (anguilla) fishery, and the presence of fixed eel-catching equipment on the Adige River is in fact documented since 1171. The town has always been a transit point on the Via Romea Germanica, as it was until modern times the only place where it was possible to cross the river Adige - by ferry, until today's wrought iron bridge was built in 1922.

"Anguillara is, in fact, among the places indicated by the Abbot Albert along the route to return, in 1236, from Rome to his hometown of Stade, in northern Germany: a journey of over two thousand two hundred kilometers that today constitutes the route of the Via Romea Germanica.

Described in the Annales Stadenses compiled by Albert himself between 1240 and 1256, essentially a guide for pilgrims from northern Europe who wanted to reach Rome. According to the Abbot Albert's instructions, after completing the Apennine section and crossing the valleys between Ravenna and Ferrara, the pilgrims proceeded from Ferrara to Rovigo and from there to Padua, and then toward the northern regions, passing through Anguillara, where the crossing over the Adige was located. From this point, in fact, after crossing the river, one could take the ancient Gorzon embankment which at the time, flanking the marshes, allowed the pilgrims to continue to Padua via Conselve or Monselice.

After those provided by Abbot Albert, other authors report similar instructions for the traveller interested in travelling along the same route." 

- (from the information panel in the photograph above)

The town of Anguillara Veneta is currently celebrating its festival in honour of Maria Addolorata, the Virgin depicted in a 15th-century Pietà sculpture which is normally kept in the Oratorio del Capitello. The Oratorio is at the moment closed, awaiting safety inspection and approval to reopen following damage to the roof in a violent storm. But luckily for me, because of the festival, the sculpture group - which is quite small and portable - is currently on display at various locations around the town, different every day. Today it was in the parish church, in the centre of the town, where I happened to arrive just as a special mass was beginning. 

All the buildings in town - churches, shops and houses, from the grandest to the most humble, even including houses that were empty and up for sale - were decorated for the festival with blue and white ribbons.

The Oratorio del Capitello 

The Pietà of Anguillara Veneta 

The Pietà, or Our Lady of Sorrows, of the Oratorio del Capitello in Anguillara Veneta is a Vesperbild of the Salzburg school, datable to around 1420. Characteristic is the position of the Mother supporting her dead Son on her lap, following the Germanicscheme of the Schöne Vesperbilder (Beautiful Pietàs). It is made of Gußstein, a kind of artificial stone that is easy to model, composed of microcrystalline gypsum and aggregates. It may have belonged to the original church of Anguillara, destroyed by floods of the Adige. According to tradition, however, it miraculously appeared to a local woman in the area where it is still preserved today. It is now kept inside this small church, notable for its unusual plan, built in 1865 to the design of one Federico Tietz of Trieste as an ex-voto for deliverance from the cholera epidemic. 

Until the mid-15th century the church was annexed to a hospice for pilgrims, and it is not unlikely that the arrival of this Vesperbild here is connected with that institution, frequented by travelers coming from beyond the Alps along the route of the Via Romea Germanica. 

The history of the cholera epidemic and the sculpture was the subject of the priest's sermon. Attending mass offers a key to connecting with the community, and before the service was even finished the lady sharing my pew was asking me about my pilgrimage, shortly joined by another curious parishioner. As soon as I had answered their questions I went off toward the sacristy in search of the retreating priests (there were three of them), to ask for a stamp on my pilgrim credential. The priests put me in the hands of a deacon of the church, who suggested I view the exhibition about the Pietà sculpture - and its connection with the Via Romea Germanica. 

Presiding over the exhibition was Luigi Polo, professor of physics, amateur historian and director on the Board of the Italian association of the Via Romea Germanica. Luigi explained that there are several depctions of the Virgin holding the body of Christ in this particular position in various locations along the Via Romea Germanica. He also explained tome the reason for the bend in the Way at this point: the area between Monselice and Rovigo was an impassable swamp, and the only crossing over the Adige was at Anguillara. 

Saying goodbye to Luigi and the good people of Anguillara, I proceeded on my way, passing through the weekly market in front of the parish church.

I then crossed the bridge over the Adige and turned eastward along the southern bank of the river, walking southwest along the embankment as far as Boara Polesine.

I left the Adige just after Boara Polesine and entered Rovigo on a cycling path along a small canal that took me past the city's trade fair centre and its railway station.