VIRTUAL GEOCACHING in Novara
VIRTUAL WALK TO DISCOVER MYSTERIES & LEGENDS with a GEOCACHING TWIST
VIRTUAL WALK TO DISCOVER MYSTERIES & LEGENDS with a GEOCACHING TWIST
45The BROLETTO map
The name Broletto comes from the Latin "Brolo", which means courtyard. In the Middle Ages the Broletto was the centre of the political and social life of the city.
The palaces that surround the courtyard were built in different periods - the oldest building is the Arengo Palace, that dates back to the XIII century. On the higher part of the façade of the Arengo Palace, there is a painted frieze that according to several scholars tells the story of the legendary birth of Novara. |
THE NOBLE FRANK, THE LADY AND HER LOVER
The story goes that, in the old times, on occasion of a Jubilee, a young man of royal origins was travelling to Rome from the land of the Franks with his beautiful wife. The journey was long and quite exhausting, so they decided to stop for a few days in a place called Casaleggio (a village still existing nowadays, not far from Novara). The couple were hosted for a few days by a noble family in their manor. There, the beautiful lady fell in love with a young nobleman, beginning a love affair.
While the husband was getting ready to leave and continue the journey to Rome, his wife was looking for an excuse to remain in those lands with her lover, so she pretended she was sick. Her husband, who was at the same time self-centered and naive, left for Rome by himself. But on the way to Rome, he kept thinking about his wife, and he felt guilty, so he decided to go back to her. Unfortunately, once there he caught the two lovers by surprise. His rage was furious: he set the castle to fire, and ordered his wife to be burnt and her lover to be hanged.
In the old times this sort of things were quite normal, so the pope pardoned the noble Frank, provided he would have built a church in the name of the saints Gervasio and Protasio, in honour of the bishop of Milan, who was the owner of the lands. The church was soon erected on a small hill between the rivers Agogna and Terdoppio. And near the church a new town was established – its name was NOVARIA.
Of course this is just a tale, but it contributes to give a romantic and dramatic twist to the story of the city.
The story goes that, in the old times, on occasion of a Jubilee, a young man of royal origins was travelling to Rome from the land of the Franks with his beautiful wife. The journey was long and quite exhausting, so they decided to stop for a few days in a place called Casaleggio (a village still existing nowadays, not far from Novara). The couple were hosted for a few days by a noble family in their manor. There, the beautiful lady fell in love with a young nobleman, beginning a love affair.
While the husband was getting ready to leave and continue the journey to Rome, his wife was looking for an excuse to remain in those lands with her lover, so she pretended she was sick. Her husband, who was at the same time self-centered and naive, left for Rome by himself. But on the way to Rome, he kept thinking about his wife, and he felt guilty, so he decided to go back to her. Unfortunately, once there he caught the two lovers by surprise. His rage was furious: he set the castle to fire, and ordered his wife to be burnt and her lover to be hanged.
In the old times this sort of things were quite normal, so the pope pardoned the noble Frank, provided he would have built a church in the name of the saints Gervasio and Protasio, in honour of the bishop of Milan, who was the owner of the lands. The church was soon erected on a small hill between the rivers Agogna and Terdoppio. And near the church a new town was established – its name was NOVARIA.
Of course this is just a tale, but it contributes to give a romantic and dramatic twist to the story of the city.
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As mentioned earlier, it was in the Broletto courtyard and in the surrounding buildings that in the old days the city's public life was taking place:
NORTH the Arengo Palace, the oldest building (XIII century) – it was the seat of the City Council;
EAST the Paratici Palace, the Guild Palace - it belonged to the guilds’ corporations; its older part dates back to the 13th century, it was later renewed and enlarged in the XVIII century and embellished with a loggia;
SOUTH the Palace of the Podestà (XIV-XV century) - it was the palace of the Chief Magistrate of the town (the highest position in a city in Medieval times); it has ogival arches and windows with brick frames;
WEST the Palace of the Refendari (XIV-XV century) - it was the palace of the officers working for the Podestà.
In the yard a market took place daily: stalls were placed all around; the town criers made their announcements from a tall stone, and under the arches the consuls of justice had their work benches. The convicts were condemned to the stocks and exposed to public humiliation.
The city taxes were also paid under the north porches, and each neighbourhood and village had a separate table recognisable by its coats of arms, usually depicting various animals such as the bear, the lion, the deer and the eagle.
The city taxes were also paid under the north porches, and each neighbourhood and village had a separate table recognisable by its coats of arms, usually depicting various animals such as the bear, the lion, the deer and the eagle.
In the North-Eastern side of the courtyard you can still find a well. In 1356 the troops of the Marquis of Monferrato occupied the city. The inhabitants of the city and the surrounding villages, especially those from Galliate and Trecate, were afraid new taxes would have been asked by the new rules so, they attacked the Broletto, seized the benches of the notaries, stole the tax documents and threw them into the well.
The Broletto complex was heavily damaged in the 1800s, and it was then restored for the first time in the 1920s. For the 150th Anniversary of the Italian unification (in 2011) it was restored and refurbished again to its original state. Some of the rooms now host the prestigious Modern Art gallery “Paolo and Adele Giannoni”. The collection includes paintings of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, which were donated to the City of Novara by the art collector Alfredo Giannoni, provided that the gallery was named after his parents (entrance to the Gallery is under the north porch). |
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