The name Pontevico derives from LatinVicus Pontis, which means "town of the bridge", because the bridge had a great strategic importance: crossed by the Via Brixiana and built on the Oglio river, it connects the province of Brescia to the Cremona's.[3]
Before the Roman-Gallic wars, Pontevico was inhabited by the Cisalpine Gauls. However, the town was probably founded under the Roman Empire: looking at the town from above, the centuriation of the original nucleus is clearly visible. Pontevico was crossed by the Via Brixiana, a Roman consular road which connected Cremona(lat. Cremona) to Brescia (lat. Brixia), from which Roman roads passed and then branched out towards the entire Cisalpine Gaul.[4][5]
In the 6th century the navigation had a high importance, so Theodoric imposed a removal of the fishing equipment along the river to not impede the passage of boats.[6] Due to the Magyarsinvasions, between the 9th and 10th century a castle in the town was built,[7] called munitissimum castrum due to its great size.[8]
Until the 13th century, the town was divided into the New and the Old ones, which had its own church and its own castle. In this period, there were opened the first hospices for pilgrims and sicks. Since 1170, the Hospitale is still present today, which gives the name to its street.[9]
During the High Middle Ages, Pontevico immediately sided with Guelphs and its castle became the theater of battles between the two factions. In 1237, in the eve of the Battle of Cortenuova, the Guelph army was camped in the local fortress but it made the mistake of leaving the castle, leaving uncovered the left bank of the Oglio river. So, Federico II could pass the river and he entered in the castle, starting his march to Cortenuova.[10][11]
Under the Venetian rule, Pontevico was a very important port and stronghold for the Serenissima which granted privileges to the town which were named Curia, Castello and Borgo. In the local port there was a trading station where colonial products were sold and fodder, linen, iron and wood was imported.[13]
Due to the big importance which Venetians gave to Pontevico, its inhabitants especially during the War of the League of Cambrai proved to be very loyal to the Republic,[13] to the point of organizing a revolt against the French where Serenissima was alone against France, Spain and the Holy Roman Empire, in 1510.[14]
During this period, in Pontevico the weekly market was established (1559)[15][16] and an abbey church was built (1584).[17] In 1630, due to the plague of 1629, the local noble Francesco Capparino founded the Pio Luogo Poveri.[18]
With the fall of the Republic of Venice (1797) and the disappearance of the fluvial market, caused by the appearance of the rail transport, the town during the 19th century experienced a phase of decline and the agriculture became the main activity. Due to this transformation, the poverty and the pellagra were very widespread. To solve this problem, during this period on the territory were founded lots of charitable organizations, the biggest one was the Istituto per Frenasteriche ed Epilettiche (1901), founded by Bassano Cremonesini and placed in the castle and still operating.[18][19]
The town industrialization was so low and the first important industrial center was opened in 1908: it was called Società Filatura di Lino e Canape.[20] But the mass industrialization only occurred during the Italian economic miracle. However the first factory got closed in 1956, in the 1960s its area became an artisan settlement.[21]
Then, between the 1960s and the 1970s, the town expansion began (which still continues) when modern neighborhoods and numerous public works were created: the municipal library (1970), the methane network, the new nursery school (1977) and the new primary one (1983), the new and bigger aqueduct, later placed side by side to the wastewater purifier (1986) and the sports center with palasport (1980). During this years, the castle, which was destroyed in 1844 and transformed into a tenement, was profoundly restored and brought back to his medieval form. But are also dated back to that period the closure of the Ospedale Civile Gorno Ruffoni, an important hospital located in the Frazione of Chiesuola, in 1977 and the crash of the bridge on the Oglio river, which fell in the same year and was rebuilt in 1978.[9][22]
Main sights
Castle of Pontevico: a romanesque-styledearly Middle Agescastle built during the 9th century and remodeled several times over the centuries due to the continuous sieges suffered over the time. Since 1901, it's a neuropsychiatric institute.
Chiesa dei Santi Tommaso e Andrea Apostoli: an Abbeychurch built during the 16th century and restored and expanded several times until the 1960.
Cimitero Monumentale
From left to right: the Castle of Pontevico, Chiesa dei Santi Tommaso e Andrea Apostoli and Cimitero Monumentale.
Natural sights
The Oglio river near Pontevico.
Northern Oglio Regional Natural Park
Strone Natural Park
Transportation
Pontevico is crossed from south to north by the Strada Statale 65bis Gardesana Occidentale and from east to west by a provincial road.
The town is served together with Robecco d'Oglio by a railway station (named Robecco-Pontevico), located in Robecco on the Brescia–Cremona line and by a motorway toll booth, located near the Pontevico's Frazione of Chiesuola long the Torino-Brescia highway.
