In 614 AD, the Irish monk Colombano (St. Columbanus) founded a monastery at Bobbio that became one of the most important centers of learning in early medieval Europe. The scriptorium produced manuscripts that preserved classical knowledge through the Dark Ages — some are now in Turin, Milan, and the Vatican. The monastery still stands (now the Museo dell'Abbazia di San Colombano), and the town that grew around it is a medieval borgo of extraordinary charm on the Trebbia river — the valley that Hemingway (who fished here during WWII) called "the most beautiful in the world." The Ponte Gobbo (Hunchback Bridge) — an 11-arch Roman/medieval bridge with an irregular profile that legend says the Devil built in one night (crooked because the saints kept distracting him) — crosses the Trebbia below the town. Emilia-Romagna →
Plan my Emilia trip →Abbazia di San Colombano: The monastery complex (7th century, rebuilt multiple times) — the Basilica with a Romanesque crypt containing San Colombano's tomb, and the Museo dell'Abbazia (manuscripts, medieval objects, the abbey's story from Colombano's arrival to the present). €5. Ponte Gobbo: The 280-meter hunchback bridge — 11 arches of unequal height crossing the Trebbia. Walk across at sunset for the classic Bobbio photograph. The centro storico: Piazza Santa Fara (medieval market square), Palazzo Malaspina (now town hall), medieval tower houses, and the narrow lanes climbing from the river to the abbey. The Trebbia river: Crystal-clear water, swimmable in summer at multiple points along the valley. The pebble beaches downstream from the Ponte Gobbo are popular.
Getting there: car from Piacenza (45min), Genoa (1.5h via Val Trebbia — one of Italy's most beautiful drives). Bus from Piacenza (1h). Stay: €45-80/night. Eat: Enoteca San Nicola (€25-35 — pisarei e fasò, the Piacenza pasta-and-beans), Osteria del Ponte Gobbo (€20-30). Combine with: Piacenza (45min), Val Trebbia drive (scenic — Hemingway country), Genova (1.5h via the valley).