Original scientific paper
Porti fluviali e ponti in età medievale. Il Po e l’area padana
Roberto Greci
; University of Parma, Italy
Abstract
During the Middle Ages the Po Valley garantees the continuity of trade and the progress of the economy of northern Italy. The sources tell us that many river ports and docks were useful to the manors of monasteries and churches, holders of public rights. These sources also allow to identify some significant trends: the progressive expansion of a modular system of waterways, even if the navigation is impossible today (see the case of Bologna), and the growing involvement of the neighboring towns into the river system (Pavia, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantova and so on). Outside the cities, the castles and the parish churches on the river ports attest that the ports attract settlements and territorial powers (Canossa). Furthermore, the coincidence of ports and ponti (i.e. ferries for river crossings) promotes the vitality of the roads; the stretch of the river between Cremona and Parma, for example, is an important meeting point between Po river and the road of Monte Bardone, which was the favourite road for the Lombards to reach Tuscany through the Appennines.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
179660
URI
Publication date:
1.5.2016.
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