The landscape
The agricultural environment – and particularly the plane – have a clear importance in the landscape they occupy. Here different factors tend to blend, from the type of plantations to the type of waterworks and irrigation systems, from the shape of rural housing to the features of urban settlements, from the presence of buildings of great historical-architectural value to the whole road system, from the presence of natural areas to the greater or minor wealth from the point of view of biodiversity.
It is obviously quite a particular kind of landscape, with strong elements of anthropisation, but that also calls to mind the general definition that the European Convention gives: “... a particular part of the territory, as it is perceived by the people, the character of which is due to the action of natural and/or human factors and to their interaction”. Therefore an agricultural area can for all practical purposes be connoted as a significant landscape and, as such, it can call for work of preservation and enhancement.
Zena Castle is located in the Piacenza plane, between the axis of the Parma via Emilia and the first hills of the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines.
Here, next to the church and to an old tavern, already mentioned in the Napoleonic Cadastre (from the beginning of the nineteenth century), a very small hamlet of the town of Carpaneto Piacentino was created.
It is the typical settlement of this part of the plain of the Po, where generally a big private residence, of medieval origin, but which has been converted for civil and agricultural purposes, is next to the places of worship (church and cemetery) and to a cluster of houses.
This is a presence that isn’t in the slightest intrusive in the area’s agricultural fabric and it doesn’t at all alter the sense of “openness” of this landscape, but rather enriches it with historical and cultural elements.
Agriculture prevails in this area and is characterized essentially by great extensions of cereals, tomatoes, corn and sunflowers..
The crops alternate with the self-sown vegetation along the numerous streams, thereby making them act as natural stage wings. .
It includes the raising, here and there, particularly of cattle, but also of horses.
This type of rural buildings is also typical of this landscape. They are generally gathered in big – but very pleasant – agglomerates, where the houses are surrounded by stables, barns and donjons of every kind, often refined by the presence of high arcades, sometimes with brick grids (jalousies).
The oldest buildings dotting this landscape with an unusual density, are another distinguishing element.
They are castles with medieval origins, convents, more recent buildings created directly for agricultural or zootechnical purposes.
Many of these structures are already equipped towards receiving guests and therefore qualify the area also as a destination of rural, equestrian or gourmet tourism.
There are also many initiatives that bring visitors who are interested to visit this qualified context.
One of these is the “Ancient Fruit” Festival, which is held on an annual basis at Paderna Castle.
Over a hundred exhibitors of traditional agricultural and artisan products meet from all over Italy and present their products to a public consistently of 10,000 people.