Casa Bergamaschi - former Casa Gonzaga-Pico

Built in the second half of the 15C for Ludovico Gonzaga, Marchese of Mantua, this was his summer residence, once surrounded by the waters of the Dugale canal, and the only Gonzaga presence in Belforte.

In the following century, it passed to a cadet branch of the Pico della Mirandola family, related to the Gonzaga family. It was they who adorned the rooms with paintings and frescoes featuring Raphael-style decoration, and only recently partially uncovered.

The house took the name of Palazzo Picchi and the narrow street leading to it was called Vicolo Picchi until the early 19C. In 1714, the villa was purchased by the Bergamaschi family of Belforte. Local tradition still remembers its ‘pozzo delle taglie’ (a well into which girls forced to satisfy the nobleman’s amorous desires were said to have been cast and killed) and the ‘strada sotterranea’ (a tunnel underneath the village), said to be linked to the church of San Bartolomeo.