In Val Brembana, enclosed in the mountains, Cornello dei Tasso it is a small medieval village. It is among the most characteristic and best preserved villages in the whole of Lombardy and, the credit also goes to its difficult accessibility. To get here, in this hamlet of Camerata Cornello, you have to leave your car and walk along the path. Or better: you can choose between the two paths that start from the town, or treat yourself to a historic walk along the ancient one Via Mercatorum.
Cornello dei Tasso, the history
Not everyone knows it but it is right here, in Cornello dei Tasso, that the post was born. To know its history, however, it is necessary to take a leap into the past. Founded in 1100, the village owes its name to the Tasso family. A family that has in the poet Torquato Tasso its most famous exponent but who, in reality, distinguished himself for his entrepreneurial activities. Throughout the Middle Ages, thanks to Via Mercatorum, Cornello dei Tasso was an important commercial center. The road in fact connected Bergamo to the Valtellina, and connected the main nuclei of the Val Brembana to each other. Impossible not to follow it, for the merchants. However, at the end of the sixteenth century, the newly created Strada Priula supplanted it. And Cornello entered a condition of isolation and decay.
A lot remains of its past in Cornello dei Tasso. The isolation remained, the buildings remained. The testimony remained. Because it was the Tasso who invented the modern postal system. They managed the Compagnia dei Corrieri della Serenissima, taking care of the connections Venice - Milan and Venice - Rome, and they had been entrusted with the Pontifical Post Office (starting from 1460 and for about a century). Not only that: they also managed postal communications in the Tyrol. They therefore had in their hands the post office of a large part of Europe.
Get inspired
The most important monument of Cornello dei Tasso is, in fact, the Museum of Tasso and Postal History. Inside are preserved the testimonies of the management of the European postal service by the Tasso family. The museum is open from 1 November to 28 February from 10.00 to 13.00 and from 14.00 to 17.00, from 1 March to 31 October from 10.00 to 12.00 and from 14.00 to 18.00 (admission is free). In fact, arriving here after going through a disease is already a splendid experience in itself. And it is splendid to walk through the medieval alleys, touching those once prestigious buildings.
Built on three levels, the market was staged on the lowest level of the village. Then there was the level of the houses, and there was at the top of the whole church. Today you can admire the remains of the ancient Tasso palace, the modern family palace, Via Mercatorum and Strada Priula. Finally, the Church of Sant'Antonio di Padova. Which, recently restored, was built in the fourteenth century by the will of a certain Della Torre and dedicated to the Madonna.
Featured photo taken from Wikipedia (credit Ago76 - CC BY-SA 3.0)
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