Palazzo Pignano

Palazzo Pignano is set between the Adda and Serio rivers. With its 3,812 inhabitants, it stands on an important agricultural site whose origins run back to proto-Romanesque times.
Archaeological excavations have revealed the presence of an inhabited centre as early as the 5th century A.D., whose flourishing activities were performed around a circular-plan Palatine temple and civil buildings including a palatium, from which the village's name is derived. Owned by Piniano of the gens Valeria and his wife Melania, the first evangelisers of the countryside around Crema, Palazzo Pignano's first mention in historical documents dates back to the year 1000 A.D. It saw two major destructions, in 951 A.D. and in the 11th century, during the clashes between Milan and Pavia. The parish church, with its Romanesque forms, is almost a thousand years old, and it was the scene of the events of Lombard lordships throughout the Middle Ages.
The vast archaeological area also includes the adjoining antiquarium, a small archaeological museum where finds from the excavations, including fragments of glass, flooring materials and other objects, are preserved.
Rural traditions can be seen in a series of historic constructions: Cascine Gandini, Cascine Capri and Ortensie and Casine, distinctive for their portico layout and therefore described as “Porticate”, and set amidst streams, supplied by many springs and groundwater pools, phenomena that have determined the area's vocation for agriculture.