Travel Guide Brescello

Brescello is a place that became famous in the 1950s for being the setting for the adventures of Don Camillo and Peppone, the two main characters of a series of novels by Giovannino Guareschi (1908-1968), an Italian satirical journalist and novelist from the province of Parma. As Guareschi states, "Behind the little world of Don Camillo, there is my home, Parma, the Emilian plain along the Po, where political passion is exasperated, but where the people nevertheless remain seductive, generous, hospitable and humorous." Don Camillo is the village priest and he engages in a war of influence with Peppone, the communist mayor. Don Camillo often argues with the statue of Christ in his church, who usually answers him in a humorous tone. Rivals, Don Camillo and Peppone live often picaresque adventures. Brescello was also the setting for the director Jean Duvivier for the shooting of the first two films of the series, The Little World of Don Camillo (1952) and The Return of Don Camillo (1953). A touristic itinerary leads the visitor to each cinematographic place like the church with Don Camillo's Christ, Peppone's house, the train station, the Madonna del Borghetto. In front of the town hall there is a statue of Peppone, played by Gino Cervi; in front of the church there is a statue of Don Camillo, played by the inimitable Fernandel. A classic of the French-Italian cinema.