A Village along the ancient Apennine communication routes
The village of Codiponte is located in the municipality of Casola in Lunigiana.
“The name was given by the location at the head of the first bridge crossing the Aulella River”: it was Emanuele Repetti, in the 19th century, who explained the origin of the name and informed us that this was the first ford of the Aulella to be transformed, evidence of the presence of important roads and of an ancient vitality in travel and trade.
We are just downstream from Casola: here, the route that climbs to Ugliancaldo branches off from the Via dei Carpinelli, after intersecting the road that came from Luni and headed toward Emilia, Velleia and Piacenza. Not far from here, the parish church has stood witness to over a thousand years of history, long before the Malaspina of Verrucola. The territory belonged to them from the 13th century until the early 15th century, when, along with Monzone, Vinca, and other nearby communities, Codiponte pledged itself to the Republic of Florence.
The upper part of the village is fortified and preserves the ruins of a castle. Hidden by vegetation are the elegant forms of a medieval palace, featuring a loggia at the base and a notable vertical development, likely dating back to the 14th–15th century. These elements suggest a more residential than military function. Other scattered ruins in this upper part of the hill hint at the presence of an earlier defensive fortification, likely built to monitor the roadways, and which probably included a small church.
Beyond a natural ditch, on the plateau that stretches across the hill to the north, lie the remains of the ancient convent of the Franciscan nuns, already in existence by the 15th century and suppressed in the second half of the 18th century.
The ruins of the castle can be reached from the lower part of the village. Here, the beautiful Romanesque bridge was for centuries the most important access point to the village and to the “Via di Reggio.”
The structure, with its three arches and flat-backed shape, still preserves at its center a shrine housing a maestà, a common feature of many medieval bridges, symbolizing both protection from floods and the devotion of those who crossed it.
Nearby you can find
Codiponte Bridge, Pieve dei Santi Cornelio e Cipriano – Codiponte, Ugliancaldo Village.
Lunigiana World thanks our friend Paolo Bissoli for the text about the village of Codiponte.
