Bobbio

Bobbio is a historic town in the Val Trebbia, in the hills of Piacenza province, at the foot of Monte Penice. It grew around the Abbazia di San Colombano, founded in 614 by the Irish monk Columbanus, which became one of the most important monastic and scholarly centers of early medieval Italy — its scriptorium held a documented library of over 700 manuscripts by the 10th century, many later dispersed to libraries including the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan and the Vatican. The town's other emblem is the Ponte Gobbo ("Hunchback Bridge"), an ancient stone bridge across the Trebbia with an irregular, humped profile of uneven arches, tied to a local legend in which the Devil built the bridge overnight in exchange for the soul of the first to cross it, only for Columbanus to send a dog across first.

Bobbio is reached by road through the Val Trebbia, from Piacenza; there is no railway station in the town, with the nearest rail connections in Piacenza.

The historic center is small and walkable, with the abbey and the Ponte Gobbo both within easy reach on foot.

The Abbazia di San Colombano, with its museum, crypt, and remnants of the monastery's medieval scriptorium tradition, and the Ponte Gobbo, the town's landmark humpbacked stone bridge over the Trebbia, are Bobbio's principal sights.

Visiting the abbey, walking across and photographing the Ponte Gobbo, and enjoying the Trebbia valley's river and countryside scenery are the main activities.

Piacenza, the nearest larger city with rail connections, lies down the Val Trebbia, which continues both toward the Ligurian border and toward the Po plain.