Overview

Brescello, Peppone and Don Camillo

Films, foods and legends on the banks of the Po River

Anyone who is familiar with the black-and-white movies of Peppone and don Camillo cannot see the church in Brescello without hearing the movie theme song in his head.

Brescello is exactly as you imagine it, calm and sleepy in the summer, shrouded in the misty Po Valley atmosphere in the winter! In the main square, the statues of the two eternal rivals are a beautiful tribute to the characters: don Camillo, the Catholic parish priest is on the parvis of his church, and Peppone, the Communist mayor is in front of the town hall. They smile at each other and greet. It is the eternal representation of what, despite all their differences, was a wonderful friendship!

The museum

Not far from the main square, in a side street, you’ll find the museum dedicated to the films. It is a collection of memorabilia and photos from the set, and it is a pleasure to discover what happened behind the scenes, to see the legendary bicycles of Peppone and Don Camillo, the paraphernalia, the costumes... For a few hours, you become part of that world and feel like a child again. An elderly man wanders through the rooms of the museum, occasionally approaching visitors and telling his story. Yes: this gentleman was one of the children who sang in the choir that Don Camillo lined up to welcome the Bishop on one of his many adventures!

The film festival

The town has always lived on cinema and tradition, and from this legacy comes the 'Brescello Film Festival', an event that every year celebrates the deep bond between this small town and its two icons, Peppone and Don Camillo. You will not find Brescello in Giovannino Guareschi's famous books, but the little town has risen to fame for being the set of Don Camillo and Peppone’s 5 stories, filmed between 1951 and 1955 by Julien Duvivier, Carmine Gallone and Luigi Comencini.

The Brescello Film Festival features tributes to its icons, screenings of films belonging to the history of cinema, screenings of premiere films and presentation of new projects. Three days of good films, debates, interviews to personalities from the world of the show business and the cinema, previews and workshops. The festival was conceived by Max Berni with Jessica Guarino, Humnah Kalid and Associazione Non Solo don Camillo.

A religious festival and a legend

The opening of the film festival coincides with the feast of St John the Baptist, and the pre-festival is celebrated with the “Tortellata di San Giovanni”, an unmissable gathering for the entire community of Brescello. St John’s festival is linked to the legend of the “Rusèda ed San Svàn” (“the dew of St John”, in the local dialect).

Legend has it that on the night before St. John's Day, no one went home: people stayed awake “to catch the dew”, which was believed to cure illnesses and boost new loves! St. John’s Dew was also decisive for the preservation of medicinal herbs, and above all for the Nocino, the typical liqueur made from walnuts. Walnuts had to be picked on that very night, when they were moist with St. John's dew!