Voghera: Culture, History and Greenway

Voghera brings together historic buildings and collections, the Greenway Voghera-Varzi and a distinctive local culinary specialty. This gives you a clear choice of themes to explore when planning your trip: you can delve into architectural and art history, discover a range of museum collections, or consider Voghera as a starting point for a section of the Greenway. The Peperone di Voghera is another distinctive feature of the town.

Historic Buildings and Art

The Castello Visconteo was built from 1372 at the behest of Galeazzo Visconti II. Fragments of frescoes depicting muses have been preserved in the square hall of the east wing. They are attributed to Bartolomeo Suardi, known as Bramantino. The castle thus brings together a specific period of construction and a documented artistic connection.

The Duomo can also be explored through several dated details about its art and architecture. Construction began in May 1605 on the ruins of an older church. The Duomo also houses a Serassi organ dating from 1833 and a fresco of the Madonna del Soccorso from 1496, attributed to Andrino di Edesia. These details trace its history from the earlier church through the later building to works from different centuries.

The Palazzo Gallini is also part of Voghera’s historic heritage. Its rooms feature ceiling frescoes in the typical 19th-century style, while the painting collection includes an original work by Guercino. The architecture and paintings offer two different ways to explore local art history.

Museums and Theatre

The Museo Storico Giuseppe Beccari explores military history from the Napoleonic era to the present day. Its collections include Italian and foreign military uniforms, as well as hundreds of firearms and edged weapons. The archive complements these objects with written and personal accounts: it contains letters from soldiers and officers at the front, diaries and memoirs by people who took part in wars, and thousands of military and civilian postcards. History enthusiasts will find a variety of materials, from uniforms and weapons to letters and mementos.

The Civico Museo di Scienze Naturali explores a different subject, with departments devoted to zoology, palaeontology, mineralogy and botany. Each of the four departments has its own focus within natural history, making them quite different from the military history collection at the Museo Storico Giuseppe Beccari.

The Teatro Valentino Garavani was built between 1842 and 1845 under the direction of Gioacchino Dell’Isola del Borghetto. It can seat more than 400 spectators and has 62 boxes across three tiers. The construction period and auditorium add another chapter to the city’s history alongside its museums; the capacity figures also give a concrete sense of the theatre’s size.

Greenway and Regional Cuisine

The Greenway Voghera-Varzi connects the two largest centres in the western Oltrepò and runs through the entire valley of the Torrente Staffora. Its flat section runs from Voghera to Salice Terme. These are two distinct details: the Greenway describes a route through the valley, while the flat section specifically refers to the stretch from Voghera to Salice Terme. The Greenway starts near Voghera railway station.

The Peperone di Voghera is a local specialty. This native variety has an intense aroma and a sweet, mild flavour. Since 2024, it has been a Slow Food Presidium. In local cuisine, the pepper is used in bagnetti served with boiled mixed meats, in risotto dishes and in peperonata. These different preparations offer concrete examples of how the product is used in regional dishes, without limiting its flavour and uses to a single recipe.

Discover more destinations: Pavia, Breme, Salice Terme, Scaldasole, Codevilla, Ferrera Erbognone, Sannazzaro De' Burgondi, Gropello Cairoli.

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