Castelli e signori nella diocesi di Bobbio (secoli X-XIII)

During the 12th century the vast consortile of the Montesegale-Lazzarello affirmed itself among the vassalic clientele of the bishop of Bobbio. This consortile asserted its lordship over a key and heavily incastellated territory situated between the rivers Staffora and Tidone. The area comprised the castles of Ruino, Trebecco, Valverde, Zavatterello, Lazzarello and Romagnese which, despite nominally under the bishop’s domain, became the bone of contention between the Communes of Piacenza and Pavia on one hand, and between the bishop and abbot of Bobbio, on the other. The sources do not provide direct evidence on the modalities of monastic incastellamento during the 10th century, as the particularly significant cases of Grazzi and Bobbio let us surmise. Such modalities were employed in other localities, including Saturianum (later named Zavattarello), which will be analysed on the basis of written sources, by focusing mainly on the problems surrounding the period of its foundation, the variations in its name and fortified structure during the following centuries.