San Daniele Po
San Daniele Po: a bit of history
San Daniele Po is a municipality in the province of Cremona, Lombardy, located on the left bank of the Po. The city has a long history that began around the year 1000, when the Benedictine friars of the Monastery of Parma carried out numerous land reclamations in the area.
During this period, a noble family, the Sommis from Cremona, settled in the area and had good relations with the bishop of the diocese of Cremona and Pope Nicholas II. The Sommi family had settled on the banks of the river, giving rise to a fraction of San Daniele, Sommo con Porto, whose name remains the only legacy of this family. The Sommi family built their wealth through agriculture and moved to San Daniele because of the fertile land. This dynasty ruled in the village until 1647, when the Gallo-Estense troops sacked Cremona and forever ended this noble family.
The development of San Daniele Po
The real urban development of the village occurs around 1800, when the municipal territory was expanded by Napoleon, adding already Parmesan countryside to it. In those years, San Daniele began to take shape and develop its own structure; the center of the village was via Cantone (still called that today), composed of about 10 farms and around 100 inhabitants.
The golden years were from 1850 to 1900, when the first factory was born in the village, important because the Galletti vinegar factory is the oldest in Italy (1871). With the new factory, the village became richer with people, because the inhabitants already had their own work, that of the fields, and therefore, via Faverzani was built, which at the time, was seen only as a road that connected the old center of the village to the first villages of Casalaschi: in fact, it was called the bassa di Casalmaggiore, but now it is the center of the village.
The landowners were not very happy with the construction of this road, because they saw hectares of land disappear. With the beginning of World War I (1914), the village began its progress by continuing to expand to the east and giving rise to the road that connects the village to Sospiro.
War and reconstruction
The development of San Daniele had taken a quick step, but the war prevented progress, with bombings that destroyed part of the buildings and several families. In the post-war period, a fabulous work of technicians and workers rebuilt part of the village, and in the meantime, another important road was built, which at the time was called via Po because it connected the village to the Po embankment.
World War II did not prevent development, on the contrary, many German soldiers helped in the construction of new houses. The road that was called via Po became, on April 25, 1945, via XXV Aprile because in that road there was the house of the people, a meeting point for the partisan troops of the area.
The Po flood
In 1951, San Daniele Po suffered another disaster: the Po overflowed, leaving many agricultural businesses that were located in the flood plain on their knees.
In general, San Daniele Po continued to grow and develop, becoming increasingly important for the region. However, the history of the village has left a mark and many of its roads and buildings still bear the sign of the past. The village now has 1,286 inhabitants and its territory is still characterized by the presence of the great Po river.
