Don Camillo (1952): Brescello and the Po

The film opens in Brescello in June 1946. Peppone, the Communist leader, holds a rally in the square, and Don Camillo rings the church bells to drown him out. The rally square is Piazza Matteotti, with the town hall, bars and arcades around it and the parish church opposite. Today two bronze statues show Don Camillo and Peppone greeting each other, each standing in his own half of the square.

Visitor guidance: Walk the arcades of Piazza Matteotti; the statues of the two rivals stand beside the church.

This is Don Camillo's church in the film: Santa Maria Nascente. Famous in the scenes of the whole saga is its "talking" crucifix, which the priest confides in and argues with. The crucifix from the films is still kept in a side chapel of the parish church, so inside the real building you can look for it after seeing the two bronze statues in the square outside.

Visitor guidance: Visit the side chapel with the film crucifix.

Two young lovers, Gina Filotti and Mariolino Della Bruciata, cannot marry. The farm estate known as La Bruciata is, in reality, Corte San Giorgio, in Lentigione, a hamlet of Brescello. The same part of the story includes a farm strike in which workers refuse to milk the cows, and Don Camillo and Peppone secretly save the animals together, despite their feud.

Location precision: The source names the estate Corte San Giorgio in Lentigione; the pin marks the hamlet, not the farm itself.

The former convent of San Benedetto stood in for Peppone's workshop. Peppone also announces a plan for a people's house, and the film shows the laying of its first stone in via della Repubblica. The building now houses the Museo Peppone e Don Camillo, on via De Amicis, run by the local pro loco. Inside are props from the five films shot in Brescello, including the motorbike, the bicycles and Peppone's office.

Visitor guidance: The museum is in the former San Benedetto monastery; check opening times with the Brescello pro loco.

The procession to the Po needed a road leading straight to the river embankment, which Brescello could not offer. So the scene was split. The first part, with Don Camillo carrying the crucifix away from Santa Maria Nascente, was shot in Brescello. The second, where he meets Peppone and his men and they walk to the great river together, was filmed on via Pietro Saccani in Boretto. The profile of the church of San Marco is visible.

Location precision: The source names via Pietro Saccani; the pin is a search result for that street, not a surveyed spot.

Don Camillo is sent away, and nobody comes to say goodbye. He boards the train at the town station, called Brescello-Viadana. At the first stop his parishioners are waiting with a choir and so many gifts he can barely load them onto the train. The small station lies on the Parma-Suzzara line.

Visitor guidance: A station on the Parma–Suzzara line.

The film's last surprise happens at the next station. Peppone and his men wait for Don Camillo, with the town band welcoming him by playing The Internationale. The production shot this second station in Gualtieri, not in Brescello, so the small local station seen in the final scene of the 1952 film belongs to a different town.

Visitor guidance: A small local station on the Parma-Suzzara line.