Vidiciatico - Ca' Gherardi

Vidiciatico is a fully equipped centre for summer and winter tourism, located along the road that links Lizzano to Mount Corno alle Scale.

The old church’s apse and the adjoining bell tower form a characteristic corner that makes the town square unmistakable. The old church’s apse, built in 1393, is the only part left of the original building; on its back you can admire a Romanesque double-arched window with an inscription displaying the building’s date of construction. Built following the plan of the preceding building, the interior of the modern church retains a superb altarpiece by Antonio Crespi, illustrating “Christ Giving the Keys to St. Peter”, and a painting by Pier Francesco Cittadini, “The Sacred Heart”.

Not too far from there, you can admire the screen façade of the Oratory of San Rocco, flanked by a bell-gable and embellished by stone columns. The oratory was built in 1631 by the inhabitants to celebrate the plague’s end.

Nowadays, the village has changed, and the only left fragments of the past are the typical “vaults” of Ca’ Gherardi, precious testimony of the ancient village’s appearance and its original urban structure. It is still possible to visit the beautiful wash houses made of pietra serena (grey sandstone), dating back to 1950. Ca’ Gherardi’s main square is quite unique thanks to the uncommon characteristic of having four entrances. An old “casone” (dryer for chestnuts), owned by the Gherardi family, the only one in the village, can also be found here.  Slightly above the village you’ll see the small wayside shrine of Fontana d’Affrico, flanked by a freshwater spring. Thence you can proceed towards the meadows of Budiara all the way up to Mount Pizzo. The village relies on a pleasant and well-organized city planning, with all the services needed, with hotels, bars, restaurants and many second homes available for rent.