Castell'Arquato - Collegiata di Santa Maria

A church existed here in 758. This church, dedicated to Mary, as well as the village were given to the Bishop of Piacenza by Lord Magnus in 789. The village stayed under the control of the Bishops for the next 430 years.

This church got severely damaged by the earthquake in 1117. The rebuilding started soon after got completed in only five years. The consecration of the new building took place here in 1122.

From the early years upto the time, when the "Canons Regular" moved in, this church was a "pieve", a parish church where people got baptised. Not all churches had that privilege.

Around the cloister, where the Canons once lived, reading the Breviary, today is a little museum. One of the highlights exhibited here is a medieval crucifix.