The appointment in the hamlet of the Municipality of Bondeno is first and foremost an encounter with the dishes of the ancient folk tradition, still prepared with the love that our grandmothers put into them, and with the stupendous monuments of the area, a trace still visible today of how the history of Stellata is testimony to the passage of the great History of the Italian Renaissance. A border land of the Estense Duchy, strategic for the control of the river route, for centuries Stellata and the Po represented the gateway to the Ferrarese plain for those coming from the Republic of Venice and the Duchy of Milan: each of the stones of the Rocca Possente awakens the soul of the centuries, speaking to us of duchesses, popes, kings and emperors. And of poets: the Archaeological Museum is housed in the ancient House of Ariosto, owned by the son of the great Ludovico, and holds the oldest finds of the earliest inhabitants of our Lands. The Pepoli Tower, dating from 1655 and located in the central square, is along with the Rocca the identity card of Stellata. Nearby is the parish church, the construction of which was completed around 1459, and is dedicated to the B.V. Mary, who is celebrated on Sept. 8, and this year will return as the star of the Old Fair. There are also two oratories in Stellata: that of San Domenico (next to the parish church) and that of San Francesco (at the end of the street of the same name), and Villa Federica, now the residence of the Spisani family but once owned by Count Gioacchino Napoleone Pepoli and, even earlier, by Uguccione Contrari. Stellata is truly a fairy tale town, where you lose track of time. Its history is also the history of the Po River and the struggles of its inhabitants to control its intemperance: the great reclamation plants of the Ferrara, Mantua and Modena areas are at the center of a network that has made our plains fertile and welcoming.
The Duck Festival is the central event of the end of summer in Stellata: at the “Taverna della Golena,” run by ARC Stellata 97, you can find a menu that runs through traditional dishes such as cappellacci, cappelletti, salamina da sugo, and dishes that have featured duck for 560 editions.
