Bobbio

Bobbio lies in the Trebbia valley southwest of Piacenza. Its abbey was founded in 614 by the Irish monk Columbanus on land granted by the Lombard king Agilulf. The monastery became a renowned centre of learning, with a library and a scriptorium that helped preserve manuscripts through the Middle Ages. Bobbio became a bishop's seat in 1014.

In the later Middle Ages the town passed from Piacenza to the Malaspina and then the Visconti of Milan. The Dal Verme family took control in 1387, and Bobbio became part of their county. Meanwhile the abbey declined, and its library was dispersed over time. After the wars of succession, Bobbio passed to the House of Savoy in 1748; the monastery was suppressed under French rule in 1803.