The history of Bobbio is linked to the Irish missionary monk St. Columban (Colombano) who founded a monastery there in 614 with the construction of the Abbey. The Abbey was one of the most important monastic centers in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. The Saint died three years later, but the monastery flourished and became a center of medieval culture and learning, especially renowned for its great library. The monastery declined in the 15th century, and the library, with its approximately 700 manuscripts from the 10th century, was then dispersed, most of it going to the Ambrosiana Library of Milan, the National Library of Turin and the Vatican Library.

St Columban was a missionary monk, born in Ireland in 540 A.D. in a wealthy family; around the age of fifteen he moved to a monastery. In 590 A.D. decided to embark on a pilgrimage through Europe; he visited many European countries, including France, Germany and Austria, where he founded communities and monasteries, and wrote his famous rule. In 612 A.D. he arrived in Milan where King Agilulfo and his wife Theodolinda, in exchange for help in obtaining the Pope's support, gave him the lands of Bobbio. He arrived in Bobbio in 614 A.D. , renovated the Basilica of San Pietro and built wooden structures around it: the future Basilica of San Colombano. He died on 23rd November 615 and was buried in the abbey.

The Ponte Gobbo is the symbol of Bobbio, it probably dates back to the Roman period even if the first traces of the bridge date back to the early Middle Ages. Over the years it was destroyed and rebuilt several times. Its name means "hunchbacked bridge" for the shape of its arches, all of different size, but it's also called "the devil's bridge" because of a legend linked to its building: the Devil asked eleven devils to build the bridge in one night. Each of them was of a different height and so they built each arch differently. The Devil was supposed to get the first soul who crossed the finished bridge, as agreed with Saint Columban. But the saint cheated the Devil by allowing a dog to be the first to cross the newly built bridge.

Piazza Duomo.The cathedral is dedicated to Santa Maria Assunta and was built by Bishop Guarinero in 1073. It is the main religious building of the city. It has two majestic towers. The façade is from 1463 with three portals in Gothic style. The cathedral presents decorations of different styles and periods. One of them is Saint John's chapel where there is a splendid fresco of the second half of the 15th century representing the Annunciation. In the church crypt there are the tombs of the bishops of Bobbio. Children usually meet in this square and play all evening, especially in summer, while parents seat at the tables of the bars which surround the square.

The Malaspina Castle. The building of the castle begun in 1304 thanks to Corradino Malaspina on the hill overlooking the town. Today there is a square-plan central building, with two minor service towers and the defensive walls. The castle offers a good view over the town and the surrounding countryside. In 1800 the property was purchased by the Piccinini family who possessed it until 1956 when the castle was ceded to the Italian State. It is possible to visit its Sala delle Marine and the salon with a great stone fireplace dominated by Dal Verme family coat of arms and on the wall of the stairs for the upper floors, there is a fresco from XVI century, that portraits the Madonna with Jesus.

In Bobbio there are several events, the most important are festivals: the Palio delle Contrade, the Film Festival, the "Castle in bloom". The Palio delle contrade consists of a series of games among teams dressed with medieval costumes with the colors of the different contrade (streets of Bobbio) and they challenge each other. Some of these games are : the Tug of war, Race with the Towers, the Cuccagna Pole, Egg Launch, the Castellana Rat and other games of that time. The film festival takes place in August and consists of the screening of several films by Italian and foreign directors. It is organised by the famous director Marco Bellocchio, who was born in Bobbio. Every night there’s a different movie and there are important guests such as actors and directors who take part in the film presentation. The Castle in bloom takes place at the Malaspina Castle, and is full of beautiful flowers displayed on stalls, during the festival you can also visit the castle.

"Anolini" are the traditional dish of the feast days. During Christmas Eve all the family generations come together for its preparation. They consist in small discs of pasta stuffed with braised meat. Another typical first course is Pisaréi and Fasö of peasant origin with poor ingredients (bread crumbs, flour and water). Maccheroni Bobbiesi are another popular main course of medieval origins. The maccheroni are shaped with a knitting needle and are usually served with a snail sauce.

Our Comprehensive school

Our Comprehensive school includes 4 learning levels: kindergarden, primary school, secondary school first level, secondary school second level. We receive them when they are three and we leave them at nineteen!

490 students, 82 teachers, 8 schools spread along our beautiful Trebbia valley. The headquarter is in Bobbio in the magnificent Saint Colombanus abbey.

Despite the ancient setting, our schools are indeed very modern and tecnologically equipped: each classroom has got a white board and laptops for all the students.

Not only that, new insipring and creative labs have been built and are being implemented: The Language Hub , the new library for example. New spaces for new teaching methods...

We are a " little" comprehensive school on the mountains in Northern Italy that is the reason why we felt the need to establish a great number of European contacts . This helped us a great deal to get out of our " golden" isolation and to learn a lot on new teaching/learning techniques in step with the times.

So far, we have taken part in two KA2 and one KA1 Erasmus projects and we are now carrying on a KA1 and a KA2 .

We have been an etwinning school since 2018 and we have received several Italian and European quality labels for the following projects :Fun days, What a taste,Stop that Noise,Traces of Europe,We are cooperARTive,Little schools outdoor.

The project " Little schools outdoor "won the national prize in 2019.