Known for its excellent wines, Oltrepò Pavese offers wonderful views of the hills and medieval villages that rise on their summits. A past steeped in history, which has seen the passage of Romans and Celts, among many others.
The Celts are neither a single people nor a race, they are different peoples who merged in a slow process lasting more than a thousand years. The word ‘Celtic‘ has its origins in the Greek ‘keltai‘, a term used by the inhabitants of Marseilles to refer to the members of the fighting tribes of the European area stretching from the British Isles to the Danube basin. In our territory, we find many testimonies of this culture.
Between the province of Pavia and Alexandria, the ancient Celto-Ligurian people of the Marici settled, precisely around the city of Clastidium (Casteggio). From there, they spread as far as the gates of Pavia and into Lomellina, from which they took the name Porta Marica, the access from the capital. Ancient texts show that they lived by fishing and were the protagonists of a strange alliance for the time. They created a bond with the Romans that led to such a fusion over time that the Marici disappeared.
Other testimonies were left by the Celts of Golasecca. We are now in the park of Valverde Castle, in the heart of the Oltrepò hills, an important archaeological site. So important that for a few years it hosted a Celtic festival that aimed to spread the culture of that people with reconstructions, excursions and workshops, to take a journey back in time.
If we turn to etymology, we can see that the desinences -ago and -igo are of Celtic origin, so it is also possible to associate Fortunago with this population; the origin of the name, in fact, refers to the goddess Fortuna.
The presence of the Celts in the Four Provinces is also corroborated in the nearby Val Trebbia, thanks mainly to toponymy of ancient Irish origin. In the area of Travo, the sanctuary of Minerva Medica and Memor was built, which has no connection to the Roman goddess, but is rather a Celtic heroine of the rural populations. In addition to this building, there was also supposedly a sacred oak forest in Travo, where administrative and religious functions were held.
In this regard, I would make a brief diversions, pointing out that the religious world of the Celts was decidedly simple: the male triad of gods was also associated with the worship of the mother goddess named Brigit; she was the goddess of fertility and the science of healing was attributed to her. Some inscriptions on the temple of Travo suggest that it was dedicated to the goddess Brigit. Bobbio, on the other hand, owes its name to the Celtic tribe of the Galli-Boi, the population that contributed to the birth of the city proper, as we see it today.
