Cura animarum e presenze cultuali nell’Appennino piacentino dall’alto medioevo agli albori dell’età moderna

Columbanus and the monks who arrived in Bobbio towards the beginning of the 7th century quickly built (or else came into possession of) places of worship in the area surrounding the abbey and in other places where they had acquired landed property. Pastoral activity among the population inhabiting the monastic lands is attested already during the 9th century. Such activity was hinged on a system of pievi, which, at least apparently, did not belong to specific bishoprics and depended from the monastery. The diocese of Bobbio, founded in 1014, replaced the monastery in organizing the cura animarum, and absorbed those pievi which had previously been subjected to the abbey. Thus, the territory of the diocese roughly coincided with the area where the pastoral activity of the monastery was most intensive. From the 13th century, the needs of the faithful required a stable presence of clerics in the chapels of these pievi: this was the first step towards the creation of chapels and parishes. At the end of the 16th century the diocese comprised five pievi and sixteen parishes.